Louis Armstrong (4 August 1901 – 6 July 1971) was an African American jazz trumpeter, composer and singer who became one of the pivotal and most influential figures in jazz music. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and different eras in jazz.
- The Brick House was one of the toughest joints I ever played in ... Guys would drink and fight one another like circle saws. Bottles would come flying over the bandstand like crazy and there was lots of plain common shooting and cutting. But somehow all that jive didn't faze me at all. I was so happy to have some place to blow my horn.
- Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans (1954)
- Some of you young folks been saying to me, "Hey Pops, what you mean 'What a wonderful world'? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? That aint so wonderful either." Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute. Seems to me, it aint the world that's so bad but what we're doin' to it. And all I'm saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be better. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.
- Spoken intro to "What a Wonderful World" (1970 version)
- The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell.
- As quoted in The New York Times (19 September 1957)]
- Making money ain't nothing exciting to me. ... You might be able to buy a little better booze than some 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.
- If you still have to ask, shame on you
- Armstrong's response to the question what jazz is, cited by Max Jones et. al.: "Salute to Satchmo", I.P.C. Specialist & Professional Press Ltd 1970, page 25
Quotes about ArmstrongEdit
- He was the only musician who ever lived, who can't be replaced by someone.
- Bing Crosby, as quoted in The Big Band Almanac (1989) by Leo Walker, p. 12
- You know you can't play anything on a horn that Louis hasn't played — I mean even modern. … I love his approach to the trumpet; he never sounds bad. He plays on the beat and you can't miss when you play on the beat — with feeling. That's another phrase for swing.
- He was born poor, died rich, and never hurt anyone along the way.
- Duke Ellington, as quoted in The World of Jazz Trumpet : A Comprehensive History & Practical Philosophy (2005) by Scotty Barnhart, p. 23