| Louis Armstrong | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Airdate | September 18, 2007 | ||
| Curriculum | Arts & Music Social Studies | ||
Louis Armstrong launched in BrainPOP Arts & Music/Social Studies September 18, 2007.
Summary[]
Moby came home with Dad's old trumpet and shows it to Tim. Moby reveals the bottom of the old trumpet is a spit valve.
At the end, Tim plays the trumpet so badly it causes Moby to shatter into pieces, even his beep parts. "Oh, cut that out! You did that on purpose! Mo-Moby?" Tim realizes Moby is not answering because Moby put spit valve on his trumpet.
Appearances[]
Transcript[]
Quiz[]
Quotes[]
Tim: I can give it a shot. Dad showed me some stuff once. [plays trumpet with a bad melody, breaking all of Moby's parts and his beeps] Oh, cut that out. You did that on purpose. [Moby does not respond] Mo-Moby?
FYI comic[]
Did You Know?[]
Louis Armstrong didn’t invent scat, but the legendary jazz trumpeter did play a major role in making the unpredictable vocal technique popular!
Scat singing, or scatting, is basically improvised singing using nonsense sounds or words. Armstrong’s famous 1926 recording of the hit “Heebie Jeebies” with his band The Hot Five features a chorus of scat singing, and the recording is usually mentioned in any conversation about the origin of scat. There’s even a famous story that sort of explains how the technique made it into the cut!
As the story goes, Armstrong dropped his sheet music . . . right in the middle of recording! Since he didn’t have the lyrics in front of him, Armstrong came up with a melody of gibberish right on the spot, just to fill the time. He figured the cut would be tossed away anyway, but of course the scat singing made it into the final album! While most historians don’t believe this actually happened, Armstrong did confirm one part of the story in his memoirs: The sheet music did fall!
As it turns out, musicians like Gene Greene, Tony Jackson, and Jelly Roll Morton had already been experimenting with scat singing with the rise of ragtime music in the 1910s. But there’s no doubt that Armstrong’s recording of “Heebie Jeebies” helped push scat into the spotlight, and inspired later musicians like Cab Calloway, Annie Ross, and Ella Fitzgerald to take it to new heights!
Trivia[]
In addition to his “satchel mouth,” Louis Armstrong had another noteworthy facial feature: years and years of constant trumpet playing created a dip in his upper lip. His unorthodox embouchure (method of pursing the lips to play) caused the facial anomaly, which even prevented him from playing trumpet for a while. During this time, Armstrong emphasized his singing, eventually coming up with a way to work around his lip impression and return to the trumpet.
- Louis Armstrong has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The address where you can see the star is 7601 Hollywood Boulevard.
- The former main tennis stadium in Queens, NY, where the U.S. Open is held each year, was named after Armstrong, who grew up just a few blocks away. (In 1997, the current main stadium was built and named after tennis great Arthur Ashe). Armstrong stadium is still used during the U.S. Open.
- Until the day he died, Louis Armstrong celebrated his birthday on July 4 and believed he was born in 1900. But in 1983, 12 years after his death, a music historian named Tad Jones discovered an interesting document in the New Orleans church where Louis was baptized: a certificate indicating that his birthday was actually August 4, 1901! Armstrong had it wrong his whole life, and as a result, his fans now celebrate his birthday twice a year.
- In 1995, the U.S. Post Office issued a Louis Armstrong commemorative postage stamp.
- Louis Armstrong’s trumpet was among a group of items interred in a Millenial time capsule sealed in 2000 in Washington, D.C. The time capsule is set to be closed until 2100.
Quotables[]
“Before Louis Armstrong, the world was definitely square, just like Christopher Columbus thought.” –Hugh Masekela, South African trumpet player
“Every time this man puts his trumpet to his lips, even if only to practice three notes, he does it with his whole soul.” –Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor
“If you don't like Louis Armstrong, you don't know how to love.” –Mahalia Jackson, American gospel singer
"Armstrong is to music what Einstein is to physics and the Wright Brothers are to travel.” –Ken Burns (pictured), American film producer
“The bottom line of any country in the world is what did we contribute to the world? We contributed Louis Armstrong.” –Tony Bennett, American singer
“I'm proud to acknowledge my debt to the ‘Reverend Satchelmouth’ ... He is the beginning and the end of music in America” –Bing Crosby, American singer and actor
“One of the architects of an American art form, a free and individual spirit, and an artist of worldwide fame, [Armstrong’s] great talents and magnificent spirit added richness and pleasure to all our lives.” –Richard Nixon, former U.S. President
Quirky Stuff[]
Having trouble keeping your weight down? BrainPOP officially recommends you stay away from Louis Armstrong’s preferred method of weight control: laxatives.
We kid you not! Armstrong was so convinced of the slimming benefits of laxatives—which are medical aids to help you, um, go to the bathroom—that he even published a diet plan called Lose Weight the Satchmo Way.
In his younger years, Armstrong apparently favored a brand of laxitives known as Pluto Water. But in his later days, his favorite was an herbal remedy called Swiss Kriss, about which he said, “I take my Swiss Kriss, man, they keep you rollin’.” He even appeared in advertisements for Swiss Kriss, with the camera showing him as seen through a “keyhole” in the bathroom door! The commercial’s slogan? “Says Satch, ‘Leave it all behind ya!’”
If you ever stop by the Louis Armstrong House & Archives, the museum converted from his old house in Queens, New York, you’ll notice that packets of Swiss Kriss are available in the gift shop. (Again, no joke!) If you absolutely must have a souvenir, then go ahead and buy a pack, but please don’t use it!
FYI Comic[]
