made with his Red Hot Peppers between 1926 and 1928 stands, alongside

Oliver's as the crowning glory of the New Orleans tradition and one of the

great achievements in Jazz.

LOUIS IN NEW YORK AND BIG BANDS ARE BORN

That tradition, however, was too restricting for a creative genius like Louis

Armstrong. He left Oliver in late 1924, accepting an offer from New

York's most prestigious black bandleader, Fletcher Henderson

(1897-1952). Henderson's band played at Roseland Ballroom on

Broadway and was the first significant big band in Jazz history.

Evolved from the standard dance band of the era, the first big Jazz bands

consisted of three trumpets, one trombone, three saxophones (doubling all

kinds of reed instruments), and rhythm section of piano, banjo, bass (string

or brass) and drums. These bands played from written scores

(arrangements or "charts"), but allowed freedom of invention for the

featured soloists and often took liberties in departing from the written

notes.

Though it was the best of the day, Henderson's band lacked rhythmic

smoothness and flexibility when Louis joined up. The flow and grace of his

short solos on records with the band make them stand out like diamonds in

a tin setting.

The elements of Louis' style, already then in perfect balance, included a

sound that was the most musical and appealing yet heard from a trumpet; a

gift for melodic invention that was as logical as it was new and startling,

and a rhythmic poise (jazzmen called it "time") that made other players

sound stiff and clumsy in comparison.

His impact on musicians was tremendous. Nevertheless, Henderson didn't

feature him regularly, perhaps because he felt that the white dancers for

whom his band performed were not ready for Louis' innovations. During

his year with the band, however, Louis caused a transformation in its style

and, eventually, in the whole big band field. Henderson's chief arranger,

Don Redman, (1900-1964) grasped what Louis was doing and got some of

it on paper. After working with Louis, tenor saxophonist Coleman

Hawkins (1904-1969) developed a style for his instrument that became the

guidepost for the next decade.

While in New York, Louis also made records with Sidney Bechet, and

with Bessie Smith (1894-1937), the greatest of all blues singers. In 1925,

he returned to Chicago and began to make records under his own name

with a small group, the Hot Five. Included were his wife Lil Hardin

Armstrong (1899-1971) on piano, Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, and guitarist

Johnny St. Cyr. The records, first to feature Louis extensively, became a

sensation among musicians, first all over the United States and later all

over the world. The dissemination of jazz, and in a very real sense its

whole development, would have been impossible without the phonograph.

KING LOUIS

The Hot Five was strictly a recording band. For everyday work, Louis

played in a variety of situations, including theater pit bands. He continued

to grow and develop, and in 1927 switched from cornet to the more

brilliant trumpet. He had occasionally featured his unique gravel voiced

singing, but only as a novelty. Its popular potential became apparent in

1929, when, back in New York, he starred in a musical show in which he

introduced the famous Ain't Misbehavin' singing as well as playing the

great tune written by pianist Thomas (Fats) Waller (1904-1943), himself

one of the greatest instrumentalists-singers-showmen in Jazz.

It was during his last year in Chicago while working with another pianist,

Earl (Fatha) Hines (1903-1983), that Louis reached his first artistic peak.

Hines was the first real peer to work with Louis. Inspired by him, he was

in turn able to inspire. Some of the true masterpieces of Jazz, among them

West End Blues and the duet Weatherbird, resulted from the

Armstrong-Hines union.

THE JAZZ AGE

Louis Armstrong dominated the musical landscape of the 20's and, in fact,

shaped the Jazz language of the decade to come as well. But the Jazz of

the Jazz Age was more often than not just peppy dance music made by

young men playing their banjos and saxophones who had little

understanding of (or interest in) what the blues and/or Louis Armstrong

were about. Still, a surprising amount of music produced by this

dance-happy period contained genuine Jazz elements.

PAUL WHITEMAN - King of Jazz?

The most popular bandleader of the decade was Paul Whiteman

(1890-1967), who ironically became known as the King of Jazz, although

his first successful bands played no Jazz at all and his later ones precious

little. These later bands, however, did play superb dance music, expertly

scored and performed by the best white musicians the extravagant

Whiteman paychecks could attract. From 1926 on, Whiteman gave

occasional solo spots to such Jazz-influenced players as cornetist Red

Nichols, violinist Joe Venuti, guitarist Eddie Lang (1904-1933), and the

Dorsey Brothers' trombonist-trumpeter Tommy (1905-1956) and

clarinetist-saxophonist Jimmy (1904-1957), all of whom later became

bandleaders in their own right.

In 1927, Whiteman took over the key personnel of Jean Goldkette's

Jazz-oriented band, which included a young cornetist and sometime pianist

and composer of rare talent, Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931). Bix's very

lyrical, personal music and early death combined to make him the first

(and most durable) jazz legend. His romanticized life story became the

inspiration for a novel and a film, neither of them close