Take 5 With St. James Infirmary

One of the best-known jazz & blues songs associated with the City of New Orleans, St. James Infirmary has been subject to many recordings and interpretations for decades. Artists such as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Chris Thomas King, and many others have recorded it. Also, it has been subject to scholarly study by Robert W. Harwood (and I recommend this volume) going through its origins and its history. Here is a link with more information about this book. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4758997-i-went-down-to-st-james-infirmary

Today's Take 5 is a short playlist of renditions of this classic tune. And I could easily have included another dozen renditions.

We start today's playlist with the great Louis Armstrong. This was not the first recording. That was by Fess Williams under the title of "Gambler's Blues."  This recording is from 1928 and includes the great Earl Hines on piano.

Next, we turn to the great Cab Calloway who recorded it originally in 1930 but also did a 'soundie' of the tune.

Bobby Bland made one of my favorite recordings of this song. It was the flip side of his No. 2 R&B hit "Don't Cry No More." I have included the original recording and not a live performance as he performed an abbreviated version on the videos available. I note that soul-blues singer Geater Davis also did a recording that was modeled on Bland's version.

Chris Thomas King, son of Baton Rouge blues legend Tabby Thomas, is a highly underrated blues performer and so much more. His moving rendition was included as part of 'Rise," his post-Katrina recording. Here he performs it at The Beeches Jazz Festival in Toronto.

We conclude this with a performance by Shamarr Allen who recorded this for his 'Meet Me on Frenchman Street" album.