Jazz For A Lazy Sunday - La Vie en Rose

One of the most beautiful love songs!  La Vie en Rose, which I believe is pronounced La Vee In Rose. At least that's what a French speaking friend told me.  Louis Armstrong tries out several pronunciations, none of which quite fit, but that doesn't detract from the loveliness of the lyrics or the flowing beauty of the melody.

Louis Armstrong, as I'm sure you know, began his playing in New Orleans.  Too long a story to relate here, but over his career he certainly transcended any labels.  His short, almost staccato bursts of trumpet, let you know it's Louis and the growling vocals identify him anywhere.  One jazz critic was asked who his favorite trumpet player was and he immediately said, Louis Armstrong.

The response was, "So you think he was the best?"

"Not at all," the critic replied.  "Lots of better trumpet players, but that's not what you asked me."

The same applies to the vocals.  Who would have guessed Louis Armstrong could sell records with his one octave growl?  He never would have lasted on American Idol, but still his voice compels you to listen and feel.  His version of La Vie en Rose comes from the heart...and goes right to your heart.

What does La Vie en Rose mean, anyway?  The closest English equivalent is 'looking at the world through rose colored glasses.'  Another way to put it is seeing beauty in life because you're in love.

In the end, who cares about a translation.  The words and melody tell it all.  There's nothing quite like being in love and there's nothing better than hearing Louis Armstrong play and sing about it.

Jazz for a Lazy Sunday:Bunny Berigan & Orch-I Can't Get Started

Bunny Berigan, one of the most original jazz musicians of the 20;s and 30’s, was given a fiddle when he was a kid and later his grandfather gave him a trumpet.  He learned to play both and by high school, he was playing fiddle with the school band and trumpet professionally with a jazz orchestra.

Later he hooked up with Benny Goodman.  Want to hear some other great Berigan solos?  Listen to Goodman’s ‘King Porter Stomp’ and ‘Sometimes I’m Happy,’ both from 1935. 

Soon Berigan was on his way, with his own orchestra and a hit number called ‘I Can’t Get Started.’  Recorded in 1937, it was to be his one big shot.  By 1940, Berigan’s orchestra was gone, he’d gotten on with Tommy Dorsey’s band (Check out his solo on ‘Marie.’) and then been dropped.  Heavy drinking had worked its horrific transformation, turning promise and future into empty and past.  In 1942, at the age of 33, cirrhosis of the liver silenced the magic trumpet of Bernard R. Berigan.  But, the bits and pieces of solos and songs still thrill, their ups and downs, happiness and melancholy always reminding us of the talent that once was Bunny Berigan.