Who Was Louis Armstrong - Who Was...? Author:Yona Zeblis McDonough, John O'Brien (Illustrator), Nancy Harrison (Illustrator) If not for a stint in reform school, young Louis Armstrong might never have become a musician. It was a teacher at the Colored Waifs’ Home who gave him a cornet, promoted him to band leader, and saw talent in the tough kid from the even tougher New Orleans neighborhood called Storyville. — But it was Louis Armstrong’s own passion and ... more »genius that pushed jazz into new and exciting realms with his amazing, improvisational trumpet playing. His seventy-year life spanned a critical time in American music as well as black history.« less