The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.
Louis ArmstrongRead
To jazz, or not to jazz, there is no question!
Interpretation
The quote expresses the idea that engaging with jazz music is an unquestionable choice.
Louis Armstrong's quote encapsulates the essence of jazz as an art form that is irresistible and necessary for those who appreciate music. It suggests that the joy and vibrancy of jazz are so profound that one cannot hesitate to embrace it, highlighting the genre's significance and allure in the world of music.
In practice
At a jazz festival, you could say this quote to capture the spirit of the event.
The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the back yard on a hot night or something said long ago.
Making money ain't nothing exciting to me. You might be able to buy a little better booze than the wino on the corner. But you get sick just like the next cat and when you die you're just as graveyard dead as he is.
Very few of the men whose names have become great in the early pioneering of jazz and of swing were trained in music at all. They were born musicians: they felt their music and played by ear and memory. That was the way it was with the great Dixieland Five.
My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn.
I've Got the World on a String.
It's America's classical music ... this becomes our tradition ... the bottom line of any country in the world is what did we contribute to the world? ... we contributed Louis Armstrong
Soundgarden signing to a major, then Mother Love Bone, and seeing the same happen to Alice in Chains. We were all suddenly making music and recording at the same time, and we had money to do it. It wasn't like a $2,000 recording that you do over a weekend. It's like, 'Wow, maybe this will be our job.'
Technically, I'm not a guitar player, all I play is truth and emotion.
It's now taken for granted that women are in bands and you can say feminist things in your songs. But back in the early '90s, there was a lot of violence at Bikini Kill shows that people don't realize happened.
A lot of people don't realise I came out of the Smoky Mountains with a load of songs.
I've never tried to achieve anything. I achieved everything I wanted to achieve by being in the Rolling Stones and making records.
I remember when I thought of singing as the bit that went between the guitar playing - something I couldn't wait to get out of the way. Singing was originally like a chore that I didn't really enjoy.
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