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Dear Mr. Armstrong,
I grew up in a musical family during the 50s and 60s, my dad being a
Dixieland drummer for over 50 years. I've heard your music, and have
watched you on TV, for as long as I can remember. I want to thank you
for the influence you've had on my own musicianship, because it was
from you that I learned the love of improvisation. But I learned a lot
more: from you I learned that music happens first in the heart and
radiates from there.
My question is this: How important do you think improvisational skills
are, and why does this art seem to be going out of style?
Thank you so much, Mr. Armstrong,
Steph Waller
Hey Steph,
I'm always blown away when cats come to me from all over and talk to me
about their musicianship and all that kind of stuff and my influence on
it when all I did was to blow my horn and do my things right. There is
never complete improvisation. That is an overrated bit to say that. It
is more like, composition in the head, see what I'm saying. The notes
are in your head rather than on no sheet and when you're playing they
go out. There is more variation than improvisation and to say that Jazz
is improvisation is a very incomplete and almost kind of unfair thing
to say.
I dunno what out-o-style may mean, but as long as there will be
suffering negroes or lookalikes on that vast planet, there will be
music coming from work and the heart and no out-o-stylity will impose
itself on the world.
Keep on a playin'
Satchel Mouth
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