Pops

Wandering around the many many useless channels on TV one night recently, I stumbled across a biography of the wonderful Louis Armstrong and found it fascinating. I've never forgotten the epitaph one of his contemporaries gave him - "He was born dirt poor, he died rich and famous, and he never made an enemy" - and while I'm not sure that's entirely true, he was an amazingly generous, loving and kind man, as well as being a breathtaking genius. Of course, that he spent pretty much all of every day stoned on marijuana doubtless helped the relaxed and open manner, but still.

I must admit, while there is quite a bit of his music I like or love, there's also quite a lot of it that leaves me pretty much cold, especially the early stuff from the 20s - I can admire it, but it doesn't grab me and compel me, and its' technical virtuosity (or such of it as I can grasp, which probably isnt that much), doesn't make up for a strained melody*

While he may not have invented Jazz exactly, he certainly was the source for most of it, from the earliest days onward, and far more than anyone else can be acclaimed as the father of Jazz. But I hadn't appreciated the breadth of his genius, or how widely his influence spread - they had a quote from Glenn Miller, of an interviewer asking where his music came from, and his flat reply - "Oh that's all Pops", and two or three other of the Big Band era band-leaders citing Armstrong as the inspiration for the Swing era.

Not really going anywhere with this, just a tribute to a genius


*On a moment's reflection, this may well just be a reflection of the poor recording quality of what is available now, not about the music he played at all.