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.
Mood Indigo
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Till you've had that mood indigo
Yes you have been blue
But not until you've had that mood indigo
Hold on to your shoes, baby 'cause it is
Ooh you have been blue, yes
Not till you have the mood indigo
Whoa there's no trumpet blowing that freaky horn
I see the cries, yeah
Oh baby yes, mm
The lyrics of Louis Armstrong's "Mood Indigo" is a reflection of the feeling of melancholy and sadness that is often associated with the color blue. The phrase "mood indigo" itself refers to a kind of dark blue color that is said to resemble the color of the sky during an eclipse. Through the song, Armstrong seems to suggest that while many people have experienced sadness and depression, true blue and deep sadness can only be experienced by those who have experienced the elusive "mood indigo."
The first stanza of the song suggests that while the listeners may have experienced sadness before, they have not truly experienced the deep kind of sadness that is implied by the "mood indigo." The second stanza reinforces this idea by saying that the listener has been blue, but not until they have experienced the "mood indigo." The third stanza seems to suggest that the sadness is so overwhelming that it will knock off their shoes, indicating a kind of physical and emotional loss of control.
The chorus comes in strong and repeats the message of the first and second stanza. The singer tells the listener that they have not truly experienced the depth of sadness until they have felt the "mood indigo." The final stanza seems to be a reflection on the bleakness that can come with the "mood indigo" by saying that there is no "trumpet blowing that freaky horn" - even the music itself cannot lift the listener out of their sadness.
Line by Line Meaning
Now you have been blue, yes but you ain't been blue,
You might have felt sad in the past, but you haven't experienced the deepest level of sadness until you feel the mood indigo
Till you've had that mood indigo
The true depths of sadness can only be felt when you have experienced the mood indigo
Hold on to your shoes, baby 'cause it is
Prepare yourself for the intense feeling of the mood indigo
Now I've seen the cries
I have observed people who have experienced the mood indigo and have witnessed the immense sadness it brings
Ooh you have been blue, yes
You have felt sadness before, but not to the extent that the mood indigo brings
Not till you have the mood indigo
You haven't truly experienced the depths of sadness until you feel the mood indigo
Whoa there's no trumpet blowing that freaky horn
The sadness of the mood indigo cannot be expressed through music or any other medium
Oh baby yes, mm
Indeed, the mood indigo is a powerful and overwhelming feeling that can consume a person
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: DUKE ELLINGTON, IRVING MILLS, BARNEY BIGARD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jeremystobingham2362
Just a few examples of Duke playing his own song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZyVBVFnrm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ricN32SsQj0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9oMg6q3ufI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6tc-iohYNw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GohBkHaHap8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0FIpvxyvQo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PahIJP9YAjU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRyBLJQr3AI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpLxV-y0A64
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANCzWGngy1k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYEHIXy2Lsk
Fuck you.
@txhusker5702
Recorded @ RCA Victor Studio One on East 24th Street in NYC on 4 April 1961. Producer was Bob Thiele. Originally issued on "Together for the First Time" (Roulette SR 52074).
@wackneyhick7129
How to swing at a very slow tempo while playing the blues. Wonderful. Thanks for making it available.
@williamlrobinson6293
This is a smooth rendition of this old jazz tune. Louis was and still is entertaining. For me, this is music as it should be played.
@williamlrobinson6293
A classic jazz tune done by two of the best jazz musicians ever. Jazz has soul whether fast or slow tempo.
@bmaurier1
The intro is another variation on the four ascending chords Ellington used on many recordings of MI. He liked to play them double time, kinda up-tempo, then throw the brakes on in the first bar. And actually, the earliest recordings of MI were up-tempo, swing style, not the slow delivery we've come to associate with the tune.
@aliciaelcirapierri9338
UNA JOYA!!! Gracias por compartirlo.
@ALBATH12345
Clarinet courtesy of Barney Bigard. This is just ...SWEET !
@pedrobravo4404
Thank you so much for that name!!
@Its_Lyryc
That point between bliss n sorrow where the greats dwell
@Corrie121
This is lovely ! Thank you for sharing this gem.