Louis Armstrong was a famous trumpeter and bandleader in the 20s.
His playing style has the following features:
- fat sound
- economical solos (minimalistic, as opposed to flurries of notes)
- powerful notes even in high registers
- ”shakes”: wide vibratos
His rendition of “West End Blues” was a significant jazz record, as it marked the turning point of jazz, popularizing solos as a mainstay of jazz music.
He also frequently sang and scatted with his coarse voice, e.g., “Hello Dolly.”
Some has criticized him for pandering to the white audience in tunes such as “Uncle Tom,” where he was depicted as a soldier in the US army playing a trumpet. Yet arguably, some amount of white pandering might have been necessary for his music to reach and be accepted by a wider audience.