The Meaning of the Blues

"The Meaning Of The Blues" (1957) is a 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, despite its title, is structurally not a blues, instead it consists of two 16-bar parts A, A', with a slight dramatic melodic heightening in A'. The melody is minor and remains in the diatonic range, apart from a leading note on the dominant chord in the second to last bar of each part. The piece is usually played as ballad with around 76 bpm or slightly less.

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)
• Mark Murphy - That's How I Love the Blues! (1963)
• Woody Herman - Giant Steps (1973)
• Gil Evans - There Comes a Time (1975)
• Keith Jarrett - Standards (1983)
• Michael Brecker - Now You See It… (Now You Don't) (1990)
• J.J. Johnson - Tangence (1994)
• Shirley Horn - The Main Ingredient (1995)

References[]