 Listening Library presents Who Was Louis Armstrong by Yonah Zeldis McDonough Read for you by Kevin Pariseau Who was Louis Armstrong? Once there was a poor black boy who grew up in New Orleans in the early years of the 20th century. His name was Louis Armstrong. But people called him Little Louis. To help his family, he did all kinds of jobs. He hunted for bits of brass and tinfoil that he sold to junk dealers. He pedaled newspapers on the streets, and he ran errands for grown-ups. Louis also formed a singing group with three of his friends. The boys stood on a corner and sang. People gave them money. In New Year's Eve, when Little Louis was about twelve, he and his friends went out to sing. They had just finished a song called My Brazilian Beauty, and were on their way home. One of his pals took out a cap gun and shot it into the air. He wanted to make noise because it was New Year's Eve. Louis did too, and he had a real gun. He took it out and pointed it up at the sky. Bam, bam, bam! A policeman heard the gunshots. Shooting a gun was very dangerous. It was also against the law. The policeman took Louis down to the station, and the next day he was sent to a reform school. Reform schools were for boys who were too young to be sent to jail. Years later, Louis Armstrong remembered that he thought his world was coming to an end then. As it turned out, going to the reform school saved his life. While he was in the school, he learned to play the cornet. He learned to play it so well that he grew up to become one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. Be Composed.