Louis Armstrong

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  • Year:
    1990
  • Inducted by:
    Rickie Lee Jones
  • Category:
    Early Influences
Louis Armstrong

Introduction

Rich in talent, skill and personality.

It is rare that you find technical excellence, superb artistry and irresistible charisma in one performer. Louis Armstrong had all those qualities. As an architect of jazz and a vocal trendsetter, Louis Armstrong left an indelible mark on music as an art form.

Hall of Fame Essay

1990

Chris Albertson

He was known as America's Jazz Ambassador, but Louis Armstrong's scope reached far beyond the music he so epitomized. No other jazz artist has towered so high above all others in his musical field, not even Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Miles Davis or Charlie Parker.

In terms of influence, Armstrongs importance to jazz exceeds Beethoven’s to European music, Shakespeare's to English literature and Chuck Berry's to rock & roll. "You know you can't play anything on the horn that Louis hasn't played," Miles Davis once remarked. "I mean even modern."

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Program Cover 1990
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