Neil Abercrombie: “Mr. Speaker, my remarks today are of a personal nature because I expect that the relationship that most of us have to…”

“Mr. Speaker, my remarks today are of a personal nature because I expect that the relationship that most of us have to Lionel Hampton is in fact personal. I recall very clearly I think almost the first moment that I became aware of what was in fact America's contribution to the music of the world, jazz, when I inadvertently one afternoon was at a friend's house, and, completely without knowledge of what exactly I was doing, I had recently taken up the trumpet, and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) is laughing at the moment because he knows when I say 'taken up the trumpet,' I had just picked it up, because I was not able to do much more than that. I was a living example of ambition over technique and talent, and I can see that that relates then to a lot of Members here. But what had happened was I saw something that said 'Carnegie Hall Concert, 1938, Benny Goodman Orchestra,' and I had no idea at that time as a little boy what that might involve.”