Free Jazz Standard Sheet Music Downloads

"Easy Street" is a swing-era ballad written by Alan Rankin Jones in 1940 and first recorded by Jimmy Lunceford and His Orchestra. The title draws on a late-19th-century slang expression meaning "a comfortable state where everything is going well," and the song captures that carefree contentment in both melody and mood.

Set in G major with a 32-bar AABA form, the tune is typically performed at a slow, gently swinging tempo. Its distinctive melodic feature is the recurring title phrase, which reappears at different pitches throughout the song, creating a satisfying sense of unity and variation within a simple framework. The harmony is built on standard ii-V-I progressions with a relaxed, uncluttered feel that makes the tune equally effective as a ballad or at a moderate tempo. Beneath the easygoing surface lies enough harmonic movement to sustain engaging improvisation.

The Lunceford orchestra's recording, released on Decca in 1942 with a vocal by Trummy Young, established the song in the swing repertoire. It has since been embraced by both vocalists and instrumentalists, remaining a pleasant and unassuming entry in the jazz standard canon.