Free Jazz Standard Sheet Music Downloads

"Lush Life" is one of the supreme achievements in jazz balladry, written by Billy Strayhorn between 1933 and 1936 when he was still a teenager in Pittsburgh. It was first performed publicly with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 1948. Strayhorn composed both the music and the world-weary lyrics.

The song has an unusual structure: a 32-bar verse followed by a 24-bar chorus, with the verse being entirely inseparable from the chorus—it is virtually never omitted in performance. Written in the key of Db major, the composition features chromatic modulations and harmonic complexity that rank among the most sophisticated of any jazz standard. Melody and lyrics are fused with extraordinary precision, with key changes reflecting the emotional shifts in the text. Jazz critics have described it as an art song rather than a pop tune, and its intricate harmony has invited countless reharmonizations from performers across generations.

The definitive recording is John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman's 1963 version on the album John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Nat King Cole's 1949 recording was an important early interpretation, and Joe Henderson's unaccompanied tenor saxophone rendition on Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (1992) is a tour de force.