Liquid Architecture: the Story of Jazz for Beginners Like Me…Song #1/25: West End Blues by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five

Today marks my first foray into a genre of music that, admittedly, I know very little about: Jazz! Oh, I know some of the basic aspects of where the genre originated, what the musical form tends to be like and who some of the more famous names in the genre are, but I certainly don’t know the intricacies of Jazz the same way that I know Rock n’ Roll, for example. But I aim to find out. That’s what this new series is all about. I am hopeful that by paying homage to some of the greatest Jazz musicians of all time that I will gain some insight into their stories and how those experiences influenced the types of musicians they each became. But one thing that I do know right out of the gate is that Jazz music was born out of the experiences of people of colour. In many ways, Jazz is the demarcation point in a musical timeline that also includes the Blues, Soul, Hip Hop and, of course, Rock n’ Roll. As lovers of music, we all owe a great debt of gratitude to those many people of colour who created musical masterpieces out of the circumstances of their existence. It is my most fervent wish that those circumstances were based on sunshine and lollipops and not injustice, discrimination, poverty and alienation. But, truth be told, the history of Jazz as an art form is one that is built upon a history of social inequity and systemic intolerance that continues to exist to this very day. Each Jazz note played is a manifestation of pride and defiance and creativity that represents the story of a people whose voices and stories are all worthy of being heard and celebrated and honoured. Hopefully, I am able to do justice to that with these posts.

A second thing I already know about Jazz is that one of its most well-known characteristics is improvisation. Famed architect Frank Gehry once compared Jazz to a style of design known as liquid architecture. The essence of his comparison had to do with giving himself and other architects permission to move beyond the time-honoured standardized forms of building design (eg., a house must have a foundation, four walls, a roof and be composed of small, walled rooms inside) and into a form of design that incorporated more creativity and movement and freedom into how buildings were created. Gehry compared the type of design practice that he was most enthused about, liquid architecture, with the improvisational nature of Jazz. In Jazz there are basic song structures that guide each musician’s performance, but within those basic structures, there is a degree of creative freedom to improvise as a soloist or in interactions with other band members that allows each performance to be different while, at the same time, still structurally sound. Accomplished Jazz musicians basically begin each number by saying to their audiences and/or fellow musicians, we are about to go on some kind of wild ride, so hang on! And then they begin to play. For me, listening to Jazz recordings is an exercise in the familiar with an added dose of virtuosity thrown in for good measure. When the history of Jazz as an art form is mentioned, many people point to compositions like “West End Blues” by Louis Armstrong as being one of the foundational pieces that helped define all that is Jazz. Thus, my journey as a Jazz novice begins at the beginning. Let’s meet one of the most popular, well-known and widely respected musicians of the last century, Mr. Louis Armstrong. Here we go!

Louis Arnstrong was born in 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the time, New Orleans was a place that was still finding its own identity as a city. Initially, Louisiana was a region colonized by France. At one point, the territory was ceded to Spain, who, a short time later, returned the colony to France. Eventually, France sold the territory to the burgeoning country of America in a famous historical transaction known as The Louisiana Purchase. Even though Louisiana became an American colony, the cultural fabric of the land was rooted in French and Spanish history and customs, making it a very distinct region within a new and growing land. The most famous neighbourhood in New Orleans is called the French Quarter. Needless to say, the origins of this neighbourhood reflect the history of French involvement in the city. The impact of this settlement of New Orleans by French expats is that when the time came for African Americans to begin their journey into the city, they found the downtown core already filled with the French (and Spanish, too). Thus, many African Americans who came to the city to live ended up on the perimeter of the city limits. This influx of distinct cultural groups helped to give New Orleans a unique sense of place, but at the same time, it also created the conditions that have led to an unofficial policy of segregation that exists to this day. (On a related but different note, I read a great book on the subject of systemic discrimination in the form of housing bylaws in New Orleans called The Yellow House by Sarah Broom that is required reading on this subject. Among the many things that this book covers is why Hurricane Katrina damaged predominantly black communities to a greater degree than the same storm did to predominantly white communities. The answer can be found in how New Orleans was settled). So, it was into this rich yet segregated cultural mix that Louis Armstrong found himself as a child. 

Louis Armstrong did not invent Jazz as a genre of music. As is often the case in situations such as this when there are such divergent cultural groups gathering together, many for the first time, there tends to be a period in which stories are shared. The histories of the various people living in New Orleans at the turn of the century were told in the form of vibrant art, in storytelling and via the written word, but mostly those stories were told in the form of music and dance. Thus, long before young Louis Armstrong picked up his first cornet horn, there were musicians in the city who were performing music in a style that was unique to the city. This style was a combination of Creole, Spanish and African American influences. There was no name for this style of music, but there were several practitioners who were developing a name for themselves as purveyors of quality entertainment. One such musician was named Joe “King” Oliver. King Oliver, as he was known, played the cornet. While King Oliver was honing his skills as a brass band leader, a young boy named Louis Armstrong was running the streets and getting into trouble with the police. After one too many incidents, Armstrong was removed from his home and placed into the custody of the Coloured Waifs Home for Boys. It was while there that Armstrong was first introduced to a musical instrument known as a cornet. The cornet is a smaller cousin to the traditional trumpet. Armstrong found that he had an aptitude for playing the cornet and resolved to become a professional musician upon his release from custody. Once that release day came, Armstrong sought the advice of the one person he knew who played the cornet for a living. That person was King Oliver. Oliver took Armstrong under his wing. He taught Louis a series of fundamental skill-type drills and allowed him to hang around with him when he played live. Armstrong took to the instrument and grew into an accomplished player. His skills and maturity developed to the point where King Oliver invited Arnstrong to become a member of his band that was known as The King Oliver Creole Jazz Band. In that band, Armstrong played the role of second cornet to Oliver’s lead cornet role. Also in that band was a lovely and talented young piano player named Lil Hardin. As the years went by, she and Louis Armstrong grew closer and closer and eventually ended up getting married to each other. In any case, life in the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band was a priceless form of musical education that saw young Louis Armstrong get to hone his skills while traveling across America. As part of this education, Armstrong got to learn how to compose songs. King Oliver composed his own songs and welcomed Armstrong to observe how it was done. When the time came for Armstrong to strike out on his own as a band leader, King Oliver also gave him the gift of his blessing to record cover versions of any of his songs that he wished. One of the songs that Armstrong chose to cover was a song about life in New Orleans called “West End Blues”.

“West End Blues” was written in 1928 by King Oliver. The song describes life at a popular resort that was built on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. Needless to say, there are racial and historical undertones to such a song, but that is not what makes “West End Blues” such an important and groundbreaking song. When the song was first written and performed by King Oliver, it followed a basic Dixieland Jazz structure and was played as an ensemble piece. However, when Louis Armstrong covered the song, he did two things that changed the history of Jazz music and helped to make it into the more recognizable music form that we know today. First of all, he took the ensemble nature of the song apart and redesigned it in such a way that allowed for the lead cornet part to function at times as a solo part rather than an ensemble part. This is applying liquid architectural philosophies to a musical form. While the essence of “West End Blues” remained intact, Armstrong’s creative decision had the effect of giving license to those who followed in years to come the freedom to build Jazz tunes more around soloists. This is what allowed people like Jazz virtuosos like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker to come along in later years. The second related innovative change that Armstrong introduced with his cover of “West End Blues” was that he sang a form of scat singing for the first time ever on a recorded song. As you may know, scat singing is a style made most famous by Ella Fitzgerald in which a series of connected sounds are sung as if they were actual lyrics. These sounds act to keep the rhythm of the song going and serve as a complementary form of instrumentation along with the cornets and whatever other instruments were being used by the orchestra or band at the time. There is a funny aspect to the making of history, which is that often those involved in the moment have no idea that history is even being made. It usually takes the luxury of hindsight to trace innovations back to the original source. Well, in the case of the improvisational nature of Jazz and of the introduction of scat singing, the origin story of both Jazz trademarks can be seen in Louis Armstrong’s cover of King Oliver’s “West End Blues”. That’s why his version of this King Oliver song is so important and so revered by those who have come to love Jazz.             

As I am sure you know, Louis Armstrong had a career that lasted for over half a century before he died in 1971. He is most remembered for his rendition of “What a Wonderful World” and other classics like “Ain’t Misbehavin”, “La Vie en Rose”, “Blueberry Hill” and countless others. But Louis Armstrong was also respected for his willingness to travel to wherever American troops happened to be stationed around the world. In doing so, he became known as Ambassador Satchmo!  Despite his fame as a musician, Armstrong was a reserved man who did not want to assume the role of leader when it came to civil rights for people of colour. There are two notable exceptions to this. The first was when Armstrong took his band on a tour of Australia in the 1950s. He did so at the height of his popularity. At the time, there was a formal rule against people of colour playing in prominent concert halls. Armstrong defied those rules and came to Australia anyway, daring the authorities to stop his concerts. Of course, his fame and notoriety had reached the Land Down Under, and throngs of admirers followed him wherever he played. These performances opened the doors for other Black performers to play in Australia, too. One of the most famous examples of this was singer Paul Robeson serenading workers who were building the Sydney Opera House. It also helped shape public opinion in favour of Indigenous rights in that country. The other notable case of Louis Armstrong leading the way in matters of civil rights occurred during the legal case involving “The Little Rock Nine”. The Little Rock Nine were the incredibly courageous Black students who defied segregation laws and attended white only schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. Because Louis Armstrong was in the unique position of being a Black entertainer who played before white audiences, he was able to articulate the concerns of those who championed the desegregation of schools to white people in ways that seemed less confrontational and threatening. The impact of his involvement in helping to end segregation of schools as formal government policy cannot be overstated. 

I am sure that I could devote an entire post just to Louis Armstrong and his long and impactful career. But for today’s initial foray into the world of Jazz, I think I will leave things here. I have no doubt that I will be touching back upon Louis Armstrong and the importance of New Orleans to the creation of Jazz again and again as I move through this series. For any Jazz enthusiasts out there, I ask for your patience and your guidance as we move along. I am no expert. I am here to learn and grow. Any advice or gentle corrections that you are in a position to give will be most gratefully appreciated. And with that, I will say goodbye for today and wish you all well. Thanks for reading my words, as always.

The link to the video for the song “West End Blues” by Louis Arnstrong can be found here.

The link to the official website for Louis Armstrong can be found here.

The link to the official website for Joe “King” Oliver can be found here.

The link to a good article about the difference between a trumpet and a cornet can be found here.

The link to the official website for the city of New Orleans can be found here.

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