Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an inventive trumpet and cornet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance. With his instantly-recognizable gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also skilled at scat singing (vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics).
Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross over", whose skin-color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided. He rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, but took a well-publicized stand for desegregation during the Little Rock Crisis. His artistry and personality allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a black man.
Armstrong was born and brought up in New Orleans, a culturally diverse town with a unique musical mix of creole, ragtime, marching bands, and blues. Although from an early age he was able to play music professionally, he didn't travel far from New Orleans until 1922, when he went to Chicago to join his mentor, King Oliver. Oliver's band played primitive jazz, a hotter style of ragtime, with looser rhythms and more improvisation, and Armstrong's role was mostly backing. Slow to promote himself, he was eventually persuaded by his wife Lil Hardin to leave Oliver, and In 1924 he went to New York to join the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. At the time, there were a few other artists using the rhythmic innovations of the New Orleans style, but none did it with the energy and brilliance of Armstrong, and he quickly became a sensation among New York musicians. Back in Chicago in 1925, he made his first recordings with his own group, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, and these became not only popular hits but also models for the first generation of jazz musicians, trumpeters or otherwise.
Other hits followed through the twenties and thirties, as well as troubles: crooked managers, lip injuries, mob entanglements, failed big-band ventures. As jazz styles changed, though, musical purists never lost any respect for him -- although they were sometimes irritated by his hammy onstage persona. Around the late forties, with the help of a good manager, Armstrong's business affairs finally stablilized, and he began to be seen as an elder statesman of American popular entertainment, appearing in Hollywood films, touring Asia and Europe, and dislodging The Beatles from the number-one position with Hello Dolly". Today many people may know him as a singer (a good one), but as Miles Davis said: “You can’t play nothing on modern trumpet that doesn’t come from him."
The 62-year-old Armstrong became the oldest act to top the US charts when "Hello Dolly" reached #1 in 1964. Four years later Satchmo also became the oldest artist to record a UK #1, when "What a Wonderful World" hit the top spot.
Dinah
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Gave me Dinah;
I'm the proudest one
Beneath the Dixie sun.
News is spreadin'
'Bout our weddin';
I hear church bells ringin',
Dinah,
Is there anyone finer
In the state of Carolina?
If there is and you know her,
Show her!
Dinah,
With her Dixie eyes blazin',
How I love to sit and gaze in
To the eyes of Dinah Lee!
Yet, every night,
My, how I shake with fright,
Because my Dinah might,
Change her mind about me!
But if Dinah,
Ever wandered to China,
I would hop an ocean liner,
Just to be with Dinah Lee!
Dinah,
Is there anyone finer
In the state of Carolina?
If there is and you know her,
Show her!
Dinah,
With her Dixie eyes blazin',
How I love to sit and gaze in
To the eyes of Dinah Lee!
Yet, every night,
My, how I shake with fright,
Because my Dinah might,
Change her mind about me!
But if Dinah,
Ever wandered to China,
I would hop an ocean!,
Just to be with Dinah Lee!
Louis Armstrong's song "Dinah" revolves around his love for a girl named Dinah from the state of Carolina, whom he claims to be the finest woman around. Armstrong reflects his joy at having Dinah as his woman, proud to be with her under the Dixie sun. The news of their wedding has spread, and he can hear the church bells ringing. However, every night, he fears that Dinah might change her mind about him. Armstrong sings about how he loves to sit and gaze into Dinah's Dixie eyes.
Line by Line Meaning
Carolina
The state where the singer met Dinah
Gave me Dinah;
Dinah is the name of the woman the singer loves and is marrying
I'm the proudest one
The singer is very proud to have met and married Dinah
Beneath the Dixie sun.
The artist is from the South and proud of his heritage
News is spreadin'
Word of the artist and Dinah's engagement is spreading
'Bout our weddin';
People are talking about the upcoming wedding
I hear church bells ringin',
The bells represent the traditional wedding ceremony
Here's the song my heart keeps singin':
The artist is so in love with Dinah that he can't stop singing about her
Dinah, Is there anyone finer In the state of Carolina?
The artist is expressing his love and admiration for Dinah
If there is and you know her, Show her!
The artist challenges others to find someone better than Dinah
With her Dixie eyes blazin', How I love to sit and gaze in To the eyes of Dinah Lee!
The singer is mesmerized by Dinah's beauty and cannot get enough of looking at her
Yet, every night, My, how I shake with fright, Because my Dinah might, Change her mind about me!
The artist is afraid of losing Dinah's love
But if Dinah, Ever wandered to China, I would hop an ocean liner, Just to be with Dinah Lee!
The singer is willing to travel anywhere to be with Dinah
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Harry Akst, Samuel M. Lewis, Joseph Young
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@davidamaral1519
Carl Henrik Helm
Født: 8-6-1901 i Nexø
Død: 13-6-1983
Gravsted: Manglende oplysning
Biografi
Carl Henrik Helm var søn af apoteker Carl Valdemar Nikolaus Quatrieme Helm og hustru Helga Camilla Kornerup. I begyndelsen af 1930erne var han fotograf på et par Palladium-produktioner, men var ellers ingeniør.
Har arbejdet med følgende 2 film:København, Kalundborg og ? (1934)FotografKidnapped (1935)Fotograf
@vonalxao1
Louis Armstrong makes me proud to be an American.
@Prince-wi5sp
Mauricio Liñan Escamilla 🤦🏽♂️
@craigsmith157
@Mauricio Liñan Escamilla What?!
@craigsmith157
@Mauricio Liñan Escamilla Oh ok. Cool.
@mauriciolinanescamilla5127
Craig Smith Your people bully my people mrf
@craigsmith157
@Mauricio Liñan Escamilla I'm sorry but us Puerto Ricans never bullied anyone.
@singinSkyHiigh
Vocals as golden as his horn...timing and phrasing is unbelievable
@sorenrublin3767
singinSkyHiigh Ellington
@liambrennan5374
(says really smug) Its not actually gold its brass. Couldnt agree with you more though
@AndreSilva-tp4rq
@Liam Brennan Louis Armstrong did have a gold plated trumpet that was given to him by the king of England, although this probably happened at a later time in his career.