MARK RUFFIN: NOW, A JAZZ MOMENT

"Blues Walk" up and hot

NEA JAZZ MASTER LOU DONALDSON MAKES A POINT TO OPEN UP EVERY SHOW WITH HIS SIGNATURE HIT, "BLUES WALK."

DONALDSON: Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's my theme song. Gotta good groove, a good groove to it.

RUFFIN: 1958's BLUES WALK SHOWCASES DONALDSON'S MUSICAL IDENTITY, WHICH IS ROOTED IN THE SPIRITUALS HE HEARD AS A KID.

DONALDSON: It's a cross between blues and bebop. It's just, it's in between there somewhere. Because naturally, most of my stuff is what we would call on the soul side. Because of all the experience I had with my father and church music, spiritual music,

Blues Walk to the end

THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH ALTO SAXOPHONIST LOU DONALDSON WAS PRODUCED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.

Excerpt of "Blues Walk" composed by Lou Donaldson from his album, Blues Walk, used courtesy of EMI Capitol and by permission of Sony ATV Publishing (BMI).