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.
Rose Room
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A little room where all the roses bloom
I want to lead you into Nature's hall
Where ev'ry year the roses give a ball
They have an orchestra up in the trees
For their musicians are the birds and bees
And they will sing us a song
As we are strolling along
In sunny Roseland, where summer breezes are playing
Where the honey bees are "A-Maying"
There all the roses are swaying
Dancing while the meadow brook flows
The moon when shining is more than ever designing
For 'tis ever then I am pining
Pining to be sweetly reclining
Somewhere in Roseland
Beside a beautiful rose
The ball is over and tulips meet
Their little kisses are so short and sweet
The lilies nod to the forget-me-nots
When they're departing in their flower pots
But all the roses with their spirits high
Remain to love until they droop and die
And dear, why shouldn't it be
Just so with you and with me
In sunny Roseland, where summer breezes are playing
Where the honey bees are "A-Maying"
There all the roses are swaying
Dancing while the meadow brook flows
The moon when shining is more than ever designing
For 'tis ever then I am pining
Pining to be sweetly reclining
Somewhere in Roseland
Beside a beautiful rose
The song "Rose Room" by Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars is a beautiful ballad that takes the listener to a little room where roses bloom and nature's orchestra plays sweet melodies. The first verse of the song describes the little room as a place where roses give a ball every year, and the birds and bees become the musicians for the orchestra that plays for the ball. As the couple strolls along, they are serenaded by the sweet songs of nature's musicians.
In the second verse, Roseland is introduced as a place where summer breezes bring in the aroma of honeybees, and the roses are dancing while the meadow brook flows. The moon is also mentioned as a source of inspiration for the writer who is pining to be sweetly reclining somewhere in Roseland, beside a beautiful rose. The final verse brings the listener back to the little room where the ball has ended, and all the flowers are saying goodbye with little kisses and nods.
Line by Line Meaning
I want to take you to a little room
Louis Armstrong wants to bring someone to a special, intimate space
A little room where all the roses bloom
This room is filled with beautiful flowers
I want to lead you into Nature's hall
Louis Armstrong wishes to show someone the beauty of the natural world.
Where ev'ry year the roses give a ball
In this space, the roses are joyous and playful
They have an orchestra up in the trees
In this garden, even the birds and bees create music
For their musicians are the birds and bees
The sounds of nature create a magical atmosphere
And they will sing us a song
In this space, even the flowers sing
As we are strolling along
Louis Armstrong and someone else will take a peaceful walk
In sunny Roseland, where summer breezes are playing
This special place is filled with warmth and a gentle wind
Where the honey bees are "A-Maying"
In this garden, even the bees are busy and happy
There all the roses are swaying
In this magical space, the roses dance in the wind
Dancing while the meadow brook flows
The flowers dance alongside a flowing stream
The moon when shining is more than ever designing
In this special place, even the moon seems to create an atmosphere of beauty
For 'tis ever then I am pining
Louis Armstrong deeply longs to stay in this magical space
Pining to be sweetly reclining
He wishes to relax and take in the beauty that surrounds him
Somewhere in Roseland
This special garden is called "Roseland"
Beside a beautiful rose
He would like to be near one of the many lovely roses in this space
The ball is over and tulips meet
The festivities have ended and the flowers begin to say goodbye
Their little kisses are so short and sweet
As the flowers say goodbye, they share fleeting moments of tenderness
The lilies nod to the forget-me-nots
Different flowers acknowledge each other, but it's time to go
When they're departing in their flower pots
The flowers leave in their containers for the night, ready to rest till morning
But all the roses with their spirits high
Even as it gets late, the roses remain vibrant and joyful
Remain to love until they droop and die
The roses keep on dancing and loving until they inevitably pass on
And dear, why shouldn't it be
Louis Armstrong is asking a rhetorical question: why not stay and enjoy the beauties of life?
Just so with you and with me
He hopes that he and his companion can also enjoy life as fully as the flowers in Roseland
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ART HICKMAN, HARRY WILLIAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
fillra01
Excellent clarinet feature by Barney, clever interplay between him and the drummer. It gave Armstrong's lips a rest for a minute or two. This was recorded in a club with people dining and drinking... and chattering!
Pinkie Eldred
Barney had a really interesting bag of tricks...he should have gotten more credit for his amazing talent.