{"id":967,"date":"2012-07-09T22:32:22","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T02:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=967"},"modified":"2019-09-12T18:51:23","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T22:51:23","slug":"true-story-armstrong-the-unknown-at-the-supermarket-assume-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/07\/true-story-armstrong-the-unknown-at-the-supermarket-assume-nothing.html","title":{"rendered":"True story: Armstrong the Unknown at the supermarket. Assume nothing."},"content":{"rendered":"

True story, just happened: The cashier at my Brooklyn Shop Rite supermarket asks, “Who’s that on your shirt?”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Who is this man?<\/p><\/div>\n

I glance down at my tee, not recalling what I threw on this morning. “Louis Armstrong.” I see it’s one from the Jazz Institute of Chicago<\/a>, a print of Gary Borreman’s<\/a> painting of Pops as he looked circa 1928 — newsboy cap, big grin, chubby cheeks, suit and tie and proudly held trumpet.<\/p>\n

“I’d like to meet him<\/em>,” says this pretty young black woman, maybe 23.<\/p>\n

“You don’t know who he is?” She shrugs, nah<\/em>. I teach jazz, blues, etc. to non-music students at New York University, and some of them sign up for class knowing little, but I usually assume everybody in America has heard of Armstrong.<\/p>\n

Wrong. Assume nothing. “He was a great musician — a trumpet player, who basically invented jazz as it is today — and a great entertainer, with a long career,” I tell her.<\/p>\n

“Oh, sounds nice,” she says. “I studied flute once. Or clarinet.”<\/p>\n

“Why did you stop?” Thinking, “Maybe you haven’t. . . ”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Shop Rite cashiers’ stations<\/p><\/div>\n

“It was just something I did in junior high school,” she says. “Band class or something. It was okay while it lasted, but \u00c2\u00a0I wouldn’t do it again.”<\/p>\n

“Why not? I just came from practicing my flutes — I ride my bike out to someplace\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0quiet, and practice for a few minutes, most days,” I say.<\/p>\n

“That must be relaxing.”<\/p>\n

“Well, it feels good,” I allow. “It’s fun, and give me something to work on.” Like I need another thing to work on. But I do<\/em> find it fun.<\/p>\n

“Oh,” she says.<\/p>\n

“You must have something like that in your life, don’t you?” I prompt her.<\/p>\n

“No, not really, nothing like that,” she replies, handing me a receipt for my purchases. I’m bagging the stuff myself. “Just work and school, then I go home. That’s all.”<\/p>\n

“Too bad,” I sympathize. “Where are you studying? And what?”<\/p>\n

“In college — childhood education,” she answers.<\/p>\n

“Great,” I say. She intends to teach. “Good luck with that.”<\/p>\n

howardmandel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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True story, just happened: The cashier at my Brooklyn Shop Rite supermarket asks, “Who’s that on your shirt?” I glance down at my tee, not recalling what I threw on this morning. “Louis Armstrong.” I see it’s one from the Jazz Institute of Chicago, a print of Gary Borreman’s painting of Pops as he looked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/cute-young-louis.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-fB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3043,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2022\/12\/armstrong-in-chicago-100-years-ago-sparked-jazz.html","url_meta":{"origin":967,"position":0},"title":"Armstrong in Chicago 100 years ago sparked jazz","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"December 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Lest we forget: In 1922 Louis Armstrong arrived in Chicago from New Orleans, with his wife Lil Hardin, Louis Armstrong, Lil Hardin Armstrong\/Frank Driggs Collection mentor King Joe Oliver and colleagues such as the Brothers Dodd (clarinetist Jimmy, drummer Baby) kick-starting jazz into the most spontaneous, joyful, virtuosic, collaborative art\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Lil_Louis_Driggs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":103,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/07\/what_infants_should_hear.html","url_meta":{"origin":967,"position":1},"title":"What every infant should hear","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"July 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"So Boston Globe staffer Jeremy Eichler has enlisted his infant son Jonah as a test subject for early musical perception and education. Why limit the kid's choices to Mozart and Schoenberg? How 'bout some good ol' American prime Louis Armstrong, introducing the concepts of improvisation and swing?\u00c2\u00a0 There's nothing wrong\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":273,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/11\/far_downtown_weekend_adventure.html","url_meta":{"origin":967,"position":2},"title":"Far downtown weekend adventures","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Far out improv, high concept contemporary composition, new jazz scholarship and \"cut loose\" music from Guadeloupe flood Lowest Manhattan (all the way to Staten Island) this weekend.\u00c2\u00a0The folks who bring us the Vision Festival stage\u00c2\u00a028 hours of multidisciplinary improvisation\u00c2\u00a0starting tonight (Friday) at 6 p.m. at Clemente Soso Velez Cultural Center;\u00c2\u00a0Mode\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":306,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/03\/george_avakian_interviewed_by.html","url_meta":{"origin":967,"position":3},"title":"George Avakian, jazz records hero, at 91 speaks of Miles","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"March 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"George Avakian is a jazz hero who's done more than anyone else in the record business ever\u00a0to ensure America's greatest music endures. Inventor of the reissue, the jazz album, the liner note, producer of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, among others, on his 91st birthday March 15, Avakian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":388,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/04\/jazz_in_amman_pops_bird_diz_la.html","url_meta":{"origin":967,"position":4},"title":"Jazz, blues & beyond in Amman: Pops, Bird, Diz, Lady Day @ UJordan","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I spoke on jazz and blues at the University of Jordan, a modern 45,000-student institution, in an event sponsored by the American Embassy while in Amman on family matters a couple weeks ago. About 50 avid students of music, arts and literature and their informed faculty watched videos of Louis\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"hm bird diz jordan.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/assets_c\/2011\/04\/hm%20bird%20diz%20jordan-thumb-400x266-19598.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":154,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/01\/armstrong_to_ellington_to_obam.html","url_meta":{"origin":967,"position":5},"title":"Armstrong to Ellington to Obama","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"January 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"If anyone needs a primer on how jazz leads directly to the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th president of the U.S., see Nat Hentoff's Wall Street Journal article\u00c2\u00a0on the history of musicians, audiences, presenters and producers of all \"colors\" in the struggle for Civil Rights.\u00c2\u00a0The march from Buddy Bolden\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}