Valaida was born in Chattanooga , Tennessee . Raised on the road in a show-business family, she learned to play cello, bass , banjo , violin, mandolin , harp , accordion , clarinet , trumpet, and saxophone at professional levels by the time she was 15. She also sang and dance. After focusing on the trumpet, she quickly became so famous at the instrument that she was named "Little Louis" after Louis Armstrong , who used to call her the world's second best jazz trumpet player besides himself. She played concerts throughout the USA, Europe and China. From 1926 to 1929 she toured with Jack Carter's Serenaders in Shanghai, Singapore, Calcutta and Jakarta . Her most successful period was in the 1930's when she became the toast of London and Paris. Around this time she recorded her hit song "High Hat, Trumpet, and Rhythm". She performed in the Ethel Waters show Rhapsody in Black , in New York. I...