‘What A Wonderful World’ celebrates 50

Louis Armstrong: his house for 30 years in Queens, NYC is a National Historic Landmark open to the public.

An exhibit at the Louis Armstrong House Museum marks a half-century since the optimistic jazz standard was recorded and released

Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of when jazz giant Louis Armstrong recorded the iconic two-minute-and-twenty-one-second song, What A Wonderful World – a standard that still serves as medicine for turbulent times. To honour the half century since its release, the Louis Armstrong House Museum will host a limited exhibit, ’50 Years of What A Wonderful World’, which is now open to the public.

“In an earlier age when violence and rancor and fears for the future crimped spirits of even the sunniest optimist, brilliant talents set out to craft a musical antidote,” says the New York Daily News on Armstrong’s pop ballad.

What a Wonderful World was written by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele (aka George Douglas). The song was released as a single in 1967 and topped the pop charts in the UK. Armstrong’s recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Among the items on display in the exhibit will be Armstrong’s trumpet from the original arrangement, rare photos from the original recording date, albums, sheet music and news clippings. The museum is located in the same building where Armstrong lived for 30 years in Queens, New York. For more information, visit louisarmstronghouse.org

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