Louis Armstrong: Some Thoughts on the Man

I grew up just across from one of the great jazz capitals of America. It was Detroit's thriving jazz scene that gave birth to the all america sound of Motown. Yet, was jazz that survived as one of the most popular forms of music in the city during both my childhood and the time I spend living under its strange warm embrace. The night time airwaves were dominated by WDET's Ed Love Jazz program. It was here that my education in jazz began. As a disembodied voice he carried all that sonic knowledge to me through countless nights. David "Fathead" Newman was clearly his choice of the contemporary players.
Jazz has everywhere. It reverberated down the battered cobblestone streets of the city's Corktown, and rattled through the concrete and masonic valleys created by the skyscrappers along Griswold Ave. Eastern Market, one of the oldest farmer's markets in the United States (200+ years old), gyrated to its sweet melodies every Saturday morning. The Detroit Tigers built a jazz club in their new ballpark in 2001. Jazz was and is the soundtrack to the motorcity.
Louis Armstrong was one of those players that caught my attention early one. It was his raspy voice, and captivating horn section. It dismayed me, to find out the majority of his recordings that we hear today are considered his inferior works. Louis cracked his lip on his trumpet, and from that moment on he lacked the amazing instrumental range he once had. I discovered some of his earlier recordings in Dearborn Music (a suburb of Detroit) and quickly understood this transformation.
Armstrong had transformed into a vocalist. Jazz and its soul is about the instruments. Is about a language that transcends words, and with Louis' injury he now had to rely upon the structures of the society that had caused great harm to his ancestors. His loss was my gain. It was his voice that first drew me to jazz, but it was those early recordings that brought me to understand and appreciate the heart of the music. I no longer place Armstrong within my top five preferred artists. Those spots have been saved from Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane, and Dizzy Gilispie. Sometimes, i will work "Fathead" Newman in the mix. But his influence on my development, and the manifestation of the soul of my city cannot be overlooked.