In 1964, Louis Armstrong knocked the Beatles off the top of the charts with his recording of “Hello, Dolly!” becoming, at age 62, the oldest artist to ever hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Sixty years later, Louis Armstrong remains a beloved cultural figure, his oft-imitated voice still instantly recognizable. But Armstrong is more than a source of levity — his artistry and innovations when he made his first recordings a century ago in 1923 set the template for the modern pop star. On this centennial episode, hear Armstrong as you’ve never heard him: a defiant, pathbreaking musician whose voice resonates in every hit record.
Songs Discussed
Louis Armstrong - Hello, Dolly!
King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Dippermouth Blues
Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra - Sugar Foot Stomp
Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven - Potato Head Blues, West End Blues, Big Butter And Egg Man, Heebie Jeebies
Louis Armstrong - Ain't Misbehavin', Dinah, I'm a Ding Dong Daddy (From Dumas), Black And Blue, Swing That Music
Bing Crosby, The Mills Brothers - Dinah
The Boswell Sisters - Heebie Jeebies
Ella Fitzgerald - Mack The Knife - Live At The Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, 1960
Joey Ramone - What a Wonderful World
Ghostface Killah - The Forest
Jon Batiste - What A Wonderful World
More
Read Terry Teachout’s brilliant biography of Armstrong, Pops
Visit the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, NY
Listen to Lil Hardin Armstrong’s 1968 interview with Chris Albertson for Riverside Records
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How Louis Armstrong invented the modern pop star | Switched on Pop podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
