Louis Daniel Armstrong (1900 - 1971): born in New Orleans, leader in the history of jazz; trumpeter. Armstrong played the trumpet in marching bands and on Mississippi riverboats as a youth; he travelled to Chicago in 1922 to play with Joe "King" Oliver. In 1925 and 1928 he recorded with the Hot Five and the Hot Seven and established himself as a virtuoso trumpet soloist. He is also credited with the invention of "scat" singing, vocal improvisation. Date of death: July 6, 1971; Queens, New York