Jazz Changes

Songs from 1914 to 1966

Blues through the years

A blues is a short round that a band plays again and again. Count twelve and it begins over, in three lines of four: the first sets out a line, the second usually says it again as the sound moves away from home, and the third answers and comes back. Once the round is in your ear you can follow any solo, since each player takes turn after turn around it. This page follows songs built on the round, from W. C. Handy's St. Louis Blues in 1914 through and soul jazz to 2025.

Through the years

  1. 1910s

    W. C. Handy publishes St. Louis Blues in 1914, one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song. It pairs verses on the round with a contrasting 16-bar strain in habanera rhythm, so the round you can count gives way to a stretch with a different rhythm.

  2. 1920s

    Bessie Smith sings St. Louis Blues in 1925 over a cornet, played by Louis Armstrong, and an organ. In 1928 Duke Ellington's band records the song for Victor under the name Warren Mills and his Blue Serenaders, so within three years it is on records by a singer and by a band.

    Bessie Smith St. Louis Blues · 1925Duke Ellington St. Louis Blues · 1928
  3. 1930s

    Art Tatum plays St. Louis Blues alone at the piano at his first solo session in 1933, and the track opens Piano Starts Here. In Paris in 1935 Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli's Quintette du Hot Club de France plays it on violin, three guitars and a bass.

    Art Tatum St. Louis Blues · 1933Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli St. Louis Blues · 1935
  4. 1940s

    Johnny Hodges leads the first recording of Things Ain't What They Used to Be in 1941, Charlie Barnet follows in 1942, and Duke Ellington's orchestra records C Jam Blues that year. In 1945 Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers record Billie's Bounce, at his first session as a leader, and Now's the Time. Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers record a blues influenced by Now's the Time in 1948, and it reaches number 1 on the R&B chart in 1949.

    Johnny Hodges Things Ain't What They Used to Be · 1941Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra C Jam Blues · 1942Charlie Barnet Things Ain't What They Used to Be · 1942Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers Billie's Bounce · 1945Charlie Parker's Re-Boppers Now's the Time · 1945Charlie Parker Quintet Billie's Bounce · 1946Kenny Clarke and His 52nd Street Boys Tenor Madness · 1946Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers Now's the Time · 1948
  5. 1950s

    Parker records Blues for Alice in 1951, and Thelonious Monk records Straight, No Chaser that year and Blue Monk in 1954. Records stretch out, so the round comes back many times: Louis Armstrong's All-Stars take almost nine minutes on St. Louis Blues in 1954, and Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane over twelve on Tenor Madness in 1956. In 1959 Miles Davis records All Blues and Freddie Freeloader for Kind of Blue.

    Charlie Parker Quintet Blues for Alice · 1951Thelonious Monk Quintet Straight, No Chaser · 1951Charlie Parker Quartet Now's the Time · 1953Thelonious Monk Trio Blue Monk · 1954Art Blakey Quintet Now's the Time · 1954Louis Armstrong St. Louis Blues · 1954Sonny Rollins Quartet, with John Coltrane Tenor Madness · 1956Bud Powell Trio Billie's Bounce · 1957
    16 more
    Wes Montgomery Billie's Bounce · 1957The Red Garland Quintet Billie's Bounce · 1957Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk Blue Monk · 1957Wes Montgomery Straight, No Chaser · 1957Frank Wess, John Coltrane, Paul Quinichette Things Ain't What They Used to Be · 1957Miles Davis Straight, No Chaser · 1958The Dave Brubeck Quartet Things Ain't What They Used to Be · 1958Miles Davis All Blues · 1959Thelonious Monk Blue Monk · 1959Duke Ellington C Jam Blues · 1959Miles Davis Freddie Freeloader · 1959John Coltrane Mr. P.C. · 1959Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with Zoot Sims Now's the Time · 1959Dizzy Gillespie Sextet St. Louis Blues · 1959Red Garland Trio St. Louis Blues · 1959Charles Mingus and His Jazz Groups Things Ain't What They Used to Be · 1959
  6. 1960s

    Nat Adderley records Work Song in 1960, and Coltrane's quartet records Equinox. Singers take up blues that began as instrumentals, with words by Abbey Lincoln for Blue Monk in 1961, Jon Hendricks for Mr. P.C. that year and Oscar Brown Jr. for All Blues in 1963. Mongo Santamaría's Watermelon Man single reaches No. 10 on the Hot 100 in 1963, and a single of Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder reaches No. 81.

    John Coltrane Equinox · 1960Nat Adderley Work Song · 1960Cannonball Adderley Quintet Work Song · 1960Abbey Lincoln Blue Monk · 1961Roland Kirk Quartet Blues for Alice · 1961Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington C Jam Blues · 1961Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with the Ike Isaacs Trio Mr. P.C. · 1961Oscar Peterson Trio with Milt Jackson Work Song · 1961
    30 more
    Eddie Jefferson Billie's Bounce · 1962Oscar Peterson Trio C Jam Blues · 1962John Coltrane Quartet Mr. P.C. · 1962Oscar Peterson Trio Now's the Time · 1962The Oscar Peterson Trio Things Ain't What They Used to Be · 1962Herbie Hancock Watermelon Man · 1962Mongo Santamaría Watermelon Man · 1962Cannonball Adderley Sextet Work Song · 1962Oscar Brown, Jr. All Blues · 1963Wes Montgomery Trio Freddie Freeloader · 1963The Dave Brubeck Quartet St. Louis Blues · 1963Lee Morgan The Sidewinder · 1963Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan Watermelon Man · 1963The Howard Roberts Quartet Watermelon Man · 1963Les McCann Ltd. Work Song · 1963Miles Davis Quintet All Blues · 1964Thelonious Monk Quartet Blue Monk · 1964Thelonious Monk Quartet Straight, No Chaser · 1964Quincy Jones The Sidewinder · 1964Cannonball Adderley Quintet with Ernie Andrews Work Song · 1964Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington C Jam Blues · 1965Jimmy Smith C Jam Blues · 1965Gerald Wilson Orchestra Freddie Freeloader · 1965Wayne Shorter Footprints · 1966Miles Davis Quintet Footprints · 1966Tamiko Jones and Herbie Mann The Sidewinder · 1966Illinois Jacquet with Milt Buckner and Alan Dawson Watermelon Man · 1966Miles Davis Quintet Footprints · 1967Thelonious Monk Quartet Straight, No Chaser · 1967Ella Fitzgerald Things Ain't What They Used to Be · 1969
  7. 1970s

    Players try these blues in new settings. Hubert Laws plays Equinox on flute with strings in 1971, Pat Martino plays Footprints in 1972 with a second guitar and no piano or horn, and Joe Pass plays Now's the Time alone on acoustic guitar in 1973. Herbie Hancock rebuilds Watermelon Man as a funk piece that year, and Charles Mingus takes about 24 minutes over C Jam Blues in 1974, a full LP side.

    Lee Morgan Quintet The Sidewinder · 1970Hubert Laws Equinox · 1971Pat Martino Footprints · 1972Ron Carter All Blues · 1973Joe Pass Now's the Time · 1973Herbie Hancock Watermelon Man · 1973Charles Mingus C Jam Blues · 1974Dexter Gordon Quartet Billie's Bounce · 1975
    7 more
    Dexter Gordon Quartet Freddie Freeloader · 1975Dexter Gordon Quartet Tenor Madness · 1975The Great Jazz Trio All Blues · 1977Al Haig Trio Blues for Alice · 1977Bill Evans Freddie Freeloader · 1977Doug Raney Quartet Mr. P.C. · 1977Kenny Burrell Trio Work Song · 1978
  8. 1980s

    Small groups strip the blues down: a saxophone and bass duet from Archie Shepp and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen in 1980, Kenny Barron's trio with no horns in 1983, Ahmad Jamal's group with no horn in 1985. Players who were there return, with Tommy Flanagan leading a trio on Mr. P.C. in 1982 and Sonny Rollins playing Tenor Madness outdoors in 1986. Carmen McRae sings words to Blue Monk and Straight, No Chaser in 1988.

    Archie Shepp & Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen Blues for Alice · 1980Massimo Urbani Tenor Madness · 1981Tommy Flanagan Trio Mr. P.C. · 1982Kenny Barron Trio Straight, No Chaser · 1983Emily Remler Tenor Madness · 1984Ahmad Jamal Footprints · 1985Keith Jarrett Trio Billie's Bounce · 1986Sonny Rollins Tenor Madness · 1986
    2 more
    Carmen McRae Blue Monk · 1988Carmen McRae Straight, No Chaser · 1988
  9. 1990s

    Keith Jarrett's trio plays Things Ain't What They Used to Be at Town Hall in 1990, and the GRP All-Star Big Band takes The Sidewinder in 1992. The Derek Trucks Band records Mr. P.C. in 1996 for a debut album of re-arranged jazz and blues classics, and Fred Hersch and Bill Frisell play Blue Monk as a piano and guitar duo in 1997. In 1998 the World Saxophone Quartet plays All Blues with Jack DeJohnette.

    Stéphane Grappelli and McCoy Tyner Mr. P.C. · 1990Keith Jarrett Trio Things Ain't What They Used to Be · 1990GRP All-Star Big Band The Sidewinder · 1992Louis Smith Quintet Blues for Alice · 1993Gil Scott-Heron Equinox · 1993Mark Whitfield Blues for Alice · 1994Benny Golson Funky Quintet The Sidewinder · 1994Poncho Sanchez with Mongo Santamaría Watermelon Man · 1995
    4 more
    Ray Brown Trio Freddie Freeloader · 1996The Derek Trucks Band Mr. P.C. · 1996Fred Hersch and Bill Frisell Blue Monk · 1997World Saxophone Quartet featuring Jack DeJohnette All Blues · 1998
  10. 2000s

    Pat Martino plays All Blues live at Yoshi's in 2000, and Wayne Shorter plays Footprints with his own quartet in 2001, about 35 years after the first recording. In 2002 four former Miles Davis sidemen, including Jimmy Cobb, play Freddie Freeloader. Anthony Braxton's quartet takes Blues for Alice for 13 minutes in 2003, and Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano play Equinox in 2007.

    Pat Martino All Blues · 2000Wayne Shorter Quartet Footprints · 2001Roy Haynes Now's the Time · 2001George Coleman, Jimmy Cobb, Mike Stern, Ron Carter Freddie Freeloader · 2002Anthony Braxton Quartet Blues for Alice · 2003Karrin Allyson Footprints · 2005McCoy Tyner with John Scofield Mr. P.C. · 2006Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano Equinox · 2007
  11. 2010s

    John Pizzarelli plays C Jam Blues in 2010 with violin and tenor saxophone, as in Ellington's 1942 band. In 2011 Michel Camilo makes a Latin jazz Sidewinder and Kazumi Watanabe a fusion one, and Gregory Porter records Work Song. The SFJAZZ Collective plays All Blues in 2016, and Joey Alexander plays Straight, No Chaser in 2017, the year of Monk's hundredth birthday.

    John Pizzarelli C Jam Blues · 2010Michel Camilo The Sidewinder · 2011Kazumi Watanabe The Sidewinder · 2011Gregory Porter Work Song · 2011Chick Corea Trio Blue Monk · 2013SFJAZZ Collective All Blues · 2016Joey Alexander Straight, No Chaser · 2017
  12. 2020s

    Ezra Collective, a London quintet, reworks Footprints in 2020 for Blue Note Re:imagined, moving between post-bop, funk, hip-hop and Afrobeat. Joel Ross records Equinox in 2022 for nublues, a Blue Note album of blues and ballads. In 2025 Esperanza Spalding and Robert Glasper play Watermelon Man at the Polar Music Prize ceremony, where Herbie Hancock receives the prize.

    Ezra Collective Footprints · 2020Joel Ross Equinox · 2022Esperanza Spalding and Robert Glasper Watermelon Man · 2025

The tunes