Louis Armstrong's Hot Five Recordings Begin, Revolutionizing Jazz

In November 1925, Louis Armstrong began recording his Hot Five sessions for Okeh Records in Chicago, launching a series widely considered the most important in jazz history. With Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, Lil Hardin Armstrong, and Johnny St. Cyr, the small-group sessions captured Armstrong's unprecedented improvisational genius and established the jazz soloist as the central figure of the music.