Louis Armstrong the
'Big Band Era'
Louis moved to Los Angles in July of 1930 where he fronted a band called Louis Armstrong and his Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra.The band also featured a young Lionel Hampton on drums and vibes. In 1931 he went back to Chicigo and assembled his own band for touring purposes, and in 1932 returned to California, 
before leaving for England where he was given the name 'Satchmo' (short for satchel mouth, a knickname of his since the 'King' Oliver days). This name is synonomous with Louis Armstrong, and his big wide grin, to this day. During the early 1930's Louis began to use the trumpet rather than a cornet. For the next three years he toured constantly criss-crossing the country dozens of times and returned to Europe playing in England, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Holland.
In 1935 he returned to the States and hired Joe Glaser to be his manager. Glaser remained Armstrong's manager until his death in 1969. Glaser hired the Luis Russell Orchestra as Louis' backup band . This was like being at home for Louis, because the band was made up of predominately New Orleans musicians, many who, like 'Satchmo', had played with King Oliver. The band was renamed Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra and was one of the most popular bands of the Swing era. For the next five years Louis toured and recorded with this group, the records are classics. In 1940, Glaser fired the band and Louis put together another group containing younger musicians such as John Brown (alto), Dexter Gordon (tenor), Arvell Shaw (bass), and Velma Middleton sharing the vocals with him. It lasted until the summer of 1947, but swing bands were on a downward slide and he was tired of leading a large group.
Louis fronted large bands, usually 15 or more musicians, during most of the 1930s through the late 40's and recorded with just about every musician around. His reputation as a
friendly warm personality followed him throughout his life and so did the tradition of jazz music. He appeared in a Hollywood movie, "Pennies From Heaven" in 1936, Louis Armstrong was a star. He began recording more often and began a number of year-long touring schedules that took him and jazz around the world. Louis was a musician first and foremost, and delighted in the fact that his career took a turn in the 1940s toward that end.
In the begining
Those early years
The bandleader
The Big Band Era
The golden years
Webmaster note: the background for this page was created with
Adobe Photoshop 5 using a photograph of the gold plated trumpet mouthpiece presented to Louis later in life. Today it is in the Jazz Museum in the old Government Mint building in New Orleans.
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