Lil Hardin Armstrong

Happy Birthday Lil Hardin Armstrong...Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer and band leader, this talented woman was also instrumental in forming the career of her second husband, Louis Armstrong. In 1918, at the age of 25 she was working in a music store playing the latest sheet music for customers when Jelly Roll Morton walked in, sat at the piano and introduced her to the world of jazz. Hardin began to add Morton-like embellishments to the music she was playing to the delight of the customers. The store also functioned as a booking agency for musicians in and visiting Chicago and within three weeks at the job she was invited to join Lawrence Duhe's New Orleans Creole Jazz Band. In 1922 King Oliver's band picked her up next where she would meet the very unpolished but extremely talented Louis Armstrong. She took Armstrong under her wing, grooming his sartorial as well as his musical style, encouraging him to leave his mentor for Fletcher Henderson's band while she lead her own band in Chicago. Always ambitious for herself and her husband, Hardin encouraged Armstrong to return to Chicago after a year with Henderson to form their own band which would become the "Hot Five" and the "Hot Seven". Hardin would continue to record with some of the same musicians under her own name. Louis Armstrong had a wandering eye and their relationship began to cool by the late 20s. In 1931 they were separated (divorcing in 1938) and Hardin went on the form an all woman big band then a mixed gender band which would broadcast nationally on NBC radio. During the latter half of the 30's she was the house pianist at Decca, recording 26 titles as a leader and vocalist including her composition "Just for a Thrill". Although she rarely recorded during the 40s and 50s she remained active in Chicago for the last 30 years of her career. She died of a heart attack at the age of 71 playing piano at a memorial for Louis Armstrong who had passed away 4 weeks earlier.



Just for a Thrill was her composition and has been covered by many artists including Ray Charles and Peggy Lee.