Free Jazz Standard Sheet Music Downloads

"Where or When" is a show tune composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the 1937 Broadway musical Babes in Arms. The show produced an extraordinary number of standards, including "My Funny Valentine" and "The Lady Is a Tramp."

The tune follows a 32-bar AABA form in Eb major. Its melody features a dramatic ascending line spanning an octave and a fourth, which music critic Alec Wilder singled out as one of Rodgers' most effective dramatic gestures. The lyric's theme of romantic déjà vu—the haunting sense that a present encounter has happened before—gives the song a unique psychological depth. It works beautifully as a ballad or at medium swing tempo, and the harmonic structure provides solid ground for creative improvisation.

Early swing-era recordings by Benny Goodman's orchestra helped establish the tune. Frank Sinatra's influential 1945 version was a major hit, and instrumental jazz recordings by Red Garland, Count Basie, and Dave Brubeck have explored the tune's improvisational possibilities.