"Basin Street Blues" is a song often performed by
Dixieland jazz bands, written by
Spencer Williams in 1928 and recorded that year by
Louis Armstrong.[1] The verse with the lyric "Won't you come along with me / To the Mississippi..." was later added by
Glenn Miller and
Jack Teagarden.
The
Basin Street of the title refers to the main street of
Storyville, the red-light district of early 20th-century
New Orleans, north of the
French Quarter. It became a red light district in 1897.[2]
In 2008, saxophonist
David Sanborn covered the song from his album Here & Gone[6]
The song was re-imagined by Canadian
turntablistKid Koala by manipulating the vinyl live.
In his live recording made at the Monterey Jazz festival in 1963, Jack Teagarden claims that the words we usually associate with the song were written by him and
Glenn Miller when they were asked to arrange the song for an early
Ben Pollack recording. Neither name appears on the song credits.