Louis Armstrong - St. James Infirmary / Hungry March Band - St. James Infirmary
Stop right now. Before you go on any further, head over to Destination: OUT to listen to something amazing. We can wait. We're not going anywhere.

Go on.

Back? Good. If you never thought that you might hear Louis Armstrong sing a Pharoah Sanders track, you're not alone. Certainly something, though precisely what is uncertain.

Here's a more familiar side of Satchmo, a gorgeous rendition of St. James Infirmary, one of the creepiest blues standards ever written. This isn't his famous 1928 recording with Earl Hines on piano - I think this one is from 1959. It features some of the most ominous-sounding trombone you'll ever hear. An absolute winner.

As a bonus treat, you can also listen to a spiritedly woozy version by Doklands favourites the Hungry March Band. I don't quite know how a marching band manages to sound like they have a punk ethos, but they do. A bunch of revolutionary no-goodniks, and we love them for it.

Louis Armstrong - St. James Infirmary
(alternate download)
Hungry March Band - St. James Infirmary
(alternate download)