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
I call myself a blues singer, but you ain't never heard me call myself a blues guitar man.
In truth, I became a conductor because deep down I wanted to conduct Brahms's four symphonies and Richard Strauss's tone poems.
A young tenor player was complaining to me that Coleman Hawkins made him nervous. Man, I told him Hawkins was supposed to make him nervous! Hawkins has been making other sax players nervous for forty years!
This is our bandstand. If you don't want to play, get up off the instrument and leave.
There were musicians that influenced me, but they weren't all women. Teena Marie was a big influence because she wrote and produced her own music, which let me know that women could write and produce their own music, which was an empowering moment for me.
I was at the first Minor Threat show, and you could tell, 'This band is going to be the king of the town.' It was obvious. They were so good.
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