Sweets Edison Quotes

"I remember listening to a lot of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. They right away made a huge impact on me!" - Sweets Edison

Jack Kerouac Quotes

"Once there was Louis Armstrong blowing his beautiful top in the muds of New Orleans; before him the mad musicians who had paraded on official days and broke up their Sousa marches into ragtime. Then there was swing, and Roy Eldridge, vigorous and virile, blasting the horn for everything it had in waves of power and logic and subtlety - leaning into it with glittering eyes and a lovely smile and sending it out broadcast to rock the jazz world." - Jack Kerouac

source: Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Part 3, Ch. 10

Miles Davis Quotes

"I love Pops." - Miles Davis (on Louis Armstrong)

source: Interview with Playboy Magazine.

Duke Ellington Quotes

"He was born poor, died rich, and never hurt anyone along the way." - Duke Ellington (on Louis Armstrong)

Bing Crosby Quotes

"[Louis Armstrong] was the only musician who ever lived, who can't be replaced by someone." - Bing Crosby

Eddie Condon Quotes

"[Louis Armstrong] could play a trumpet like nobody else, then put it down and sing a song like no one else could." - Eddie Condon

Dizzy Gillespie Quotes

"Louis is not dead, for his music is and will remain in the hearts and minds of countless millions of the world's peoples, and in the playing of hundreds of thousands of musicians who have come under his influence." - Dizzy Gillespie

Richard Nixon Quotes

"Mrs. Nixon and I share the sorrow of millions of Americans at the death of Louis Armstrong. One of the architects of an American art form, a free and individual spirit, and an artist of worldwide fame, his great talents and magnificent spirit added richness and pleasure to all our lives." - Richard Nixon

Donald Bogle Quotes

"[Louis Armstrong's film] appearances are distinguished by superb musicianship and killer energy, which when fused with his unwavering commitment to his work and one-of-a-kind enthusiasm, endow him with an almost mythic power and resonance. Love him or hate, he is unfailingly mesmerizing." - Donald Bogle

Leonard Feather Quotes

"Americans, unknowingly, live part of every day in the house that Satch built." - Leonard Feather, critic.

Bobby Hackett Quotes

"Louis Armstrong could only happen once - for ever and ever. I, for one, appreciate the ride." - Bobby Hackett

Art Hodes Quotes

"Jazz is not - never has been - a one man show. But if I had to vote for one representative for jazz, that one would have to be Louis Armstrong." - Art Hodes

Al Hirt Quotes

"In my opinion, Louis Armstrong is the greatest trumpet stylist of all time and has influenced every trumpet player of his time and long after." - Al Hirt

Freddie Hubbard Quotes

"You don't realize at first when you listen to Armstrong's records how great this man was and how hard that Hot Five music was to play. After the experience of reading and playing those parts, I have an even greater respect for Louis Armstrong than before." - Freddie Hubbard

Duke Ellington Quotes

"If anybody was Mr. Jazz it was Louis Armstrong. He was the epitome of jazz and always will be. He is what I call an American standard, an American original." - Duke Ellington

Dan Morgenstern Quotes

"[Armstrong was] the key creator of the mature working language of jazz. Three decades after his death and more than three-quarters of a century since his influence first began to spread, not a single musician who has mastered that language fails to make daily use, knowingly or unknowingly, of something that was invented by Louis Armstrong." - Dan Morgenstern

Nicholas Payton Quotes

"[Louis Armstrong is] the father of us all, regardless of style or how modern we get. His influence is inescapable. Some of the things he was doing in the 20's and 30's, people still haven't dealt with." - Nicholas Payton

Hugh Masekela Quotes

"I think that anybody from the 20th century, up to now, has to be aware that if it wasn't for Louis Armstrong, we'd all be wearing powdered wigs. I think that Louis Armstrong loosened the world, helped people to be able to say "Yeah," and to walk with a little dip in their hip. Before Louis Armstrong, the world was definitely square, just like Christopher Columbus thought." - Hugh Masekela

Stanley Crouch Quotes

"Pops. Sweet Papa Dip. Satchmo. He had perfect pitch and perfect rhythm. His improvised melodies and singing could be as lofty as a moon flight or as low-down as the blood drops of a street thug dying in the gutter. Like most of the great innovators in jazz, he was a small man. But the extent of his influence across jazz, across American music and around the world has such continuing stature that he is one of the few who can easily be mentioned with Stravinsky, Picasso and Joyce. His life was the embodiment of one who moves from rags to riches, from anonymity to internationally imitated innovator. Louis Daniel Armstrong supplied revolutionary language that took on such pervasiveness that it became commonplace, like the light bulb, the airplane, the telephone." - Stanley Crouch

Mahalia Jackson Quotes

"If you don't like Louis Armstrong, you don't know how to love." - Mahalia Jackson