Java (1:57)

“Java” is an instrumental adaptation from a 1958 LP of piano compositions, The Wild Sounds of New Orleans, by Toussaint, also known as New Orleans producer/songwriter Allen Toussaint. As was the case of the rest of Toussaint’s LP, “Java” was composed at the studio, primarily by Toussaint.

In 1963, trumpet player Al Hirt recorded the instrumental, and the track was the first single from his album, Honey in the Horn. It was Hirt’s first and biggest hit on the US pop charts, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending four weeks at number one on the easy listening chart in early 1964.

Hirt’s recording won the Grammy Award for Best Performance by an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra in 1964.