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Capitol Records presents a high-definition stereo edition of Nat King Cole's unique 1958 offering St. Louis Blues. The album features Nat King Cole's treatments of songs written by or associated with W.C. Handy, recorded in conjunction with Cole's starring role in the 1958 Handy film biography St. Louis Blues. The movie, a fictionalized telling of the blues composer and publisher's life, was not well received and, although it occasionally turns up on television, had not been issued on a home video in any format as of half-a-century after its theatrical release, presumably due to the resistance of the Handy publishing interests, the Cole estate, or some combination of the two. The concurrently released album actually is not a soundtrack recording and, in fact, has little to do with the movie. It presents Cole's performances of some of Handy's best-known compositions ("Beale Street Blues," "Memphis Blues," the title song) in '50s arrangements by Nelson Riddle. Cole isn't necessarily a blues singer, and Riddle isn't necessarily a blues arranger, but then Handy's version of the blues was not as bluesy as the music got later anyway. This combination of factors makes for a uniquely enjoyable and novel experience, particularly for Cole fans.