Posted on 04/18/2011 7:33:28 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I think he said something like ‘now they are ours forever’. Meaning the votes. I know that it did happen.
I have the Ken Burns 5 disc set from that documentary. It’s amazing.
Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker are my two favorite instrumentalists, and Duke Ellington is probably my favorite composer (though Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw are right up there). I love the early stuff, too. Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, etc.
The only guy I can’t get into is Coltrane. There is something very dark about his music. I think it has to do with all that Hindu crap he got into.
I suggest the disc set for sure. The documentary was very good, too.
good read ping
bookmark
Liberalism is a hell of a drug.
BFL
Duke Ellington is a major, major composer that deserves to be studied alongside the greatest musical figures the west has ever produced.
Personally, I think of Coltrane almost as a figure of intellectual history....really, almost European. Yes, he is in some respects very American. But his whole philosophical orientation, and his music coming to an end...it is very strange, and sort of Hegelian. I think he took things a little too seriously.
Louis Armstrong is one of the most important figures in any of the arts in the 20th century.
(All that said, I am no expert on jazz, or even music...I listen, and try to learn and study, and I like all of it....but I am far from an expert).
You are correct about Louis Armstrong. He is the father of music as we know it. Absolute genius.
When his jowls finally gave out on him, he put down his trumpet and taught the world how to sing. He was amazing.
I’m surprised Hollywood hasn’t done a movie about him.
Right on the $.
Oh! Which reminds me. There is a biography of him called Pops, written by a political conservative to boot...a wonderful writer named Terry Teachout. (I was introduced to Teachout by a longtime friend of mine who is a big time liberal but who loves Teachout and tolerates his politics!).
Even an amateur like me can hear the difference when Armstrong plays the trumpet. His stuff comes up on my Pandora station and I can always distinguish it...he was just so powerful. A few notes in, and I think, “That’s him!” And it always is. Any other trumpet player, I hear and think....that’s really good. But it’s not Louis Armstrong. And it never is!
In any event...get Pops! And support Terry Teachout as well, a great writer and a conservative!
Sadly, Armstrong is referred to by some as an Uncle Tom, which is totally unfair. They cite his willingness to play for mostly white audiences, and to perpetuate the caricature of himself.
It’s unfair because he was outspoken on many issues. He just didn’t always take the positions that he was expected to take.
I’ll look for Pops.
Sadly, Armstrong is referred to by some as an Uncle Tom”
I’d pretty much expect that from liberals.
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