Ten Best Louis Armstrong Vocals EVER!

Louis Armstrong was unquestionably one of the greatest jazz artists to ever pick up a horn. And he was often backed by the best musical colleagues as well.

But he also turned out to be an inimitable vocalist who became famous not just for his distinctive gravelly voice but his phrasing, syncopation and spontaneous mumbles and patois. He could take a tune that you might not even notice and make it breathtakingly meaningful. He could also take a very well known tune and give it a new treatment that would make it sound richly alive again as if you were hearing it for the very first time. Indeed, his covers of various classics became the definitive versions of those songs.

Here are our ten top Satchmo vocals, some culled from the album Louis Armstrong Sings and, not being an aficionado, I cannot necessarily identify specific recordings and dates. But I can tell you that across a broad range of decades of vocals, these are probably the ten best you will hear:

1) A Kiss To Build A Dream On

Armstrong takes a lushly romantic ballad and gives it an up tempo interpretation that is the best of the best.

2) Someday You'll Be Sorry

A classic revenge song that is tinged with pathos in Satchmo's superb rendition.

3) When It's Sleepy Time Down South

Pop's haunting theme song that evokes memories of "folks down there" who "live a life of ease".  Dreamy!

4) Hello, Dolly!

Originally the flip side of a recording, it turned out to be the hit side. Lots of other vocalists took a shot at this one but Armstrong's interpretation was so good he was featured in the movie with Barbra Streisand.

5) Memories Of You

Nostalgia ringed with regret makes this Eubie Blake standard unforgettable.

6) What A Wonderful World

This one makes almost everyone's list. It's Armstrong's loving embrace of the whole world.

7) Under A Blanket of Blue (with Ella Fitzgerald)

Louis and Ella in as perfect a duet as you can imagine. The song embraces you like a clear, endless sky on a crisp autumn day.

8) Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?

Well, who would know better than Satchmo himself?

9) La Vie En Rose

The song holds back and then just bursts open like a rose in bloom. It ravishingly beautiful!

10) Cabaret

Once again, Pops took a Broadway classic and made it his own. Glorious!

And here's one more that we like: We Have All The Time In The World recently heard in the latest James Bond movie. The song originally appeared in a previous James Bond film, 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and is said to be a perennial Valentine's Day favorite.  See below!