Ever heard of a guy nicknamed ‘BIG CHEEKS’ ?

Ever heard of a guy nicknamed ‘BIG CHEEKS’ ?

Big cheeks was the grandson of slaves, a boy born in a poor neighbourhood of New Orleans known as the "Back of Town." His father abandoned the family when the child was an infant His mother became a prostitute and the boy and his sister had to live with their grandmother. Louis Armstrong was raised by his grandmother until the age of five when he was returned to his mother. He spent his youth in poverty in a rough neighborhood known as The Battlefield. At six he attended the Fisk School for Boys, a school that accepted black children in the racially segregated system of New Orleans.

Early in life he proved to be gifted for music and with three other kids he sang in the streets of New Orleans. His first earnings were coins that were thrown to them.

A Jewish family, the Karnofskys, who had emigrated from Lithuania to the USA, had pity for the 7-year-old boy and took him into their home. There he remained and slept in this Jewish family's home where, for the first time in his life, he was treated with kindness and tenderness.

When he went to bed, Mrs. Karnovsky would sing him Russian lullabies that he would sing with her. Later, he learned to sing and play several Russian and Jewish songs.

Over time, this boy became the adopted son of this family. The Karnofskys gave him money to buy his first musical instrument, as was the custom in Jewish families.

They admired his musical talent. Later, when he became a professional musician and composer, he used these Jewish melodies in compositions such as Go Down Moses.

The little black boy grew up and wrote a book about this Jewish family who had adopted him in 1907. In memory of this family and until the end of his life, he wore a Star of David and said that in this family, he had learned "how to live real life with determination."

You might recognize his name. This little boy was called: Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.

Louis Armstrong proudly spoke fluent Yiddish! And "Satchmo" is Yiddish for "Big Cheeks"!!!

With his instantly recognizable rich, gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer and skillful improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song. Armstrong is renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice as well as his trumpet playing. Armstrong always sounded happy, “like he knew something the rest of us didn't” remarked one of his friends. That aura of happiness has amazed and baffled Armstrong fans for more than a hundred years.

Even as segments of the black community scorned him as a sell-out to the white establishment, Armstrong broke colour barriers wherever he went and helped other blacks strive equality and identity in modern America. (Born 1901. Died 1971)