that Armstrong was becoming too commercial. So, in 1947 Glasner fired the orchestra and replaced them with a small group that became one of the greatest and most popular bands in jazz history. The group was called the Louis Armstrong Allstars and featured exceptional soloist like Barney Bigard, Jack Teagarden, Big Sid Callett, Velma Middleton, and later Earl Hines. The band went through a number of personal changes over the years but remained extremely popular throughout the world. They toured extensively traveling to Africa, Asia, Europe and South America for the next 20 years until Louis failing heath caused them to disband. Armstrong became known as America’s Ambassador. In 1963 Armstrong scored a huge international hit with his version of “Hello Dolly.” This number one single even knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts. I 1968 he recorded another number one hit with the touchly optimistic “What A Wonderful World.” Before his death in 1971, Louis Armstrong appeared on television shows, including the David Frost Show, the Dick Cavett Show, the Tonight Show, and a television special with Pearl Bailey. He recorded the poem “The Night Before Christmas.” He performed for two weeks in the Empire Room of the Waldorf Astona hotel in New York City. Armstrong’s health began to fail him and he was hospitalized several times over the remaining three years of his life. On July 6, 1971 the world’s greatest jazz musician died in his sleep at his home in Queens, New York. Louis Armstrong was the greatest of all Jazz musicians. Louis defined what it was to play Jazz. His amazing technical abilities, the joy and spontaneity, and amazing quick, inventive musical mind still dominate jazz to this day. We can never really express the impact that he Doe, page 4made on jazz. I was actually surprised at the life and times of Louis Armstrong. I don&#...
