PPT mouthpieces

St. James Infirmary Blues

Koen88

Koen88

Sax Drinker / Beer player
Messages
410
Location
Netherlands
Hey everybody,

now that the course is over its time to just PLAY. and this one I played for SOTW's TOTM which was play a minor blues. I've played it before along the louis armstrong version but never thought of recording it... till now:

https://soundcloud.com/koen-bidlot/st-james-infirmary-tentamen

again used my keilwerth Toneking and the Golbeck #2 mpc with a ZZ4 reed. and a scotch tape ligature ;-)

around 2.20 you can hear that there's still life in such an old mpc ;-)

hope you'll take a listen and maybe even enjoy.
 
Chris said:
Really created a nice vibe Koen, perhaps a little more vibrato here and there??

Chris..
Click to expand...

thanks chris.. yeah that would suit the vibe and the era its from.. but with the mpc use that but thats not easey (for me) on such a small tip (0.049") considering I mosly play my lebayle 8 (0.90).

I'm thinking of a sydney bechet vibrato in petite fleur.. but that's too much for my comfort

but thanks for listening!
 
Great stuff Koen. I enjoyed your take on this and wanted to be in N'awlins.

My all time favourite version is Lucien Barabrin on trombone with Harry Connick Jr - saw them doing it live in 2007 - fantastic

It's here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQIa-JKFDsA if you want to hear it.
 
Seemed OK until 2:33 then came alive. It's not just about picking out the right notes form the scale/chord it's playing with intent and feeling that makes music communicate. I guess it took a while for you to gain that comfort and feel at ease enough to push forward, but it was such a breakthrough when you did. Nicely done.
 
Wade Cornell said:
Seemed OK until 2:33 then came alive. It's not just about picking out the right notes form the scale/chord it's playing with intent and feeling that makes music communicate. I guess it took a while for you to gain that comfort and feel at ease enough to push forward, but it was such a breakthrough when you did. Nicely done.
Click to expand...

Hi wade, thanks for the nice comment!

yeah I played a long with the backing, and after the " theme" the backing was quite calm too so to go fullout on such a calm backing didnt feel comfortable.. but at 2.20 I begin the build up to 2.33.

and 4.5 minutes of fullout playing isnt intresting to hear to I'd imagine...

thanks again!
 
After more than half a century of "loving it" I must have listened to dozens of renditions of this great classic. In all honesty yours is up there with the best of them and I thank you for keeping me listening enthralled from beginning to end. Frankly, my preference these days is to listen to instrumental versions of it as I find the words detract from the notes. If I feel the need for words I can always imagine them I have heard them so many times!

Again many thanks and congratulations.

Dave
 
Colin the Bear said:
A song with a strange history. Alledgedly a european folk song with a moral tale. It evolved into this...


http://youtu.be/ITrlaxEdpFQ
Click to expand...

Had a listen as i thought i would hear the story behind the lyrics of St James Infirmary, but the lyrics to that Cowboy song were lifted from a great Irish Ballad. Willie McBride.

PS.....Well how do you do young Willie McBride...do you mind if i sit here, down by your graveside,...and rest for a while neath the warm summer sun....ive been walking all day and im nearly done.....did they beat the drum slowly , did they play the fife lowly, did they play the death march as they lowered you down....etc
 
Last edited by a moderator:
From Wikipedia.

[h=2]Authorship and history[edit][/h]"St. James Infirmary Blues" is based on an 18th century traditional English folk song called "The Unfortunate Rake" (also known as "The Unfortunate Lad" or "The Young Man Cut Down in His Prime"), about a soldier who uses his money on prostitutes, and then dies of a venereal disease. Variations typically feature a narrator telling the story of a young man "cut down in his prime" (occasionally, a young woman "cut down in her prime") as a result of morally questionable behavior. For example, when the song moved to America, gambling and alcohol became common causes of the youth's death. There are numerous versions of the song throughout the English-speaking world. It evolved into other American standards such as "The Streets of Laredo."[1]
The title is said to be derived from St. James Hospital in London, a religious foundation for the treatment of leprosy. There is some difficulty in this since it was closed in 1532 when Henry VIII acquired the land to build St. James Palace.[2] Another possibility is the Infirmary section of the St James Workhouse (http://www.workhouses.org.uk/StJames/ ) which was opened in 1725 by the St James Parish in Poland Street, Piccadilly and continued well into the nineteenth century. This St James Infirmary was contemporaneous with the advent of the song.
The tune of the earlier versions of the song, including the Bard of Armagh and the Unfortunate Rake, is in a major key and is similar to that of the Streets of Laredo. The jazz version, as played by Louis Armstrong, is in a minor key and appears to have been influenced by the chord structures prevalent in Latin American music, particularly the Tango.
Like most such folksongs, there is much variation in the lyrics from one version to another. This is the first stanza as sung by Louis Armstrong:
I went down to St. James Infirmary,Saw my baby there,Stretched out on a long white table,So cold, so sweet, so fair.Let her go, let her go, God bless her,Wherever she may be,She can look this wide world over,But she'll never find a sweet man like me.
 
llamedos said:
After more than half a century of "loving it" I must have listened to dozens of renditions of this great classic. In all honesty yours is up there with the best of them and I thank you for keeping me listening enthralled from beginning to end. Frankly, my preference these days is to listen to instrumental versions of it as I find the words detract from the notes. If I feel the need for words I can always imagine them I have heard them so many times!

Again many thanks and congratulations.

Dave
Click to expand...

thank you for your very kind words. pleased to hear someone who's been listening to this record for twice as long as I am old van approve of my version ;-)

and I found a blog/site with several versions of St. James infirmary, including Blind Willie McTell – Dying Crapshooter’s Blues and background stories: http://songbook1.wordpress.com/fx/st-james-infirmary/
 

New Posts

Latest: Members' Recordings

Share this page

Support Cafesaxophone

Tutorials CDs PPT mouthpieces
Back
Top Bottom