#popculture27: Louis Armstrong Turns His Hot Five Into a Hot Seven

The future Jazz superstar, when he first headlined his own band, and the woman who helped him along the way.

Louis Armstrong was a legend. He’s in the Halls of Fame for not just jazz, but rhythm and blues AND rock. He was a Grammy winner. He appeared in movies and TV, and was the first black radio show host in American history. There’s even an asteroid named for him.

In 1927, his career was still rising. After headlining his first band, he expanded it.

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Louis Armstrong in Queens

I graduated from Louis Armstrong Middle School, in Queens. As a kid, I had a vague sense of who he was. I knew he was a musician and that he played the trumpet. That, honestly, was it.

Gimme a break, I was only twelve.

In 1943, Armstrong moved to Queens. He spent 28 years in the Corona neighborhood. His home is now a National Historic Landmark and a museum. I think I’ve only been there once, but I remember liking the place.

Armstrong’s early years

The New Orleans native is said to be born in 1901, though that year is disputed. He dropped out of school at eleven and got arrested for shooting a firearm (it had blanks).

He had experience playing a cornet, but while in a juvenile detention center, he perfected his skill to the point where he played on Mississippi riverboats. This was where he met and worked with bandleader King Oliver, who mentored him further.

When Oliver moved to Chicago, Armstrong followed. They made records together.

It was within Oliver’s band that Armstrong met Lil Hardin.

Lil Hardin and the formation of the Hot Five

A jazz composer, pianist and bandleader in her own right—a rarity for women of the era—Hardin met Armstrong in 1923. They dated. She urged him to develop his own style and expand his range by doing things like playing classical music, in churches. She also updated his wardrobe.

They married a year later.

Armstrong moved to New York, playing there for a year, but returned to Chicago at Hardin’s urging, to make solo records. She put him in her band and billed him as “the world’s greatest jazz cornetist.”

Okeh Records suggested Armstrong start the band that became the original Hot Five, his first band led and recorded under his name: Armstrong, Hardin on piano, plus musicians he knew from his days in New Orleans:

• Kid Ory on trombone,

• Johnny Dodds on clarinet, and

• Johnny St. Cyr on guitar and banjo.

The Five were notable for transitioning jazz from music favoring ensemble performances to solos, plus Armstrong’s scatting, vocalizing with made-up words. Their records included songs such as “Gut Bucket Blues” and “Heebie Jeebies.”

From Five to Seven

In 1927, Armstrong added two more to his band:

• Baby Dodds, Johnny’s brother, on drums, and

• Pete Briggs on tuba.

Plus, John Thomas replaced Ory on trombone.

Also on the Okeh label, the Seven recorded material such as “Wild Man Blues.”

In 1977, when a pair of golden records depicting human achievement was part of NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, they included the Hot Seven song “Melancholy Blues.”

More band changes and separation from Hardin

In 1928, Armstrong totally changed the band. Among the new members included Earl Hines on piano. Armstrong and Hardin grew apart as his star rose. She started her own band.

Armstrong and Hardin separated in 1931. By 1938 they divorced. She went on to a notable career in jazz before dying at 73.

Armstrong went on to bigger and better things.

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Also in 1927:

• Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” is recorded for the first time, by the Knickerbockers.

• George and Ira Gershwin’s “‘S Wonderful” is published.

• Al Jolson co-writes “Me and My Shadow.”

• Show Boat opens on Broadway.

• Harry Belafonte and Eartha Kitt are born.

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Are you familiar with Louis Armstrong during his Hot Five and Seven period? Leave a comment and let me know!

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