Words and music by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele; Arranged by Elena Fortin
What a Wonderful World was written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. The piece was recorded and made famous by icon Louis Armstrong.
The story of the recording was pretty cool: Louis was in Las Vegas and the recording was setup to take place after a midnight gig. They started recording and were interrupted by a recording executive who was annoyed that Louis wasn’t recording an upbeat number like another one of his hits, “Hello, Dolly”.
After the executive was thrown out, train whistles interrupted the recording. The final take wasn’t done until 6 a.m.! In order to make sure that the orchestra members were paid for their overtime work, Louis asked to be paid only union scale for his work ($250 at the time)! What a Wonderful World indeed.
About the arrangement
This arrangement was written as a smooth piano solo, but I included the words because I love how they tell a story. I decided to make it an Intermediate/Early Advanced piano solo. The melody is supported by chords in the RH, and the left hand is arpeggios of chords for the most part, with a stride LH bass for the middle section. It is such a beautiful melody, it isn’t decorated much except for a few bridges between verses.
Video Performance
Purchase Information
Clicking on the link below will bring you to a new site: Sheet Music Plus. This arrangement is under copyright with the ArrangeMe program by Hal Leonard.
Sheet Music Plus – What A Wonderful World
Sheet Music Sample
