How Chicago put Louis Armstrong on a path to jazz greatness 100 years ago

Louis Armstrong (right) autographs a group picture at the Blue Note nightclub during a jazz concert for teenagers in Chicago on April 1, 1948. At left: Paul Meyer, 16, and Tom Koch, 17, of Milwaukee, who hitchhiked to Chicago to attend the concert. (AP file)

In 1967, Louis Armstrong recorded “What a Wonderful World,” a song that’s known around the globe more than five decades later. That world, for Armstrong, started in Chicago.

Considered one of the most revered musical icons of all time, the trumpeter, singer and composer has inspired a yearlong celebration in Chicago that peaks this fall and winter.