[Dixielandjazz] Louis Armstrong mouthpiece

John Gill smokewagon at yahoo.com
Tue Feb 21 15:54:02 PST 2012


When I lived in New Orleans the Jazz museum had the cornet that Armstrong played while serving his detention in 'The Colored Waifs Home" for shooting a gun off on the 4th of July. The also had his bugle. The horn was donated by Peter Davis who was the man who ran the Brass Band at the home, and responsible for Armstrongs early lessons on cornet. Assuming that the horn and mouthpiece were actually the ones played by young Louis, the mouthpiece has 12 or 13 notches cut into the rim. They were supposedly cut by Louis himself to keep the horn in place on his chops. Seems a little far fetched, but thats the story. It goes along other legendary stories like Freddie Keppard blowing the tuning slides off his horn, etc. The horn was donated by Prof. Davis in the 1950's and he can be seen playing it alongside Pops himself on a youtube clip from the old Steve Allen show. When Louis left the home after serving his time I guess Davis took the horn back. I don't
 think that this is the horn Louis purchased with money given by the Karnofsky Family while Armstrong was in their employ working on a junk wagon. I'm pretty sure Louis himself said that horn was a "Tonk". Tonk Brothers was a department store I think that sold musical instruments and had little labels affixed saying Tonk Brothers Music. I have seen a few of their cornets in junk stores during my picking days. I don't recall the brand of the horn from the Boys Home but I did see it up close many times when I lived in New Orleans. I did get to actually hold the mouthpiece and was shocked at how rough the cuts on the mouthpiece were. I can't imagine anyone playing on the mouthpice without causing serious harm to the lips. So that's the story as best as I remember it.
You can see pictures of the horn and mouthpiece online, just type in Louis Armstrong's first cornet.
John Gill


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