Louis Armstrong. Literature & Language Assignment. (Essay Sample)

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Louis Armstrong
Despite growing up as a minority in a segregated America, the story of Louis Armstrong and his successful six-decade career is the true narrative of the American success story. His dexterity with the saxophone revolutionized the world of jazz music, and he became one of this century’s most recognized and loved icon. Today, thirty-five years since his demise, Armstrong’s work as a vocalist and instrumentalist continue to have a profound effect on jazz music. As Granalstein astutely put it in his tome, Louis whole heartedly lent his voice to the civil rights struggle and played a fundamental role in shaping the jazz music to what it is today (48).
Louis was born in New Orleans in 1902, and developed an interest in music, harmonizing and playing the saxophone on street corners. His father, a violent drunk, abandoned the family when he was three years old, and his teenaged mother usually resorted to prostitution to make ends meet.