Louis Armstrong Quotes

Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time. Born in New Orleans in 1901, Armstrong started playing the trumpet at a young age and quickly rose to prominence in the jazz world. He was a master of improvisation and helped to popularize the style of music known as swing. Armstrong’s career spanned five decades, and he was a major force in the development of jazz. He died in 1971.

Table of Contents

1. Early Life

2. Career

3. Influence on Jazz

4. Later Years

5. Legacy

6. Top Quotes of Louis Armstrong

Early Life

Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the second of three children born to William Armstrong, a cornetist and singer, and Mayann Armstrong, a domestic worker. Armstrong’s parents were both African American and his father was also of Creole descent.

Armstrong’s childhood was marked by poverty and violence. His father left the family when Armstrong was just a toddler, and his mother was often away working. As a result, Armstrong was raised by his grandparents, Joseph and Mary Armstrong.

The Armstrong family lived in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans known as the Battlefield. The area was notorious for its crime and violence. Armstrong later recalled that he saw his first murder when he was just 5 years old.

Despite the harsh conditions of his childhood, Armstrong had a happy childhood. He was a talented musician and started playing the trumpet at the age of 11. He quickly began to gain a reputation as a skilled player.

Career

In 1918, Armstrong joined the New Orleans band of Joe “King” Oliver. Oliver was one of the most popular musicians in the city and his band was in high demand. Armstrong soon became one of the band’s most popular members.

In 1922, Armstrong left Oliver’s band and moved to Chicago. He quickly gained a following in the city’s jazz scene. He began working with other leading jazz musicians, such as clarinetist Johnny Dodds and pianist Earl Hines.

In 1925, Armstrong made his first recordings with his own band, the Hot Five. The band’s recordings were hugely popular and helped to make Armstrong a national star.

In the 1930s, Armstrong became one of the first African American musicians to achieve mainstream success. He began appearing in Hollywood films and his records were played on radio stations across the country.

Armstrong’s career reached new heights in the 1940s with the release of his signature song, “What a Wonderful World.” The song became a global hit and helped to make Armstrong one of the most famous musicians in the world.

Influence on Jazz

Armstrong was a major influence on the development of jazz. He was one of the first musicians to develop the style of improvisation. He also popularized the use of swing in jazz music.

Armstrong’s influence was not limited to music. He was also a major figure in the Civil Rights Movement. He spoke out against segregation and racism, and he worked to promote equality for all people.

Later Years

In the later years of his career, Armstrong continued to perform and make records. He also made several appearances on television. In 1971, he made his final recordings with the All-Stars.

Legacy:

Louis Armstrong was one of the most important jazz musicians of all time. He was a master of improvisation and helped to popularize the style of music known as swing. Armstrong’s career spanned five decades, and he was a major force in the development of jazz. He died in 1971.

“There are two kinds of music, the good, and the bad. I play the good kind.”

Top Quotes of Louis Armstrong:

“Seems to me it ain’t the world that’s so bad but what we’re doing 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.”

“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.”

“If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.”

“You blows who you is.”

“Jazz is played from the heart. You can even live by it. Always love it.”

“When you’re dead, you’re done.”

“I gathered that those two Big-shot Boys, Joe + Fletcher, just was afraid to let me sing, thinking maybe I’d sort of ruin their reputations with their musical public. They not knowing that I had been singing all of my life. In churches, etc. I had one of the finest All Boys Quartets that ever walked the streets of New Orleans.”

“Not too slow, not too fast. Kind of like half-fast.”

“There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell them.”

“There’s only two ways to sum up music; either it’s good or it’s bad. If it’s good you don’t mess about it, you just enjoy it.”

“Unless you know what it is I ain’t never going to be able to explain it to you.”

“If ya ain’t got it in ya, ya can’t blow it out.”

“My life has always been my music, it’s always come first, but the music ain’t worth nothing if you can’t lay it on the public. The main thing is to live for that audience, ’cause what you’re there for is to please the people.”

“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.”

“I got a simple rule about everybody. If you don’t treat me right – shame on you.”

“I never want to be anything more than I am; what I don’t have, I don’t need.”

“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”

“When the other kids started calling me nicknames, I knew everything was all right. I have a pretty big mouth, so they hit on that and began calling me Gatemouth or Satchelmouth, and that Satchelmouth has stuck to me all my life, except that now it’s been made into ‘Satchmo’.”

“I don’t let my mouth say nothin’ my head can’t stand….”

“Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.”

“All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song.”

“When I play, maybe ‘Back o’ Town Blues,’ I’m thinking about one of the old, low-down moments – when maybe your woman didn’t treat you right. That’s a hell of a moment when a woman tell you, ‘I got another mule in my stall.’

“We all do ‘do, re, mi’ but you have got to find the other notes yourself.”

“Each man has his own music bubbling up inside him.”

“I’ll bet right now most of the youngsters and hot club fans who hear the name Storyville hasn’t the least idea that it consisted of some of the biggest prostitutes in the world … Standing in their doorways nightly in their fine and beautiful negligees — faintly calling to the boys as they passed their cribs.”

“What we play is life.”

“Even If I have two three days off, you still have to blow that horn. You have to keep up those chops… I have to warm up everyday for at least an hour.”

“If I don’t practice for a day, I know it. If I don’t practice for two days, the critics know it. And if I don’t practice for three days, the public knows it.”

“There’s some folks, that, if they don’t know, you can’t tell ’em.”

“I warm up at home. I hit the stage, I’m ready, whether it’s rehearsal or anything.”

“There are Two Secrets to Success: 1. Don’t tell ANYONE Everything you know 2.If you have to ask what Jazz is, you’ll never know.”

“You got to love to be able to play”

“A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.”

“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? They ain’t so wonderful either.’ But how about listening to old Pops for a minute. It seems to me it ain’t the world that’s so bad, but what we’re doing 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 man, this world would be a gasser.”

“Music is life itself. What would this world be without good music? No matter what kind it is.”

“There is no such thing as ‘on the way out’ as long as you are still doing something interesting and good; you’re in the business because you’re breathing”

“Well, I tell you… the first chorus, I plays the melody. The second chorus, I plays the melody round the melody, and the third chorus, I routines.”

“We all do ‘do, re, mi,’ but you have got to find the other notes yourself.”

“Don’t do nothing halfway, else you find yourself dropping more than can be picked up.”

“You either have it or you don’t. You play your horn just like you sing a song or a hymn. If it’s in your heart, you express yourself in the tune.”

“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.”

“I do believe that my whole success goes back to that time I was arrested as a wayward boy at the age of thirteen. Because then I had to quit running around and began to learn something. Most of all, I began to learn music.”

“Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine, I look right into the heart of gold old New Orleans. It has given me something to live for.”

“We never did try to get together and to show the younger Negroes such as myself, to try and even to show that he has ambitions – and with just a little encouragement, I could have really done something worthwhile. But instead, we did nothing but let the young upstarts know that they were young and simple, and that was that.”

“The best I can do is stay happy.”

“To jazz, or not to jazz, there is no question!”

“I was determined to play my horn against all odds, and I had to sacrifice a whole lot of pleasure to do so.”

“And I think to myself what a wonderful world. Oh, yeah….”

“You’ve got to be good or as bad as the devil.”

“It makes you feel good, man, makes you forget all the bad things that happen to a Negro. It makes you feel wanted, and when you’re with another tea smoker, it makes you feel a special kinship.”

“Man, all music is folk music. You ain’t never heard no horse sing a song, have you?”

“My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn…”

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