Standards · 1926
Basin Street Blues chords & key
- Key
- B♭ major
- Form
- AA
- Bars
- 32
- Groove
- Slow swing
- Time signature
- 4/4
- Year
- 1926
“Basin Street Blues” is a jazz standard by Spencer Williams from 1926. Most bands play it in B♭ major, slow swing; the tune runs 32 bars in AA form. Harmonically it contains 5 major ii–V–I cadences, uses 17 different chords. In this atlas it appears on 17 album tracks and in 1 transcribed solo.
Chord changes
Showing in: Concert (C) — B♭ major
Changes as commonly played (concert pitch). Your band's version may differ.
Harmonic analysis
Most used chords
- F7×10
- Cm7×9
- B♭/D×8
- B♭×6
- D♭dim×4
- D♭m7×4
History
"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. 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.
Read the full article on Wikipedia ↗ · From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Recorded on these albums
Transcribed solos on Basin Street Blues
| Louis Armstrong trumpet | 107 BPM |
Historic 78 rpm recordings
- BASIN STREET BLUES LIZZIE MILES and her NEW ORLEANS BOYS · Spencer Williams · Fred… archive.org ↗
- BASIN STREET BLUES NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BABIES · JACK DELANEY · LEE COLE · RAYMOND BURKE ·… archive.org ↗
- Basin' Street Blues "Fats" Waller · Williams · 1937 archive.org ↗
- Basin Street Blues Pee Wee Hunt And Ensemble · Williams · 1946 archive.org ↗
- Basin Street Blues Pee Wee Hunt and His Orchestra · Pee Wee Hunt · Spencer Williams · 1946 archive.org ↗
- BASIN STREET BLUES PEE WEE HUNT and His Orchestra · Pee Wee Hunt · (Williams) · 1946 archive.org ↗
- BASIN STREET BLUES PEE WEE HUNT And His Orchestra · Pee Wee Hunt · Spencer Williams · 1948 archive.org ↗
Standards with similar changes
Similarity of the chord progression, independent of key.
| Title | Key |
|---|---|
| Straighten Up And Fly Right 29% | A♭ major |
| Robbin's Nest 27% | C major |
| Charleston 25% | B♭ major |
| Copenhagen 24% | B♭ major |
| A Blossom Fell 23% | B♭ major |
| I Don't Want To Miss Mississippi 23% | G major |
| Scrapple From The Apple 22% | F major |
| A Fine Romance 21% | C major |
Frequently asked questions
What key is Basin Street Blues in?
Basin Street Blues is usually played in B♭ major. For B♭ instruments that is C major, for E♭ instruments G major.
Who wrote Basin Street Blues?
Basin Street Blues was written by Spencer Williams (1926).
What is the form of Basin Street Blues?
Basin Street Blues has 2 sections (AA) with 32 bars in total.
How fast is Basin Street Blues played?
The usual groove is Slow swing. Transcribed solos in our data were played at 107 BPM.
What are the chord changes to Basin Street Blues?
The opening bars are Bb Cm7 Dbdim Bb/D | Bb Cm7 Dbdim Bb/D | Bb/D Dbm7 Cm7 F7 | Bb/D Dbm7 Cm7 F7. The full chart above can be transposed to any key.