Saint Louis Blues (song)
"Saint Louis Blues" is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style. It remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians' repertoire. It was also one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song. It has been performed by numerous musicians of all styles from Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith to Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. It has been called "the jazzman's Hamlet". Published in September 1914 by Handy's own company, it later gained such popularity that it inspired the dance step the "Foxtrot".
The version with Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong on cornet was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993. The 1929 version by Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra (with Henry "Red" Allen) was inducted there in 2008.
Read more about Saint Louis Blues (song): History, Analysis, Performances
Famous quotes containing the words saint, louis and/or blues:
“Gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispins day.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)
“St. Louis woman, wid her diamon rings,
Pulls dat man roun by her apron strings.”
—W.C. Handy (18731958)
“It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.”
—James Weldon Johnson (18711938)