7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

In most of Armstrong’s movie, radio, and television

appearances, he was featured as a good-humoured enter-

tainer. He played a rare dramatic role in the film New

Orleans (1947), in which he also performed in a Dixieland

band. This prompted the formation of Louis Armstrong’s

All-Stars, a Dixieland band that at first included such

other jazz greats as Hines and trombonist Jack Teagarden.

For most of the rest of Armstrong’s life, he toured the

world with changing All-Stars sextets. It was the period of

his greatest popularity; he produced hit recordings such as

“Mack the Knife” and “Hello, Dolly!” and outstanding

albums such as his tributes to W.C. Handy and Fats Waller.

In his last years ill health curtailed his trumpet playing,

but he continued as a singer. His last film appearance was

in Hello, Dolly! (1969), but his most memorable film role

may well be as narrator of and bandleader in the 1956 hit

musical High Society, also starring Frank Sinatra, Bing

Crosby, and Grace Kelly.

More than a great trumpeter, Armstrong was a band-

leader, singer, soloist, film star, and comedian. One of his

most remarkable feats was his frequent conquest of the

popular market. He nonetheless made his greatest impact

on the evolution of jazz itself, which at the start of his

career was popularly considered to be little more than a

novelty. With his great sensitivity, technique, and capacity

to express emotion, Armstrong not only ensured the survival

of jazz but led in its development into a fine art.

Umm Kulthūm

(b. May 4, 1904?, Tummāy al-Zahāyrah, Egypt—d. Feb. 3, 1975, Cairo)

E

gyptian singer Umm Kulthūm mesmerized Arab audi-

ences from the Persian Gulf to Morocco for half a

century. She was one of the most famous Arab singers and

public personalities in the 20th century.