Songs To Jazz Up And Celebrate Labor Day

Blues and jazz tracks are chock full of references to work. Here are a few of the more obvious favorites (in no particular order). Note that there are 3 totally different tracks with the same title in this list.

1. Work Song by Cannonball Adderley (or any of the excellent covers by Nina Simone, Oscar Peterson, et al)
2. Take Five by Dave Brubeck
3. Stormy Monday Blues by Lou Rawls (featured here)
4. Work Song by Duke Ellington (not to be confused with 1 or 5 on this list)
5. Work Song by Charles Mingus (not to be confused with 1 or 4 on this list)
6. Hard Work by John Handy (recently covered by Walter Beasley)
7. Red Cap by Louis Armstrong (a tribute to the railroad's Pullman porters)

There are many others but this should be a good start. Happy Labor Day!