| St. Louis Blues | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 1958 | |||
| Recorded | January 29–31, 1958 | |||
| Studio | Capitol (New York) | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 32:47 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Lee Gillette | |||
| Nat King Cole chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
St. Louis Blues is a 1958 album by Nat King Cole, arranged by Nelson Riddle. St. Louis Blues was the soundtrack to the film of the same name that starred Cole. The Billboard album chart placed the disc at a peak position of #18.
All music and lyrics by W.C. Handy, other lyricists indicated. Overture written by Nelson Riddle.
William Christopher Handy was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. He was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musicians who played the distinctively American blues music, Handy did not create the blues genre but was the first to publish music in the blues form, thereby taking the blues from a regional music style with a limited audience to a new level of popularity.
Nathaniel Adams Coles, known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late 1930s and spanned almost three decades where he found success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts.
"The Saint Louis Blues" is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style and published in September 1914. It was one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song and remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians' repertoire. Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby, Bessie Smith, Eartha Kitt, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, Peanuts Hucko, and the Boston Pops Orchestra are among the artists who have recorded it. The song has been called "the jazzman's Hamlet". Composer William Grant Still arranged a version of the song in 1916 while working with Handy.
"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé.
This Is Sinatra! is a compilation album by Frank Sinatra, released in 1956.
Love Songs brings together tracks from throughout Nat "King" Cole's recording career with Capitol records. The swing pianist turned ballad vocalist had a prolific chart run in the 1950s. Six of his UK hits are featured here.
To Whom It May Concern is a 1959 album by Nat King Cole, arranged by Nelson Riddle.
St. Louis Blues is a 1958 American film broadly based on the life of W. C. Handy. It stars jazz and blues greats Nat "King" Cole, Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, and Barney Bigard, as well as gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and actress Ruby Dee. The film's soundtrack uses over ten of Handy's songs, including the title song. In conjunction with the film, Cole recorded an album of W. C. Handy compositions, arranged by Nelson Riddle, and Fitzgerald incorporated "St. Louis Blues" into her concert repertoire.
The following is the discography for big band and traditional pop arranger Nelson Riddle (1921–1985).
Wild Is Love is a 1960 concept album by the American singer and pianist Nat King Cole, arranged by Nelson Riddle. The album chronicles a narrator's attempts to pick up various women before he finds love at the conclusion of the album. The album formed the basis for an unsuccessful musical, I'm With You, that starred Cole and was intended as a potential Broadway vehicle for him. A television special also called Wild Is Love resulted from the album, and was shown in Canada in late 1961. The television special was not shown in the United States until 1964 due to the brief presence of physical contact between the African American Cole and a performer of Canadian European descent, Larry Kert, that was seen as offensive by commercial sponsors.
Cole Español is a 1958 studio album by Nat King Cole to the Latin market, arranged by Nelson Riddle. One of three Spanish themed albums that Cole recorded, it was followed by A Mis Amigos (1959) and by More Cole Español in 1962. The orchestral music was recorded in Havana, Cuba, and Cole added his vocals in June in Los Angeles, California. However the song "Tú, mi delirio" is instrumental; Cole overdubbed piano, rather than vocals to this track. The album was later reissued as Español and More, Vol. 1. The album was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007. The album reached #12 on the Billboard Magazine LP chart.
Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love is a 1953 album by Nat King Cole, arranged by Nelson Riddle. It was expanded and re-released for the larger 12-inch format in 1955, adding four songs.
Every Time I Feel the Spirit is a 1959 studio album by Nat King Cole, of spirituals, arranged by Gordon Jenkins. Cole is accompanied by the First Church of Deliverance Choir of Chicago, Illinois. The album was re-issued by Capitol Records in 1966 under the new title, Nat King Cole Sings Hymns and Spirituals. Several bonus tracks, recorded between 1951 and 1961 and arranged by Nelson Riddle and others, were added to later CD re-issues.
Dedicated to Nelson is a 1996 album by singer Rosemary Clooney, dedicated to the arranger Nelson Riddle. Clooney's television show from 1956-57 featured arrangements by Riddle, and a selection of those original Riddle arrangements are presented here, performed by a big band. Arrangers Eddie Karam and David Berger assisted with expanding arrangements that had been shorter in their original television show incarnations, and with transcribing the arrangements from the recorded television audio.
The Nat King Cole Story is a 1961 album by Nat King Cole. The album was a retrospective of Cole's recording career, designed to present many of his earlier hits in new recordings featuring stereo sound. Cole is accompanied on the re-recordings by many of the notable arrangers and bands that had appeared with him on the original records.
Sinatra 80th: All the Best is a double compilation disc album by Frank Sinatra. On the final track, "The Christmas Song" is recorded both by Sinatra and Nat King Cole. The title, like the previous album, was released and named to coincide with Frank Sinatra's birthday, as he was celebrating his 80th at the time.
The Piano Style of Nat King Cole is a 1956 studio album by Nat King Cole, with orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. This was Cole's last instrumental album.
"Morning Star" is a track sung by Nat King Cole from the 1958 album St. Louis Blues. "Morning Star", taken from the Paramount picture, St. Louis Blues, with new lyrics by Mack David, was based on W. C. Handy's spiritual "Shine Like a Morning Star". The song describes, among other things, a mother's love for her son. The lyrics commence "I asked my mother / Is there a morning star? / I was answered by my mother / Yes, there's a morning star".
NAT: An Orchestral Portrait of Nat "King" Cole is an album by American composer and arranger Nelson Riddle of music associated with the singer and pianist Nat King Cole. The album was released a year after Cole's death in 1965; Riddle had previously arranged several of Cole's albums.
"Send for Me" is a song written by Ollie Jones and performed by Nat King Cole featuring the McCoy's Boys. It reached No. 1 on the U.S. R&B chart and No. 6 on the U.S. pop chart in 1957. The song was arranged by Billy May.
