"Blues March" is a composition by

Benny Golson Benny Golson (born January 25, 1929) is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a performer, before launch ...

. It was first recorded for

Blue Mitchell Richard Allen "Blue" Mitchell (March 13, 1930 – May 21, 1979) was an American trumpeter and composer who worked in jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock and funk. He recorded albums as leader and sideman for Riverside, Mainstream Records, and Blu ...

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

album '' Big 6'' on July 2 and 3, 1958,Yanow, Scot
"Blue Mitchell: Big 6"
AllMusic. Retrieved December 21, 2013. and has become a

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive lis ...

.Blumenthal, Bob (2004) In ''The Complete Argo/Mercury Art Farmer/Benny Golson/Jazztet Sessions''

D liner notes D, or d, is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History The ...

p. 3. Mosaic.

Composition and recording

The composition is in 4/4 time.Feather, Leonard In ''Moanin' ''

iner notes Iner or INER may refer to: * Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, or INER * Iner Souster FemBots are a Canadian indie rock band from Toronto formed in 1998. FemBots are known for their unique sound of combining instrumental everyday items, junk ...

Blue Note. It was influenced by

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

marching bands, and "starts in long meter form and transforms back into regular time." Its straightforward harmony and separate sections make it ideal for improvisation. In the view of

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

, "the theme, with its slight bugle-call orientation, has a period quality that ties the work together". Although some sources state that its first recorded version is the well known one by

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

's band on his album ''

Moanin' ''Moanin'' (originally titled ''Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers'') is a jazz album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded in 1958 for the Blue Note label and released in 1959. Background This was Blakey's first album for Blue Note ...

''Edelstein, Paul
"Art Farmer/Benny Golson: Blues March"
AllMusic. Retrieved December 21, 2013. (recorded on October 30, 1958In ''Moanin' ''

Blue Note.), the first version was on trumpeter

's '' Big 6'', which was recorded on July 2 and 3, 1958. This album was also Mitchell's first as leader.

Influence

"Blues March" is commonly played by military and other marching bands.

References

{{Authority control Songs about blues 1950s jazz standards 1958 compositions Songs with music by Benny Golson