<P> Armstrong was one of the first artists to use recordings of his performances to improve himself . Armstrong was an avid audiophile . He had a large collection of recordings, including reel - to - reel tapes, which he took on the road with him in a trunk during his later career . He enjoyed listening to his own recordings, and comparing his performances musically . In the den of his home, he had the latest audio equipment and would sometimes rehearse and record along with his older recordings or the radio . </P> <P> As his music progressed and popularity grew, his singing also became very important . Armstrong was not the first to record scat singing, but he was masterful at it and helped popularize it with the first recording on which he scatted, "Heebie Jeebies". At a recording session for Okeh Records, when the sheet music supposedly fell on the floor and the music began before he could pick up the pages, Armstrong simply started singing nonsense syllables while Okeh president E.A. Fearn, who was at the session, kept telling him to continue . Armstrong did, thinking the track would be discarded, but that was the version that was pressed to disc, sold, and became an unexpected hit . Although the story was thought to be apocryphal, Armstrong himself confirmed it in at least one interview as well as in his memoirs . On a later recording, Armstrong also sang out "I done forgot the words" in the middle of recording "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas ." </P> <P> Such records were hits and scat singing became a major part of his performances . Long before this, however, Armstrong was playing around with his vocals, shortening and lengthening phrases, interjecting improvisations, using his voice as creatively as his trumpet . </P> <P> Armstrong was a gifted composer who wrote more than fifty songs, which in a number of cases have become jazz standards (e.g., "Gully Low Blues," "Potato Head Blues," and "Swing That Music"). </P>

Louis armstrong rock and roll hall of fame