119 - Basin Street Blues

About this song

"Basin Street Blues" was written by Spencer Williams in 1926. It was later made famous by Louis Armstrong. This version of the song was arranged by Bill Moffit.

Instrumentation requirements

A good number of trumpets are needed for the intro, or at least one strong player.

Roadmap

The song starts out slow (around 100 bpm), then quadruples in speed after the intro at B. The song later slows down again (about as slow as the beginning) when the percussion section abruptly changes the tempo in the second ending of D.

History

• The trumpets tend to take the first two measures (up to the entire introductory phrase if possible) up an octave.
• This song is typically played at Freakout and other big games where there are a number of alumni present, as it sounds best with a big band.

America's Pep Band (album)
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