“Some people say now that I taught Louis everything. That isn’t true. Louis had all the creativeness, but what he needed was to get away from the influence of (bandleader and cornet player King) Oliver, who he thought was the greatest. I remember someone told me that when a woman marries, she should work for her husband. So, if I wanted to be someone, Louis had to be someone. I told him I didn’t want to be married to a second trumpet player. I wanted to be married to a first trumpet player.”
Lillian “Lil” Hardin Armstrong in the Chicago Tribune, March 28, 1965
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