Jazz

[Uday Mohan]

A friend makes the case for Armstrong by claiming that he changed the
rhetorical style not only of jazz, but of popular culture in general, by
introducing an informal, conversational mode of address. And that this
helped shift popular culture away from a mannered, formal style. Some of
the elements of this shift existed before Armstrong but he brought them
all together in a powerful way. (Perhaps analogously: certain film
techniques such as the close-up and some very basic elements of
narrative drama preexisted DW Griffith, but he more than anyone else
pulled it all together into storytelling, which became central to the
rise of the studio system and the impact of Hollywood.)

Uday

Michael Pollak wrote:
> As for Armstrong being the most influential musician of the 20th century,
> you're simply ignoring the fact that the overwhelming majority of people
> living in America today have never been moved by his music or by anybody
> that's been directly influenced by him.