Free Jazz Standard Sheet Music Downloads

"Day by Day" is a popular standard with music by Paul Weston and Axel Stordahl and lyrics by Sammy Cahn, published in 1945. Weston and Stordahl were two of the most prominent arrangers and conductors of the 1940s, while Cahn was a multiple Academy Award–winning lyricist whose work shaped the Great American Songbook.

The song follows a 32-bar AABA form, presenting a gentle, warmly lyrical melody that expresses the gradual deepening of love. The harmonic structure adheres to classic standard conventions, with the A sections offering a smoothly contoured melodic line and the bridge providing effective harmonic contrast. Most commonly performed as a ballad, the tune has also been arranged in bossa nova and swing settings, its deceptively simple melody revealing subtle depths that reward thoughtful interpretation by both vocalists and instrumentalists.

Frank Sinatra recorded the song on August 22, 1945, for Columbia Records; released in January 1946, it became a major hit and established the tune as a lasting standard. Jo Stafford (Weston's wife) and Les Brown and His Orchestra with vocalist Doris Day also charted with the song in the same period. In the jazz world, John Clayton's swinging big band arrangement for the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra stands as a notable modern interpretation, reimagining the ballad as a dynamic tenor saxophone showcase.