The Birth of the Blues

One of the fun things about being such an eclectic bunch of people is that we are quite comfortable with reaching way back for great tunes that many bands have never even heard of. A case in point is this song that’s now nearly a hundred years ago. It came out when the 1920s were really beginning to roar. It was a favorite of Charlie’s mom and dad, not because they knew it from 1926 when it was released, but because it was also the title tune of a classic Bing Crosby musical from 1941. And this musical centenarian still has mojo. Listen to our take on the tune from a recent rehearsal, as Paul Callicoat lays down a solid bass line for tasty solos by Doug Chaffin, Paul Martin, Sam St. Clair and Vanessa Coffman. Here’s the great Ray Henderson composition, “Birth of the Blues.”