Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1928 - 1947)
Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra was one of
the most popular bands in Jazz history and one of
the driving forces of Swing style that came to
dominant popular music of the 1930s and 1940s.
In 1928 Armstrong began fronting Carroll
Dickerson's Orchestra and travelled east from
Chicago to New York. The band became known
as the Louis Armstrong Orchestra, with
Dickerson acting as musical director. In 1929 Louis Armstrong was hired to play in
the pit band of the popular all Black musical reveiw Hot Chocolates which featured
the music of Andy Razaf and Fats Waller. The show was a great success and
Armstrong stole the show with his singing of Ain't Misbehavin' which became his
biggest selling record to date. After each night's show he would then join the
Dickerson crew at Connies Inn and finish the evening at the Lafayette Theater next
door. In 1929 he started to record quite a few of Hoagy Carmichael's songs.
Armstrong had know Carmichael back in the King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band days in
Chicago through Bix Beiderbecke and they teamed up on Hoagy's Rockin' Chair. In
1931 he recorded three more of Carmichael's songs, Stardust, Lazy River, and
Georgia On My Mind. In 1934 Armstrong took over the The Luis Russell Orchestra
and from then on they became known as the Louis Armstrong Orchestra with Russell
acting as musical director.
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