The band at first was inclined to be a bit reserved toward the new arrival [Louis Armstrong] and there seemed to be a little tension in the air. At rehearsal he was perplexed by the trumpet part I gave him to a new arrangement of a medley of beautiful Irish waltzes. Now, those parts were well marked with all the dynamics of the music, and at one point the orchestration was indicated as fff with a diminuendo down to pp. The band followed these notations and was playing very softly, while Louis still played his part at full volume. I stopped the band and said, "Louis, you are not following the arrangement." Louis objected, saying, "I'm reading everything on this sheet." I said, "but Louis, how about the pp?" and Louis broke us all up by replying, "Oh, I thought that meant 'pound plenty'." There was no tension after that. << less