Free Jazz Standard Sheet Music Downloads

"Indian Summer" was originally composed as a piano piece by Victor Herbert in 1919. Two decades later, Al Dubin added lyrics in 1939, and Tommy Dorsey's orchestra took the song to number one on the Billboard chart that same year, transforming it into an enduring standard.

The form is a 32-bar ABAC structure, setting it apart from the typical AABA pattern. The key is commonly Db or C major. The melody spans a wide range with a nostalgic, deeply lyrical character — composer and critic Alec Wilder praised it as singing marvelously throughout without a single cliché. The harmony features beautiful chromatic passing tones and unexpected chord colors that lend the tune a rich, distinctive palette. It is typically performed as a ballad or at medium swing tempos.

Among notable jazz recordings, Coleman Hawkins's 1945 tenor saxophone version is highly regarded. Sidney Bechet's 1940 soprano saxophone rendition is a historically important early jazz interpretation. The Frank Sinatra–Duke Ellington collaboration on Francis A. & Edward K. (1968) offers a memorable vocal reading with orchestral grandeur.