The Meaning of the Blues
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Meaning of the Blues" is a 1957 jazz composition and song, with music by Bobby Troup and lyrics by Leah Worth.[1] It was written for Troup's wife, Julie London, for her album About the Blues (1957) and recorded shortly thereafter by Miles Davis and Gil Evans on the celebrated record Miles Ahead.[2]
This 32-bar piece is structurally not a blues. Its form follows a standard ABAC design. The overall tonality is minor, with modulations to the major mode in both the B and C sections. The melody itself has no accidentals, apart from the raised leading tone in bar 16, where the B section returns to A. The song is commonly performed at a ballad tempo, M.M.=66 or slower (Julie London's recording is at M.M.=54).
Notable recordings
- Julie London - About the Blues (1957)
- Miles Davis - Miles Ahead (1957)
- Stan Kenton - Standards in Silhouette (1959)
- Linda Lawson - Introducing Linda Lawson (1960)
- Miles Davis - Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall (1961)
- Irene Kral - Better Than Anything (1963)[3]
- Mark Murphy - That's How I Love the Blues! (1963)
- Carmen McRae - Bittersweet (1964)[4]
- Woody Herman - Giant Steps (1973)
- Gil Evans - There Comes a Time (1975)
- Keith Jarrett - Standards (1983)[5]
- Michael Brecker - Now You See It… (Now You Don't) (1990)
- J.J. Johnson - Tangence (1994)
- Shirley Horn - The Main Ingredient (1995)