‘What A Wonderful World’: Louis Armstrong’s Iconic Life-Affirming Ballad

The story behind the jazz legend’s final hit and, quite simply, one of the most beautiful songs ever written.The legendary New Orleans singer and trumpeter Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong had been making records since 1923, but in 1967 he released “What A Wonderful World,” which would become the biggest-selling song of his long and storied career. Though renowned as one of the pioneers of Dixieland-style jazz in the 1920s, Armstrong was no stranger to the pop charts in the 1960s, having topped Billboard’s Hot 100 with the Grammy-winning single, “Hello Dolly,” in 1964. But “What A Wonderful World” was very...