Louis Armstrong's prolifically wide-ranging tastes regarding art and music find their outlet in his incorporation of operatic fragments in his improvised solos. Armstrong was inclined to imitate operatic gestures such as recitative style, as exemplified by his solo in Blue Again. Armstrong also played operatic cadenza-like passages in certain breaks, such as in I Can't Give You Anything But Love (234). In other instances, Armstrong quoted operatic themes, such as Verdi's Rigoletto quartet and "Vesti la giubba" from Pagliacci. By quoting Pagliacci and Rigoletto, he was showing that his artistic influences were not limited to the pantheon of New Orleans cornet virtuosos of the early twentieth century. Armstrong did not distinguish between "high" and "low" art; it was all jazz to him, and his quotations of well-known music are a demonstration of this belief.

Works: Louis Armstrong: Cornet/Trumpet solos on Araby (220), Blue Again (222, 235), New Orleans Stomp (223), Dinah (223-24, 234, 236), Tiger Rag (225), New Tiger Rag (225); Armstrong and Bechet: Jazz improvisations on Kansas City Man Blues (228), Texas Moaner Blues (229); Louis Armstrong: Cornet/Trumpet solos on Potato Head Blues (229); Armstrong and Bechet: Jazz improvisations on Cake Walking Babies from Home (230, 234); Louis Armstrong: Cornet/Trumpet solos on West End Blues (231-36); Armstrong and Bechet: Jazz improvisations on Mandy Make Up Your Mind (232), Early Every Morn (233); Louis Armstrong: Cornet/Trumpet solos on Beau Koo Jack (235), Once in a While (235), Can't Give You Anything But Love (235).

Sources: Verdi: Rigoletto (218, 222-23, 231-32); Gounod: Faust (220); Ponchielli: Dance of the Hours (221), Gershwin: Lady Be Good! (223); Sindig: Rustle of Spring (225); Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (225); Porter Steele: High Society (227, 232); Bizet: Carmen (231); Eva Dell'Acqua: Villanelle (232-33); Suppé: Poet and Peasant Overture (233).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Jazz

Contributed by: Eytan Uslan, Marc Geelhoed