Free Jazz Standard Sheet Music Downloads

Composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II for the 1939 Broadway musical Very Warm for May. Though the show itself was a commercial failure, this song became one of the most beloved and frequently performed jazz standards of all time.

The form is a 36-bar AA'BA'' structure — a twist on the standard 32-bar AABA, with A' transposing the initial section down a fourth and A'' adding an extra four bars. Written in A-flat major, the tune passes through multiple key centers via a magnificent chain of II-V-I progressions. This combination of a strong, singable melody with challenging yet logical harmony has made it irresistible to improvisers. It has also spawned numerous contrafacts, including Charlie Parker's "Bird of Paradise."

The definitive bebop recording is by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker (1945), whose famous introduction has become a standard part of the tune. Ella Fitzgerald's version on Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook (1963) remains a vocal benchmark.