Introduction
The study of the humanities is of interest for research as it can provide a relatively large amount of information about previous eras and their representatives. Consequently, this work aims to study the work and evaluate the contribution of such a distinguished musician as Louis Armstrong, who had a fairly significant contribution to the development of the field of creative work. Moreover, this scientific paper will provide information about the Harlem Renaissance, whose representative is Armstrong. Thus, the study sets itself the task of studying the contribution to the culture that the musician made and analyzing his path and the general background of that time.
Main body
Henceforth, first of all, it is necessary to gain an understanding of what Louis Armstrong is and for what actions he gained such fame in around the world. The musician was born in 1901 in the United States of America and grew up in a family experiencing a financially tricky situation due to the circumstances prevailing in the country. From an early age, the boy became interested in music, and already in his twenties, he began his performances. Louis Armstrong’s main achievement and the aspect for which he is remembered is pioneering jazz solo performances. Before him, this genre of musical work was played only in groups consisting of at least three people. Despite this, already at that moment, the concept of solo performances manifested itself a little, but it consisted in alternately paying attention to one of the members of the jazz band.
Despite the increasing popularity of the black musician, it was the representatives of the black community who paid more and more attention to him. And it was far from positive because, with the development of the movement for the rights of African Americans, Louis Armstrong was seen for them as Uncle Tom (Davies 15). In other words, this part of society did not like that music entertained the white population, playing music for them that was peculiar and came from the black community. Despite this, Armstrong managed to overcome all difficulties, and until the end of his life, he distributed his music and played for everyone who wanted to hear him.
Thus, the paper should proceed to discuss the contribution that Louis Armstrong made to the culture of music, especially the jazz genre. Thus, his most significant merit is the creation of a distinct style of playing the trumpet. Armstrong based his exceptional sound on his own experiments and fueled his ideas from more unorthodox sources. Thus, the musician was hard-engaged in studying various literature on this topic. Moreover, the culture of New Orleans played a particular influence on his methods of presenting musical works. By means of this drawing inspiration, Armstrong adopted into his work such execution features as plans and consistent technique, and striking high notes.
It is worth noting that jazz music, by its nature, is characterized by the presence of frequent improvisation, which gives it a unique charm. At the same time, Armstrong had his own special style of changing the sound and changing mood of his musical compositions. Despite the apparent complexity, all the musician’s performances were based on interpretation and a combination of simple sounds. Thus, this distinctive feature left a significant imprint on the entire jazz performance, and all musicians after Armstrong began to gradually adapt his performance feature.
Another significant contribution and aspect that brought Louis Armstrong fame is not only the peculiarity of jazz playing but also his gravelly-voiced singing. It is worth noting that not all performers of jazz music independently performed compositions, and this factor gives the black creator a special uniqueness. Thus, Armstrong was distinguished from his contemporaries by the manner of performing compositions, which was distinguished by the smoothness of the sound and a certain swaying when listening. This created a unique atmosphere that attracted a large number of listeners who wanted to plunge into the fascinating world of jazz.
Thus, the musician gradually transferred such an unprecedented performance to all the musical works that he once performed. The song that is still considered the most popular among those sung by the performer is “Heebie Jeebies,” which was performed at the dawn of his career in 1926 (Anderson 111). It is noted that this performance could be attributed to scat singing, which is the technique of improvisation with one’s vocals. It is worth emphasizing that in the development of his career and growing up, the initial emphasis on the intriguing and flirtatious playing of the trumpet switched to singing in the performances of a black musician.
In addition to music, Louis Armstrong was an activist for the civil rights of the black community, for which he gained a certain level of fame. One of the goals of the musician was to get rid of the phenomenon of school segregation, which was especially acute in the fifties of the twentieth century. Research states that the “primary consequence of segregation is the high level of inequality in educational opportunity between white or Asian children, and black or Hispanic children” (Logan and Burdick-Will 200). Thus, the musician, as a representative of the disadvantaged part of the population, considered it his duty to help others like him to gain equal rights and opportunities, especially in the field of obtaining a proper level of education.
Despite such a positive desire to help the African-American community, Armstrong constantly faced criticism. For many, the stage image of the musician was accepted as a real person. However, despite this, the man continued to work to improve the situation and supported and spoke out in relation to the Civil Rights Movement. The decisive moment that caused a particular resonance among the public was the case that occurred in 1957 in Arkansas. The governor of the state prevented black students from attending Little Rock Central High School (Little Rock Nine para. 1). This incident, due to its rapid power of dissemination, has aroused an even more significant number of movements for the expansion of the rights of blacks and the prevention of segregation in relation to these representatives of society.
At that time, the role of the president of the United States of America was played by Dwight Eisenhower, whose actions particularly enraged Louis Armstrong. The man was not afraid to express his opinion about the federal government and openly criticized the measures that were taken by the top of the country. Thus, the musician accused the authorities of extreme hypocrisy, and as a protest, he canceled his State Department tour of the Soviet Union. The man did not want to leave the country and cover unreasonable and, in his opinion, wrong actions of the government. This was the reason for the cancellation of concerts and for paying more attention to the struggle to limit segregation and discrimination in America. Armstrong was lucky enough to become a member of a whole movement of jazz musicians who pursued the same goals as he did.
It is worth noting that the period of Louis Armstrong’s work falls under the artistic style called the Harlem Renaissance. This was facilitated by the desire and motives to fight for the rights of black Americans to equalize their position in society, which affected his work. Thus, it is worth taking a closer look at the movement to which the musician belonged. Hence, it got its distribution in one of the districts of New York, Harlem, from which it got its name. During the Great Migration, most African Americans moved to northern cities for work. Harlem became a point of concentration for these representatives of society. Thus, various types of creativity and the appearance of their affiliation were actively developing on its territory, which is why the Harlem Renaissance movement received this name. The main characteristic of this approach, which became widespread in the twentieth century, was the maintenance of black culture. In addition, the Harlem Renaissance was concerned about the social and artistic explosion which occurred due to injustice toward the black population.
Moreover, in addition to raising acute social problems, one of the contributions of this creative movement was the development of African American culture. This concerned not only jazz music but also such spheres as literature and art. Thus, in all the works that were produced under the mood of the Harlem Renaissance, a vivid pride in black traditions, customs, and rituals of everyday life and identity was revealed. Through the promotion of these worldviews, artists, and creatives spread awareness about the existing inequality of rights and freedoms between the white and black populations. The participation and identification of Louis Armstrong and other African-American artists with this movement gave them a sense of freedom of expression and helped them to move more confidently and rapidly toward their goals.
Additionally, such social forces as inequality between races became one of the significant aspects that contributed to the formation of the musician’s work. In addition to the problem of segregation in educational institutions, such a social phenomenon as the Great Migration was of great importance. It consisted in providing jobs in industries where managers did not pay attention to the race of potential employees. This circumstance contributed to the influx of a large flow of black people to the north and Midwest, which was not liked by all representatives of society at that time.
Further, it has already been noted that a unique way of performing jazz compositions and playing the trumpet became a means that inspired many of Armstrong’s followers. Thus, sources noted that they made a remarkable contribution to the work of such musical figures as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and many others who were lucky enough to interact with him (Gehrke para. 16). Therefore, Louis Armstrong’s musical work influenced the works of the musical environment of people’s activities. The analyzed figure himself was influenced by such maestros as Bunk Johnson, Freddie Keppard, and especially Joe “King” Oliver (Gioia). Thus, this exchange of experience contributed to the formation of jazz music that flourished in the twentieth century.
In conclusion, this work was engaged in analyzing the work of Louis Armstrong and his influence on the subsequent development of this industry. Armstrong is a unique representative of the Harlem Renaissance who performed in a jazz style of music. The main artistic inspiration for a jazz artist was his life and all the events that took place in it. The jazz performer, in addition to creating excellent musical compositions and songs, was engaged in fighting and spreading awareness about the problems of educational segregation and general negative and biased attitudes towards the black community. The formation of such an initiative was influenced by the mood among people and the civil rights movement, in which Armstrong took an active part.
Conclusion
Consequently, Louis Armstrong’s cultural contribution to the development of jazz music and the movement for the rights and freedoms of the African-American population cannot be overestimated. At one time, he did a lot that contributed to the spread of awareness about the harm and adverse outcomes of bias against other races. Starting his career as an unknown musician, Armstrong made a name for himself as a pioneer of improvisation and bringing his own style to creativity. Starting with virtuoso trumpet playing, the musical performer gradually changed the focus to a solo performance. Then another outstanding venture for which the performer was remembered was singing, which had its own unique features. Studying the work of Louis Armstrong helped to provide valuable insight into how jazz music was formed at the beginning of the twentieth century and what circumstances influenced it.
Works Cited
Anderson, Gene H. “Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism. By Thomas Brothers. New York: WW Norton, 2014.” Journal of the Society for American Music, vol. 11, no. 1, 2017, pp. 110-113.
Davies, Russell. “Playing in a World of his own: How Louis Armstrong Dealt with the Big-Band Era.” Times Literary Supplement, vol. 6156, no. 2021, pp. 15-16.
Gehrke, Karl. The Enduring Legacy of Louis Armstrong. South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Web.
Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz. Oxford Scholarship Online, 2021.
“Little Rock Nine.” History, Web.
Logan, John R., and Julia Burdick-Will. “School Segregation and Disparities in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Areas.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 674, no. 1, 2017, pp. 199-216.