Page 23 - TORCH Magazine #30 - Spring 2026

One of those children was a seven-year-
Quarter of New Orleans when Louis spotted
old boy named Louis Armstrong. He was
an old, well-worn cornet in a shop window.
part of the Karnofsky’s team that went
It cost five dollars, a big sum for a poor
through the red-light district at night selling
kid in the city, and for Louis it seemed
scrap. His jobs included cleaning glass
impossible to get. However, Morris saw the
bottles and shouting at the top of his voice
spark in his eyes and encouraged him to
to attract customers.
buy it. He gave Louis a two-dollar advance
The work with the Karnofsky’s was not
on his wages to help him get started, and
easy, as Armstrong would later recall. “The
over the following weeks, Louis saved
Karnofsky’s would start getting ready for
fifty cents each week until he had enough
work at five o’clock in the morning. And
money to make the purchase.
me, I was right there along with them,” he
“The little cornet was real dirty and had
wrote, but the hard work offered him hope,
turned real black. Morris cleaned my little
“I began to feel like I had a future and ‘It’s a
cornet with some brass polish and poured
Wonderful World’ after all.”
some insurance oil all through it, which
Louis was earning money for himself
sterilized the inside. He requested me to
as well as for his single mother and his
play a tune on it. Although I could not play
sister, after his father
a good tune Morris
left his mother on the
applauded me just the
day Louis was born.
same, which made me
They lived in a single
room home for much
of his childhood.
However, Louis was
also becoming like an
adopted part of the
“It was the Jewish family who instilled in me singing from the heart. They
feel very good,” Louis
would later recall.
Louis started to use
the simple instrument
to try and draw in
customers to the cart.
Karnofskys’ family. He
would regularly stay for
dinner and started to
encourage me to carry on."
One day, he removed
the mouthpiece,
opened and closed
learn about Jewish life.
the horn’s bell with his
“My first Jewish meal
fingers, and discovered
was at the age of seven.
he could make music.
I liked their Jewish food very much. Every
Children from the neighbourhood would
time we would come in late on the little
gather around him, and he’d give them
wagon… when they would be having supper,
private concerts. Admission was paid in
they would fix a plate of food for me, saying
empty bottles, which he later sold. “The
‘you’ve worked, might as well eat here
kids loved the sounds of my tin horn,” he
with us. It is too late, and by the time you
remembered, “After blowing into it a while I
get home, it will be way too late for your
realized I could play ‘Home Sweet Home’ –
supper.’ I was glad because I fell in love with
then here come the Blues. From then on, I
their food from those days until now.” It’s
was… tootin’ away.”
true, Louis ate ‘Jewish food’ all his life, and
Louis’ trumpet playing wasn’t the only
we’ll reveal his favourite later in this article.
thing shaped by the Karnofsky's. So too was
More than just feeding him, the
the deep vocal style he became known for.
Karnofsky’s also nurtured his love for music.
“When I reached the age of eleven I began
After their meals, he would listen to the
to realize that it was the Jewish family who
mother, Tillie, singing Russian lullabies to
instilled in me singing from the heart. They
her children, and young Louis would join in
encouraged me to carry on.”
with the singing. Witnessing this passion for
With their support and encouragement,
music, they nurtured in him the belief that
Louis began to believe in his chances of
he could become a musician.
becoming a musician. “As a young boy
One day, Louis and Morris Karnofsky,
coming up, the people whom I worked
the father, were riding through the French
for were very much concerned about my
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