Ken Burns said, “Louis
Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to
20th century music (I did not say jazz) what Einstein is to physics.” His music
has that ability to influence a person’s playing and their mind.
He was a native New Yorker who lived in the Corona
section of Queens, NY and one of the most significant things about this jazz
great to me was that of all the thing is life (the music, the traveling all
over the world, his family), what made his world wonderful were the children in
the neighborhood running to him and greeting him as Uncle Louis when he came
home from touring. After hearing that story at one of the many tours offered at
his home, now a museum in Corona, NY, “What A Wonderful World” became one of my
favorite tunes.
My story is a little
different though. I was invited to perform at a Leukemia Foundation Fundraiser
hosted by Roxanne Productions and it made me consider a few things. To have everything and complain is selfish.
When I say everything, I mean good health. Once you lose your health, you lose
everything. But then to not be in the greatest of help, having to deal with
hospital visits and radiation therapy everyday and to make it a cause to
benefit others, is going beyond yourself and instead not just drowning in the
effects of something but becoming a cause for change.
To see an event like
this and to know that people are so beautiful to do things like this, in my
opinion, makes the world wonderful. For that reason, I performed and dedicated
to this song for the fight and for the cause. What a wonderful world it truly is
to still be able to raise up the name of Jesus and bless him the only way a
person knows how, in good times and in bad. Thankful, for the opportunity of
being part of this awesome event.
Please check out the video here:
