Louis Armstrong Major Accomplishments

Louis Armstrong was a prominent figure in the musical field, best known as a trumpeter and vocalist. He was a man who dabbled in many genres instead of constricting himself to a single one, such as pop and swing, but in current times, his name has become almost synonymous with the jazz genre. Armstrong was born on August 4th, 1901, to a poor family in the state of Louisiana. He attended school during the first few years of his life, but had dropped out before he became a teenager; it was around this time that he would begin to learn how to play the cornet by ear. With his early start and years of experience under his belt, it was no surprise that by the time the 1920s had rolled around, Armstrong had already begun to find work in the musical

Armstrong remains respected to this day, and was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award after the end of his career and his death on July 6th, 1971. Of Armstrong’s works, his most popular and well known are likely two of his songs from the latter years of his career: Hello, Dolly! and What A Wonderful World, the latter of which is the latest recorded song of Louis’ to be featured in the Grammy Hall of Fame. It is perhaps Armstrong’s most recognizable song. What A Wonderful World, recorded by Armstrong and penned by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, was released in 1967. It was written in common time, or the meter of 4/4, meaning that each measure is comprised of four quarter notes. A slow and soulful pop tune (with the sheet music even explicitly stating for it to be played ‘slowly’ at the beginning), the influences of jazz can be heard in the simple (but not

serves as an interesting foil to What A Wonderful World. Whereas the latter song only rose to prominence and reached the height of its success many years after its release, Hello, Dolly! was popular from the moment of its release. It was so incredibly and immediately popular that after it came out, it reached the number one spot in the Top 100 chart, despite the last three songs in the number one spot having belonged to the Beatles. The song was so well received that it even earned Armstrong a Grammy, as well as being crowned song of the year. Some of its popularity can likely be attributed to its association with the musical and movie of the same name, the latter of which Armstrong’s recording of Hello, Dolly! was used to promote. However, it would not have become popular were it not a good song on its own. Similar to What A Wonderful World, many phrases in the song seem to be repeated with a slight variation between them. However, it is only phrases that are repeated, not entire sections of the musical composition. Additionally, while it also follows a largely chromatic note progression, it is not uncommon for the song’s melody to deviate by jumping up or down the scale by two steps, or to even spend the occasional measure with the pitch bobbing up and down between two notes before the song continues on. Another contributing factor to the song’s success is likely its genre. Hello, Dolly! is classified as part of both the pop and