Louis Armstrong was New Orleans' most famous son. He had several nicknames: Satchmo*, Pops, Dipper. His influence on jazz music and the city of New Orleans cannot be overestimated. He was born on July 4, 1900** in New Orleans. He grew up poor in the French Quarter, in an area called Storyville (which has its story too, but for later). At age 11, he was sent to a boys' home (Colored Waifs' Home) because he fired a gun on New Year's Eve on the street. He had to stay there for 18 months and during that time he learned to play the cornet. He played for several years with his mentor and teacher Joe "King" Oliver, and he also played his horn on the Mississippi riverboats. He switched from the cornet to the trumpet. Everyone knows his music.
VOA English has a nice biography, but unfortunately there is no recording, so you can only read the text and not listen this time. But do take a look:
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/a-23-a-2004-04-10-1-1-83122482/123341.html
But you can listen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JFiwbzplis Mr Jazz
If you want to work very hard, to learn English like the Japanese, go to this webpage.
http://voaeveryday.net/04das/louis-armstrong1.html
You click on the sentence, listen and repeat!
OR more music, from the 1947 film, New Orleans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYn6tPv0Slw "Where the Blues Were Born in New Orleans"
*Why Satchmo?
If you don't know, why don't you ask google?
** That's the date that Louis Armstrong gave as his birthday, but researchers discovered that he was in fact born on August 4, 1901.
Jane
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waif = un enfant abandonné, un enfant malheureux
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