7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7cornet. Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band was the apex of the
early, contrapuntal New Orleans ensemble style, and it
included musicians such as the brothers Johnny and Baby
Dodds and pianist Lil Hardin, who married Armstrong
in 1924. The young Armstrong became popular through
his ingenious ensemble lead and second cornet lines, his
cornet duet passages (called “breaks”) with Oliver, and
his solos. He recorded his first solos as a member of the
Oliver band in such pieces as “Chimes Blues” and “Tears.”
Encouraged by his wife, Armstrong quit Oliver’s band
to seek further fame. He played for a year in New York City
in Fletcher Henderson’s band and on many recordings with
others before returning to Chicago and playing in large
orchestras. There he created his most important early
works, the Armstrong Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings
of 1925–28, on which he emerged as the first great jazz
soloist. By then the New Orleans ensemble style, which
allowed few solo opportunities, could no longer contain
his explosive creativity. He retained vestiges of the style in
such masterpieces as “Hotter Than That,” “Struttin’ with
Some Barbecue,” “Wild Man Blues,” and “Potato Head
Blues” but largely abandoned it while accompanied by
pianist Earl Hines (“West End Blues” and “Weather Bird ”).
By that time Armstrong was playing trumpet, and his tech-
nique was superior to that of all competitors. Altogether,
his immensely compelling swing, his brilliant technique, his
sophisticated, daring sense of harmony, his ever-mobile,
expressive attack, timbre, and inflections, his gift for cre-
ating vital melodies; his dramatic, often complex sense of
solo design, and his outsized musical energy and genius
made these recordings major innovations in jazz.
Armstrong was a famous musician by 1929, when he
moved from Chicago to New York City and performed in
the theatre review Hot Chocolates. He toured America and