Posted in "St. James Infirmary", New Orleans on April 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Whether you’re in town for the Fest, or the Stomp, or because, you know, you live there, I hope you’ll pick up a copy of Offbeat and check out something they asked me to write. To wit:
Rob Walker presents his liner notes to an imaginary compilation of versions of the New Orleans classic, ìSt. James [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Non-musical context on April 21, 2008 | 2 Comments »
T-P Music writer Keith Spera says:
The well-trod “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans” is, like “St. James Infirmary” and “Lil’ Liza Jane, ” a New Orleans standard overdue for retirement.
Due for retirement?
“St. James Infirmary”??
You’re fucking fired.
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", In performance, Versions on April 18, 2008 | No Comments »
A bit more than two years ago, I published on this site a mini-review of a then-new version of “SJI” by Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan. I really didn’t care for it, but of course I know that Campbell and Lanegan have a lot of indie-rockin’ fans. Anyway, Campbell did the singing on that, so [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", In performance, New Orleans on April 17, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I’m pretty late with this news, but those of you who follow things in New Orleans are no doubt aware that Al Copeland passed away recently.
He died of a malignant salivary gland tumor, near Munich German; he was 64. The Times obit failed to explain what he was doing in Germany, but it did provide [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Versions on April 7, 2008 | 2 Comments »
All About Jazz describes a White House event featuring guests the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins, and others. Also:
As the night wound down and the guests were either asked to leave or escorted out, Condy Rice sat in at the piano, she is a fine pianist by the way, and did a credible version [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Versions on March 27, 2008 | No Comments »
From time to time I check out Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, on NPR. It’s often pretty good. In an interesting recent episode the subject is Jimmy McPartland — a cornetist, but also, it turns out, McPartland’s former husband.
I didn’t know a tremendous about McPartland, who died in 1991. But I enjoyed the program. Many of [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", Musical context on February 28, 2008 | No Comments »
So suggests Bettye LaVette in this interview. Regarding her past manager John Lewis she remarks:
He made me learn good songs, which enabled me to do Broadway or sing in New Orleans, because I knew “St. James Infirmary” and “Bill Bailey.”
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", In performance, Versions on February 27, 2008 | No Comments »
Something I did not know: Cab Calloway’s grandson is a working musical performer. His name is C. Calloway Brooks. A New England Conservatory of Music grad, he performed with his grandfather back in the 1980s, and now tours with the seven-piece Cab Jivers. And according to this brief piece about him, “SJI” is (not surprisingly) [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", In performance on February 27, 2008 | No Comments »
A review of a live show in Biloxi by “boogie-woogie stylist” Michael Kaeshammer says the piano player “wowed” the crowd with his playing and a “his dry, Dick Cavett-style humor.”
For instance:
Two songs introduced as romantic, love-filled numbers: “St. James Infirmary” (about a dead lover on an emergency room gurney) and “My Girlfriend is a Kangaroo” [...]
Posted in "St. James Infirmary", In performance, MySpace/YouTube/Etc., Versions on February 25, 2008 | No Comments »
A long time ago I corresponded with, and if I remember right, even spoke to, some folks in Holland putting together a two-part radio show of versions of “SJI.” (Here and here.) During that exchange I was informed that a version of “SJI” performed by Johnny Kendall & The Heralds was a huge hit there, [...]
[Or: The Point of this Site]
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a third version.
And now, this site: A place to collect some of the links, leads, thoughts, and suggestions relating to the song that readers (from Finland, The Netherlands, Australia, Spain, England, Sweden, Canada, and all over the U.S.) have sent me. This may lead to a fourth and significantly expanded version of the essay, some day. Also on this site: Plenty of tangents.
Never heard "St. James Infirmary"? Start here.
The most recent version of my "St. James Infirmary" essay is now a few years old. But it's still a fairly decent overview of what I know about the song, and why I'm interested in it. You can read it either in the book Letters from New Orleans (see below), or in the archives of The Gambit, the New Orleans weekly that published the piece as a book excerpt when LfNO came out.
This site is a partial spinoff of the book Letters from New Orleans, published by the unstoppable Garrett County Press. My interest in "St. James Infirmary" is the subject of one essay in the book. All author proceeds from the book still go to post-Katrina relief efforts, so I think it's okay for me to say: You ought to buy it.
