keep up the chops

I am always considering whether I should participate or politely decline to practice, 

whether it is spending precious hours to help celebrate a birthday, 

lingering a little longer over a scrumptious breakfast with a dear friend and fulfilling conversation, 

or taking time in the morning to set my internal sails on the right track 

by leisurely sauntering around the farmer's market, figuring out a new chemex, 

and cooking the summer treasures while they are still bursting with freshness.

Even someone as iconic as Louis Armstrong subscribed to that Damocles' sword of consistency.

I firmly believe that it is the only way to make it in this blasted business of developing a creative career.

The big picture is no problem: I know I love to play. Period.

The only question remains how badly I want it on an hour-by-hour basis.

In 1964, when they were teenagers at New Trier High School near Chicago, Michael Aisner and James Stein interviewed Louis Armstrong backstage at one of his concerts. In his boxers.

"You can't take it for granted. Even if we have two, three days off I still have to blow that horn a few hours to keep up the chops. I mean I've been playing 50 years, and that's what I've been doing in order to keep in that groove there."

via {kottke}