Louis Armstrong
Trumpet Solo on
Can't We Be Friends?

About

Louis Armstrong's trumpet solo is the sole improvisation on this recording. Spanning half a chorus of the 32-bar AABA form at a moderate 110 BPM with a swing feel in B♭, the solo runs approximately 35 seconds. The Kay Swift standard, performed at a comfortable 110 beats per minute in B-flat major, features a half-chorus trumpet solo from Armstrong that exemplifies his late-career approach to ballad and medium-tempo material. Louis Armstrong was 54 to 55 years old at the time of this 1956 recording. "Can't We Be Friends?" was composed by Kay Swift with lyrics by Paul James, the pen name of her then-husband James Paul Warburg.

Louis Armstrong was 54 to 55 years old at the time.