Born 2 B Blue

1988 studio album by Steve Miller

Born 2 B Blue

Studio album by

Steve Miller

Released

September 1988^[1]

Recorded

in Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and New York

Genre

Easy listening, jazz

Length

42:22

Label

Capitol

Producer

Steve Miller

Steve Miller chronology

Living in the 20th Century
(1986)

Born 2 B Blue
(1988)

Wide River
(1993)

Born 2 B Blue is a studio album by Steve Miller, released in 1988 by Capitol Records.^[2] It is the only solo album that Miller has released, making it his only album not to be credited under the name Steve Miller Band. It consists primarily of jazz standards reinterpreted in a more modern context. It represented a departure from Miller's work with the Steve Miller Band. The album was Miller's final release for Capitol Records, after 20 years with the label.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[5]

The Philadelphia Inquirer called the album "perhaps the most anemic, far-removed expression of blues sentiment to surface in years".^[6]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah"	Allie Wrubel, Ray Gilbert	4:13
2.	"Ya Ya"	Lee Dorsey, Morris Levy, Clarence Lewis, Morgan Robinson	3:37
3.	"God Bless the Child"	Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog Jr.	5:00
4.	"Filthy McNasty"	Horace Silver	2:50
5.	"Born to Be Blue"	Mel Tormé, Robert Wells	5:25
6.	"Mary Ann"	Ray Charles	4:49
7.	"Just a Little Bit"	Buster Brown, Ralph Bass, Fats Washington, John Thornton	4:04
8.	"When Sunny Gets Blue"	Marvin Fisher, Jack Segal	4:36
9.	"Willow Weep for Me"	Ann Ronell	5:12
10.	"Red Top"	Lionel Hampton, Ben Kynard	2:31

Personnel

Steve Miller – guitar, vocals
Billy Peterson – bass
Ben Sidran – keyboards
Gordy Knudtson – drums

Additional personnel

Milt Jackson – vibraphone on "Born to be Blue"
Phil Woods – alto saxophone on "When Sonny Gets Blue" & "Red Top"
Bobby Malach – tenor saxophone on "Mary Ann," "God Bless the Child," "Filthy McNasty," & "Just a Little Bit"
Ricky Peterson – all programming on "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah," additional synthesizers on "Ya Ya" & "Just a Little Bit"
Bruce Paulson – trombone on "God Bless the Child"
Steve Faison – percussion on "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"
Steve Wiese (engineer) – recorded and mixed at Creation Audio, Minneapolis

References

^ "Great Rock Discography". p. 548.
^ Koster, Rick (2000). Texas Music. St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 131.
^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Born 2B Blue – Steve Miller". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-08-14.
^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
^ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 475.
^ Moon, Tom (September 25, 1988). "Steve Miller Born 2 B Blue". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. L12.