Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva and Vincent Rose · Introduced by Al Jolson in 1920 · Added to the musicals Sinbad and Bombo
Avalon
Avalon is a 1920 song by Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva and Vincent Rose. The melody and move slowly, so bands often play it very fast and leave room for solos. Benny Goodman's quartet played it at Carnegie Hall in 1938, and gypsy jazz players still use it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Al Jolson's 1920 record, then follows the song through a hot-jazz band, a Paris session with Coleman Hawkins and a live Benny Goodman quartet. It ends with a piano trio, a two-saxophone session, a quintet and two guitarists.
1970sChet Atkins and Les Paul1975 · Easy listening
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Start with the 1920 original
Al Jolson · 1920
Avalon / Old Pal, Why Don't You Answer Me?
Al Jolson recorded Avalon for Columbia in New York on August 16, 1920, and Paul Whiteman's orchestra made its own version a week later. According to JazzStandards.com, Jolson's record reached number two on the charts in 1921, and Puccini's publishers later won a lawsuit over the song's opening melody.
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Jolson's voice carries the tune from start to finish with a band behind him, and the whole record lasts about three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Learn the melody by ear from this record, then play it slowly over the first eight of the chart: and for two bars each, for three bars and for one.
Red Nichols and His Five Pennies recorded Avalon for Brunswick in New York in February 1928, and it came out as Brunswick 3854 with Nobody's Sweetheart on the other side. According to JazzStandards.com, Pee Wee Russell plays clarinet on it.
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Follow Pee Wee Russell's clarinet. This is the first jazz-band record on the path, made eight years after Jolson's.
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Play the second half of the tune slowly: , and for two each, then and for a bar each, then home to . If that is too much, play only the root notes: D, G, C, E♭, A♭, B♭.
Coleman Hawkins with Michel Warlop and His Orchestra · 1935
Django Reinhardt and His American Friends
Coleman Hawkins recorded Avalon on March 2, 1935, during his years as a touring soloist in Europe, with Michel Warlop's orchestra. According to MusicBrainz, the band included Django Reinhardt on guitar and Stéphane Grappelli on piano.
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Hawkins plays tenor saxophone with a full French band behind him, and Django Reinhardt plays guitar in that band.
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Play along with the melody one phrase at a time, stopping the track after each phrase. If that is too hard, hum the tune with the record once through.
“Avalon (Live)”, The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert
Benny Goodman's band gave its Carnegie Hall concert in New York on January 16, 1938, and Columbia issued a two-LP recording of the night in 1950. The quartet plays Avalon in the small-group section, with Teddy Wilson on piano and Lionel Hampton on vibraphone.
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Four players share the stage: clarinet, vibraphone, piano and drums. This is a live recording, so you hear a concert hall as well as the band.
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Play the first eight of the melody along with the recording. If the tempo is too quick, slow the track down in a player app or play only the first four bars.
Dave Brubeck recorded Avalon with his trio in San Francisco in November 1950. Fantasy put it out on a single, number 513, and on its Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals LP in 1952.
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Brubeck's piano leads with only a bass and drums behind it, and the whole track lasts just over two minutes.
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Play the melody with your right hand and one low note per with your left for the first eight : C, F, B♭ and G, matching , , and .
Alto saxophonist Art Pepper and tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh recorded Avalon with a at Contemporary's studio in Los Angeles on November 26, 1956. Discogs dates the album that carries it, Art Pepper with Warne Marsh, to 1986.
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Two saxophones share the , Pepper's alto and Marsh's tenor, with piano, bass and drums behind them.
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Play the middle of the tune slowly: and for two each, for two bars, then and for a bar each. If that is too much, play only the root notes: D, G, C, E♭ and A♭.
Lou Donaldson recorded Avalon on April 27, 1961, at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Blue Note put it on the B side of the single Glory of Love and on the album Gravy Train.
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Donaldson's alto saxophone leads a quintet that adds a conga drum to the piano, bass and drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody on any instrument along with the record. A smaller version: clap the beat with the track for one full time through the tune, 32 , and count the bars.
Chet Atkins and Les Paul recorded Chester & Lester on May 6 and 7, 1975, and RCA released it in 1976. According to Wikipedia, Atkins coaxed Paul out of a decade-long retirement for it, and most of the album was played live in the studio.
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Two guitarists carry the tune for over six minutes, the longest track on this path.
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Pick or strum the of the first eight along with the record, two bars each: , , then for the rest of the phrase. A smaller version: play only the lowest note of each chord.
Al Jolson introduces the song in 1920, and it is added to the musicals Sinbad and Bombo. Jolson records it for Columbia in August 1920, and Red Nichols and His Five Pennies record it in 1928 with Pee Wee Russell on clarinet.
1930s
Coleman Hawkins records it with a French band in Paris in 1935, and Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra records its own version that September. In 1938 the Benny Goodman Quartet plays it at Carnegie Hall.
1950s
Dave Brubeck's trio records it in San Francisco in November 1950. In 1956 alto saxophonist Art Pepper and tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh play it in a Los Angeles studio.
1960s
Lou Donaldson's quintet, with a conga drum, records it in April 1961, and Blue Note puts it on a single. Zoot Sims in 1960 and Red Garland in 1961 record it as well.
1970s
In May 1975 guitarists Chet Atkins and Les Paul record it for Chester & Lester. Joe Venuti and Zoot Sims also record it in New York that month.
2010s
Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester play it in 2019 for their MTV Unplugged album, filmed at Clärchens Ballhaus in Berlin.
More great versions
2 more, from 1975 to 2019. Tap a cover to play it here.
Violinist Joe Venuti and tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims recorded Avalon in New York in May 1975, with piano, bass and drums, and Chiaroscuro issued it on CR-142.
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
32 barsA · B form
B♭ majorkey centers
A16 bars
B16 bars
B♭
Each half runs 16 . The first half opens with for two bars and for two bars, then rests on for three bars before leads into a repeat of the same Cm7 and F7, and it ends on B♭6 for four bars. The second half starts with and G7 for two bars each, then Cm7 for two bars; and follow for a bar each and lead back to B♭6 for two bars. It finishes with G7 for two bars, Cm7 and F7 for a bar each, and B♭6 for two bars. JazzStandards.com gives as the original . These follow the iReal Pro chart.