uis met Lillian Hardin who was a piano player forthe band. In February 1924 they got married. Lillianfelt that Louis was too talented and was wasting himselfby playing in King Oliver’s band. She eventuallypressured him to leave the band. Reluctantly he did. In 1924 Louis left Chicago to go to Harlem and playin Fletcher Henderson’s band. Fletcher and Oliver’s bandsstyles of music were a lot different from each other. Henderson’s band played more Latin rhythms and waltzeswhile Oliver’s band played rags and stomps. While inHarlem Louis started writing and recording his own music. During this time Louis did many recording sessions withnumerous blues singers like Bessie Smith, and ClarenceWilliams. His music began to influence musicians all overthe country. In 1920 Louis invented “scat” which is atype of singing without words. He adapted his idea of“scat” from listening to other singers like EllaFitzgerald. In the 30’s he mostly toured the United Statesplaying and singing until 1932 when he went to England. He stayed in Europe for 2 years where he became morefamous in Europe than he was in the U.S. The reason forthis was that racism in the U.S. was a lot stronger thanin England and was hurting his popularity. In 1935 Louisreturned to the U.S. and took 6 months off from histrumpet playing because of lip problems. After this hehooked up with manager Joe Glaser. He had known Glaserwhen he was the manager of the Sunset Caf in Chicago inthe 1920’s. Glaser remained Louis’s manager until hisdeath in 1969. Glaser took care of the business part ofthe deal and left all the musical freedom to Louis. Hehired the Luis Russell Orchestra as Louis’s backup band.The band was made up mostly of New Orleans musicians, whohad played with King Oliver. The band was renamed the Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra.Louis became the most famous men in America at this time....
