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In “The Crescent City,” an homage to one of the world’s most famous musicians is not difficult to find. Even touching down at the New Orleans airport, a visitor is quickly greeted by the name, “Louis Armstrong.” A larger-than-life persona who mesmerized audiences worldwide with his trumpet, Armstrong is now omnipresent in the city he was once born. During his lifetime, however, Armstrong endured a difficult relationship with his native city due to racism and oppressive Jim Crow laws. Still, there was one household in New Orleans that helped him get his first shot as a musician – and he never forgot it.
Growing up in the racially segregated city in the early 1900s, Armstrong lived in a poor neighborhood called “The Battlefield” with his mother and sister. To help his mother make ends meet, Louis got a job when he was seven working for a Lithuanian Jewish family, finding scraps of coal and miscellaneous junk that could be resold. The forward-thinking Karnofskys saw great potential in Armstrong and gave him a tin horn to attract customers to their wares. Thus began Armstrong’s love affair with the trumpet.
On top of employing Louis, the Karnofskys understood the boy’s living conditions were difficult, and hosted him nightly for dinner. Recognizing his love of music and the beginning of his mastery of brass, the family even loaned Armstrong the money to buy his first legitimate cornet.
Riverboat Louie Armstrong 📍 New Orleans
Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong left New Orleans for Chicago in 1922 and never lived in the city again. As he grew into a global jazz star, however, he never forgot the kindness of the Jewish family that brought him under their wing when no one else would. Given a Star of David necklace from friends later in his career, the legendary musician never took it off, citing in interviews his desire to honor the New Orleanian Karnofskys.
