Louis Armstrong Stamp

**This Louis Armstrong stamp is a part of the jazz music set from the Legends of American Music series. Make sure to check out my hub page dedicated to this long-running and important project of the United States Postal Service. You can learn more about jazz stamps from around the world on this page.

Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong was born in 1901. He grew up poor in the racially segregated, but culturally rich melting pot, of New Orleans. He first encountered jazz in Storyville, the famed-red light district of the City. That is where he first heard the cornetist King Oliver play.

There are very few names as important to American music as Louis Armstrong. First known for his extraordinary trumpet playing, Armstrong was also a composer, bandleader, vocalist, and actor. He was also perhaps the most important figure in early jazz. His contributions helped establish the music as one of America’s great art forms.

Working odd jobs for a Lithuanian Jewish family, Armstrong was able to purchase a used cornet from a pawn shop. He began learning to play by ear, while at the same time singing in a quartet with other boys. After getting into trouble, he was sent to the “Colored Waif’s Home.” There, he had time to practice his cornet and first joined a band. After being released, Armstrong began playing in brass bands on riverboats. It was there that he learned to read music. When King Oliver left New Orleans to go north, Armstrong replaced him in Kid Orly’s band. The rest, as they say, is history.

Musical Stardom

Armstrong’s reputation grew and in 1922 King Oliver recruited him to move to Chicago and join his band. Two years later, he was off to New York where he switched to the trumpet and joined Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra. Armstrong was known for his emotionally charged and extended solos. He also sang, improvising nonsense syllables that mimicked instrumental solos. Known as “scat” singing, Armstrong was one of the masters of this vocal technique.

He bounced back and forth between Chicago and New York, leading his own bands, recording many hit vocal and trumpet songs, and building a reputation as a jazz artist with cross over appeal to white audiences. During the Depression years of the 1930s, Armstrong also went to Los Angeles and in 1931 appeared in his first movie. The jazz scene was hit hard by the depression, and Armstrong went on several extended tours, including to Europe during this decade. It was only in 1943, that Armstrong settled permanently in Queens, New York. You can still visit his home, which is now an impressive museum.

Armstrong had attained superstardom by the 1950s and he performed more than 300 times a year. However, there was a rift between this legendary jazz icon and the hot young bebop musicians that were then taking the jazz world by storm. These young musicians viewed Armstrong as a sellout, and he had no taste for their new ideas. As an international star, Armstrong toured the world, including Africa, Asia, and even behind the iron curtain. He played and recorded well into his sixties, but his health started to give out in the late 1960s and he slowed his schedule. Armstrong died of a heart attack on July 6, 1971.

The Stamp

The Louis Armstrong stamp was a part of the Legends of American Music (1993-1999) series. More specifically, Armstrong was part of a set of ten stamps dedicated to jazz musicians. While some of the genre groups were weak (opera singers) and others controversial (rock & roll), the jazz group is a remarkable group of the greatest names in jazz over several generations. In addition to Armstrong, it includes Charlie Parker, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonius Monk, and John Coltrane.

The Armstrong stamp was issued on September 1, 1995 in New Orleans. The remaining stamps in the series became available two weeks later on September 16, at the Monterrey Jazz Festival. The specific stamp features Armstrong playing the trumpet. Like the other stamps in the Legends series it is a lithograph print of an original acryllic painting. The stamp was the design of Dean Mitchell of Overland Park, Kansas. A couple of other blogs also feature the stamp including the National Postal Museum, and the Mystic Stamp Company. You may like to see other trumpets and trumpeters on stamp here.

Of historical interest to stamp collectors, the United States was not the first country to feature Louis Armstrong on a stamp. Several African countries including Niger and Chad, where Armstrong performed on international tours, created postage stamps dedicated to Armstrong after his death in 1971 and others followed. Today, Armstrong remains a popular subject of stamps and many countries continue to celebrate him. Check out a collection of Armstrong stamps from around the world in the slideshow below.

***This post was originally published on September 20, 2020 and was updated on October 14, 2021.