Louis [Armstrong] sings just like he plays. I think Louis proves the idea and theory which holds that if you can't sing it you can't play it. When I'm improvising, I'm singing in my mind. I sing what I feel and then try to reproduce it on the horn. Then Louis' tone is so big and he fills all those notes--there is no splitting them when he plays [trumpet]. There's nothing freakish about Louis' horn. He fingers what he wants to play, and there are no accidents in the notes he brings out. You know, it's a pleasure just to hear Louis tune up. Why, just warming up he blows such a variety of things that it is a wonder to the ears, and a real pleasure. Louis set the pace for the whole world for trumpet players. Joe [Oliver] and Freddie [Keppard] did their bits but they never could touch Louis. God knows, both of them were good but, what the heck, man, they never could touch Louis.