Instrumentally Yours: Java

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This is a pretty brassy countdown thus far. Relax, there’ll be guitars and rock and roll tomorrow. But first, we continue the monthlong celebration of instrumentals with another blast from a legendary trumpet player. Java - Al Hirt This will show you how a song can change. If you’re familiar with this song, you probably can’t think of it as anything but a trumpet song. In actuality, it’s the Al Hirt recording that made that possible. The song originated on the piano. A number of years ago I did a countdown of my favorite songs written by Allen Toussaint. This was one of them. Toussaint wrote this and originally recorded it in 1959. The backing instruments at the time were saxophones. Country pianist Floyd Cramer recorded it in the early 60s. Then Al Hirt recorded it. Being a New Orleans native, he was most likely more familiar with the version by fellow New Orleans musician Toussaint. Whichever version he heard, though, he pulled it off the piano and put it on the trumpet, and that’s where it’s stayed since. Hirt’s version was the biggest hit of his career, topping the “easy listening” chart and reaching the top five on the pop chart. By the way, this was a hit long before the computer thing, so this song is most likely named after the nickname for coffee. If you listen to it, it tends to sound like someone getting going after a cup of java. Java Written by Allen Toussaint Recorded by Al Hirt From Honey In the Horn, 1964 Hirt on the Ed Sullivan show, with women because I guess they thought no one wanted to watch a heavy-set man play a trumpet