Listening 9- What a Wonderful World/ Louis Armstrong

Speaking of voices, Louis Armstrong has a unique one.  Its a classic raspy tone that gives the song, What a Wonderful World a older, more classic feel.  Here's a live clip of him singing our favorite feel good tune.

In this piece, you have a clarinet and a trombone providing the melodic parts.  The piano in the back keeps the chords while comping the singer.  The set plays a straight beat as not to throw off the elderly singer ;).  But in all seriousness, watching Louis sing this song shows you how he gets his iconic voice.  He opens his mouth wide and contorts his face to get the notes he's looking for just right.  

The song starts with a nice, pretty, short intro and then the singer jumps right in.  He sings in 16 bar sections, an AABB format.  He does that twice, with the BB sections being the same.  He then goes to the bridge.  The bridge is followed by another 16 bar phrase.  There is a tag at the end repeating the BB section.  Overall for the whole song the form is AABA with a short intro and a tag on the end.  

The clarinet, trombone combo makes a very light and pretty background for the Louis, going well with the imagery he is singing about.  It makes you feel good about yourself and your day.  Quite a good pick me up.