The most influential musician in American music, Louis Armstrong didn’t stop after he’d revolutionized jazz. He went on to forever change the way the popular song was sung. On November 7th, Time Life will release a box set tribute to the icon, The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong, the latest in their Legends of American Music Series. The three disc collection features 2 CDs and a DVD and includes songs recorded between 1931 and 1967, as well as rare television and live performances that capture Armstrong at his very best.
Nearly every great jazz musician …from Dizzy Gillespie to Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis and even Tony Bennett… resolutely swears their start began with Armstrong. He still ranks as the greatest jazz musician of all time, not only delivering sublime performances but stretching the boundaries of the art form. But by the mid 1930s, Armstrong began also making a name for himself as a singer, breaking through to the pop world with “I’m in the Mood for Love” and “Blueberry Hill.” A string of hits followed, including “A Kiss to Build a Dream On,” “Mack the Knife,” his Grammy-winning “Hello Dolly” and the poignant anthem “What a Wonderful World.” All of these tracks, as well as his take on Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and his original version of “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” are included in the new collection, reflecting Armstrong’s uncanny ability to take a song from nearly any genre – be it a show tune, gospel song, blues, pop classic, or a country heartbreaker – and transform it into a tour de force that could only be his own.
By the 1940s, Armstrong was not only a major figure in music, he was one of the first African American performers to truly cross over and find acceptance in the pop marketplace. He captivated audiences with sheer talent, the warmth of his vocal style and his innate ability to entertain all the while transcending the hard and fast racial barriers of the era as no other artist had done before. In the 1950s, he added yet another facet to his career by becoming a beloved television star, and his popularity endured on through the 1960s when Armstrong topped the pop charts with his unlikely hit, “Hello Dolly,” knocking off “Can’t Buy Me Love” at the height of Beatlemania. And although “Wonderful World” was recorded in 1967 and hit #1 in England, it was never popular stateside until the Robin Williams film, “Good Morning Vietnam” used it in a key scene in 1988. The song has remained anthemic ever since and became Armstrong’s signature song long after his death in 1971. Since then, new generations continue discovered his work in television shows, commercials, and more movies. He is the only artist whose recording career began in the 1920s and still sells a large volume of records to this day.
The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong is the first box set of his work to include a DVD. Because Armstrong was an extremely charismatic and riveting performer, Time-Life felt that a comprehensive overview of Armstrong’s career would not be complete without a visual component. The DVD includes rare performance footage, separated into four decades. Excerpts from a concert in Copenhagen in 1933, as well as television appearances and film clips from later years offer a glimpse into the irrepressible appeal that made Armstrong such a beloved figure. Duets with Bing Crosby and Jackie Gleason highlight the DVD, reminding viewers of his broad appeal at a time where segregation was still the norm.

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