But Armstrong’s delaying of time had the greatest influence. Almost every performer in jazz and pop, whether peer or protégé, took something from him: Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. In the Armstrong style, which became the popular style, he sang or played in a devil-may-care fashion, as if he was in no hurry to get where he was going. I’ll get there when I get there. I’ll see you when I see you. It’ll be worth the wait. In jazz, “cool” was manifested by delay and defiance of expectation.
