Fellow musicians called him "stachelmouth" because of his huge, wide grin. Later, it was shortened to "Sachmo". The nickname belonged to Louis Armstrong, possibly the greatest jazz musician of all time, but certainly the most influential of them all.
Perhaps if he hadn't fired that borrowed pistol into the air to celebrate New Year's 1913, Armstrong might have never been a professional musician at all. The frightened 12-year-old boy was arrested by a very annoyed police officer and sent to the New Orleans Colored Waifs' Home for Boys to ponder his infamy. Fortunately for Louis, and the musical world as well, he fell under the influence of Peter Davis, the home's musical instructor. Davis recognized the talent in the young black boy. He taught him singing, percussion and, finally, the trumpet.
Fortune turned her back on him at first. Louis Daniel Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, in the Storyville District of New Orleans. It was a rough and tumble neighborhood, populated by street toughs and so crowded that one could barely find standing room. His father was a laborer who abandoned the family soon after Louis' birth. His mother was a part-time prostitute.
Young Louis was desperately poor. His only way to earn a living -- other than stealing, which he never resorted to -- was to sing on street corners for nickels. The gun incident in 1913, and his subsequent incarceration, made Louis determined to wiggle from the grasp of poverty.
Louis was released from the boy's home when he was 14. He worked at any honest job that would provide food for his aching belly. At night, he haunted the dive bars that dotted the Storyville District, listening to the jazz bands that were just coming into prominence. His favorite musician was Joe "King" Oliver with the Kid Ory Band. Oliver took a liking to the friendly, earnest young man and became his mentor as Peter Davis had done a few years before. By the age of 17, Armstrong and his horn sat with several of the numerous bands that played New Orleans.
In 1919, Armstrong was so deft that he moved to St. Louis to join Fate Marable's band. It was an exciting two years for young Louis because Marable's band played on paddlewheelers owned by the Streckfus Mississippi Boat Lines. The young musician spent most of his time playing the river and playing to appreciative riverboat passengers.
