[1] Basin Street Blues (Spencer Williams) - 3:03
[2] I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues (Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler) - 2:56
[3] A Nightingale Can Sing the Blues (Larry Marks/Dick Charles) - 3:08
[4] Get Set for the Blues (Joe Karnes) - 2:42
[5] Invitation to the Blues (Doris Fisher/Arthur Gershwin/Allan
Roberts) - 2:48
[6] Bye Bye Blues (Fred Hamm/Dave Bennett/Bert Lown/Chauncey Gray) -
1:38
[7] The Meaning of the Blues (Bobby Troup/Leah Worth) - 2:56
[8] About the Blues (Arthur Hamilton) - 3:05
[9] Sunday Blues (Leonard Adelson/Jeff Clarkson) - 2:53
[10] The Blues Is All I Ever Had (Bobby Troup) - 2:49
[11] Blues in the Night (Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer) - 3:39
[12] Bouquet of Blues (Arthur Hamilton) - 2:55
[13] Baby, Baby All The Time (Bobby Troup) - 2:25
[14] Shadow Woman (Arthur Hamilton) - 2:39
[15] The Meaning Of The Blues [Single Version] (Bobby Troup/Leah Worth)
- 2:58
[16] Dark (Bobby Troup) - 2:38
Russ Garcia - Arranger, Conductor on [1]-[15]
Spencer Hagan Orchestra - Orchestra on [16]
Bobby Troup - Producer
Ted Keep - Engineer
Sherwood Hall - Engineer
Val Valentin - Engineer
Ron McMaster - Digital Remastering
James Gavin - Liner Notes
1957 LP Liberty LRP 3043
2002 DI Blue Note 38695
2002 CD Toshiba EMI 6864
About the Blues was an LP album by Julie London, released by
Liberty Records under catalog numbers LRP-3043 (monaural) in 1957 and
LST-7012 (stereophonic) in 1958. Most of the songs in the album have
"blues" in their titles. The album was reissued, combined with the 1959
Julie London album London by Night, in compact disc form in 2001 by EMI.
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Los Angeles, California in 1956-57.
Originally released on Liberty (3043). Includes liner notes by James
Gavin
Recording information: Radio Recorders, Hollywood, CA (1956-1957).
Julie London wasn't really a jazz singer, but she possessed a definite
jazz feeling and many of her finest albums (such as Julie Is Her Name
and Julie...At Home) feature small-group jazz backings. About the Blues
was aimed at the 1950s pop market, but it may just be her best
orchestral session. Since downbeat torch songs were London's specialty,
the album features an excellent selection of nocturnal but classy blues
songs that play to her subtle strengths instead of against them.
Likewise, Russ Garcia's clever arrangements bleed jazz touches and
short solos over the solitary strings and big-band charts. Like June
Christy, London usually included a couple of new songs in with a
selection of standards, and her husband, Bobby Troup, wrote two
excellent numbers for the album. One of them, the emotionally
devastating "Meaning of the Blues," is the album's highlight, and was
turned into a jazz standard after Miles Davis recorded it the same year
for Miles Ahead.
