Thad Jones, music · Alec Wilder, lyrics · First recorded in 1969 by Richard Davis and Roland Hanna
A Child Is Born
Thad Jones wrote this waltz in 1969, and Alec Wilder added words after hearing his band play it. It grew from a tune the pianist Roland Hanna played between sets at the Village Vanguard. Bands, singers, pianists and saxophonists have all recorded it since 1969.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the first recording, a bass and piano duo from 1969, then hears the tune with Thad Jones's own big band in 1970. It goes on through a singing group without words, a quintet, Tony Bennett singing Alec Wilder's words, a flugelhorn and guitar band and a solo piano. It ends with Joe Lovano's saxophone quartet from 2004.
Bassist Richard Davis and pianist Roland Hanna made the first known recording of the tune on December 9, 1969, in Villingen, Germany. It is a two-player track on Davis's first album as leader, Muses for Richard Davis.
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Listen for
Only a bass and a piano play. Roland Hanna speaks the title and Thad Jones's name at the very start, before the tune begins.
Try it on your instrument
Start as Hanna does, with three low B♭s, then play the first four in 3/4 with one per bar: , , B♭maj7, E♭m/B♭. A smaller version: keep a low B♭ going under both chords and switch only the chord above it.
Thad Jones's orchestra recorded it in New York on May 25, 1970, with Roland Hanna on piano, for the album Consummation. Hanna had played the tune between sets at the Village Vanguard, and Jones then brought the band a full arrangement.
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Listen for
A full big band of trumpets, trombones and saxophones with piano, bass and drums, in about four minutes. Thad Jones, who wrote the tune, plays flugelhorn.
Try it on your instrument
Play 9 to 16 with one per bar: , , Gm7, D7♯5, Gm7, , , . The last three chords lead back to B♭, so finish on . A smaller version: play only Gm7, C7, F7 and B♭maj7.
Oscar Peterson Trio with The Singers Unlimited · 1971 · Swing, Vocal
In Tune
Oscar Peterson's trio recorded it in July 1971 with the four-voice vocal group The Singers Unlimited, in Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer's private studio in Villingen, Germany. The singers do not use the words.
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Listen for
Four voices sing the tune together with no words, over Peterson's piano, bass and drums. The whole track is under four minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Hum the tune along with the record. Then play the first two under your humming, and , one per in 3/4.
Bill Evans led a quintet for the album Quintessence, recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley in May 1976. Harold Land played tenor sax, Kenny Burrell guitar, Ray Brown bass and Philly Joe Jones drums.
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Listen for
Five players take about seven and a half minutes, nearly twice as long as the big band record. Try to pick out the tenor sax, the guitar and the piano.
Try it on your instrument
Play 22 to 25 from the second section, one per bar: D7alt, , , B♭/F. Playing a solo over these chords is a bigger step that takes practice; the smaller version is to play each chord slowly and listen to how it leads to the next.
Tony Bennett sang Alec Wilder's words with only Bill Evans's piano beside him. They recorded the album Together Again in San Francisco in September 1976, and it came out in 1977.
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Listen for
One singer and one piano, in about three minutes. This is the first track on the path where the words are sung.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight as a slow waltz, one per bar: , , B♭maj7, E♭m/B♭, B♭maj7, E♭m/B♭, , . Then hum the tune over them. A smaller version: play only the first four bars on repeat.
Flugelhorn player Art Farmer and guitarist Jim Hall recorded it at Electric Lady Studios in New York in February 1978. It is on the CTI album Big Blues, which came out in 1979.
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Listen for
Art Farmer plays flugelhorn and Jim Hall plays guitar, with a bass and drums . At more than seven minutes the two leaders have time to take the tune slowly.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole first section ( 1 to 16) at a slow waltz tempo, one per bar, and keep the same slow pace through the last four chords: , , , . A smaller version: play only bars 13 to 16.
Hank Jones played it alone at the piano, live in front of an audience at Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley, on November 11, 1991. It is on volume 16 of Concord Jazz's Maybeck Recital series.
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Listen for
One piano and no other players, recorded live in a recital hall. With no band to share the work, the piano has to supply the tune and the harmony together.
Try it on your instrument
Play the tune's with your left hand on beat one of each for the first eight bars (, , B♭maj7, E♭m/B♭, B♭maj7, E♭m/B♭, , ) while your right hand hums or plays the tune. Playing both at once takes practice; the smaller version is chords alone.
Saxophonist Joe Lovano recorded it with a quartet at Avatar Studios in New York on September 8 and 9, 2004. Hank Jones was the pianist, and it came out in 2005 on the Blue Note album Joyous Encounter.
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Listen for
A saxophone leads the quartet for more than seven minutes, with Hank Jones on piano. Compare his piano here with his solo version from 1991.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 30 of the , one per bar, as a slow waltz and repeat them. A saxophonist would improvise over these chords, which takes a lot of practice; the smaller version is to play the chords and hum the tune above them.
Thad Jones writes the tune in 1969, based on a melody Roland Hanna played between sets at the Village Vanguard. That December Hanna and bassist Richard Davis make the first recording, in Germany.
1970s
Thad Jones's orchestra records it in New York in 1970, and Oscar Peterson's trio adds the Singers Unlimited in 1971. In 1976 Bill Evans plays it with a quintet, and with Tony Bennett singing Alec Wilder's words.
1980s
Stanley Jordan closes his 1985 album Magic Touch with it on guitar. Pianist Hank Jones and bassist Red Mitchell record it as a duo in New Jersey in 1987.
1990s
Hank Jones plays it alone at the piano at Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley in November 1991, for a Concord Jazz solo-piano series.
2000s
Joe Lovano's quartet, with Hank Jones on piano, records it in New York in September 2004 for the Blue Note album Joyous Encounter.
More great versions
1 more, from 1971 to 1971. Tap a cover to play it here.
Guitarist Kenny Burrell recorded it at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey in April and May 1971 for the CTI album God Bless the Child. The take runs 8:38.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
B♭ majorusual key
30 barsA · B form
B♭ majorkey centers
A16 bars
B14 bars
B♭
The tune is a waltz, so each has three beats. A runs 16 bars and B runs 14, for 30 in all. A opens by swapping and for six bars, then and in bars 7 and 8 lead to in bar 9. Gm7 and trade off through bar 13, and , and in bars 14 to 16 lead back to B♭. B opens the same way, with B♭maj7 and E♭m/B♭ for four bars and B♭maj7 in bar 21. Then D7alt, , , B♭/F and carry the music away from home in bars 22 to 26, and Gm7, C7, F7sus and F7 in bars 27 to 30 close the tune. Players sometimes keep to a 30-bar form and sometimes stretch it. The follow the iReal Pro chart; players often vary them.