Peter DeRose, music · Mitchell Parish, lyrics · Published as a piano piece in 1933
Deep Purple
Peter DeRose wrote it as a piano piece in 1933, and Mitchell Parish added words in 1938. Singers, saxophonists, pianists and organists have all made it their own. Hear it from Paul Whiteman, Larry Clinton, Art Tatum, Don Byas, Jimmy Smith and Stanley Turrentine.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Paul Whiteman's 1934 orchestra record, made before the words existed, then moves to Larry Clinton and Bea Wain's hit. It continues through Art Tatum's solo piano, a Don Byas small group, an Oscar Peterson duet and Art Pepper's alto saxophone, and ends with two organ records from 1956 and 1966.
Paul Whiteman's orchestra recorded DeRose's tune on 11 September 1934 in New York, with an orchestration by Adolph Deutsch. Victor issued it as the B side of Park Avenue Fantasy, four years before Mitchell Parish wrote the words.
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Listen for
The orchestra carries the whole tune on its own for nearly five minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first 8 of the melody slowly with one hand. Then add the from the chart under it, starting with , , and for bars 1 to 4.
Larry Clinton and His Orchestra (vocal: Bea Wain) · 1938 · Vocal, Big band
Deep Purple / A Study in Red
Larry Clinton's orchestra recorded it on 23 December 1938 with Bea Wain singing Mitchell Parish's words. Victor released it as number 26141 in January 1939, and Wikipedia reports nine weeks at number one in the US.
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Bea Wain sings the tune with the orchestra behind her, and the whole record fits in under four minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody from memory after two listens. The two halves open the same way, so once you know bars 1 to 4 you can start both halves.
Tenor saxophonist Don Byas led this all-star quintet in New York on 27 June 1945, with trumpeter Buck Clayton and pianist Johnny Guarnieri. Jamboree issued it on a 78 rpm single, number 903, with Them There Eyes on the other side.
F major
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A tenor saxophone and a trumpet play the tune with piano, bass and drums behind them, and the record runs about three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 8 twice, once smoothly and once with a short gap between phrases, the way a horn player breathes.
Oscar Peterson recorded it in New York on 8 May 1950 as a duet with bassist Major Holley. Clef first issued it on the 1954 album Oscar Peterson Plays Pretty Album #2.
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Only a piano and a bass play, so every bass note is easy to follow, and the track runs just over three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 4 with your right hand and the root of each with your left: F, F♯, G, C.
Art Pepper led a quintet at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles on 25 August 1954 for the Discovery label. Regent later put the track on a 1959 record shared with Sonny Redd.
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Art Pepper's alto saxophone leads a quintet that adds a second saxophone, piano, bass and drums, and the record runs close to four minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 8 softly and slowly. Then add the under it: , , , , Fmaj7, , , .
Jimmy Smith recorded it on 27 March 1956 at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, with guitarist Thornel Schwartz and drummer Donald Bailey. Blue Note issued it on the second volume of A New Sound... A New Star.
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Jimmy Smith's organ leads with a guitar and drums, and the track runs more than seven minutes, over twice the length of the earlier records on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 8 with a steady pulse, then play the same 8 bars again with a different rhythm. A smaller version: play only bars 1 to 4 both ways.
Stanley Turrentine recorded it on 6 April 1966 at the Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with organist Shirley Scott, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Mack Simpkins. Impulse! issued it that year on the album Let It Go.
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Stanley Turrentine's tenor saxophone leads, with Shirley Scott's organ close behind, and the track runs just under five minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 8 and hold each long note for its full length. Mark where a horn player would breathe, and leave a small gap there.
Peter DeRose publishes it as a piano piece in 1933, and Paul Whiteman's orchestra records it in 1934. Mitchell Parish adds words in 1938, and Larry Clinton's record with Bea Wain is released in January 1939.
1940s
Don Byas, Buck Clayton and Johnny Guarnieri record it as a small-group piece in New York in June 1945, with tenor saxophone and trumpet out front.
1950s
Oscar Peterson plays it as a duet with bassist Major Holley in 1950, and Art Pepper's quintet records it in 1954. Jimmy Smith's organ trio plays it for Blue Note in 1956.
1960s
Nino Tempo and April Stevens sing it as a duet in 1963, and Stanley Turrentine and organist Shirley Scott record it for Impulse! in 1966.
1990s
Dave Brubeck's group plays it live in the United Kingdom in 1998, and Telarc releases the track in 1999 on The 40th Anniversary Tour of the U.K.
More great versions
4 more, from 1939 to 1998. Tap a cover to play it here.
1930sArtie Shaw1939 · Big band
1940s
1950sTony Scott Quartet1956 · Cool jazz
1960sNino Tempo & April Stevens1963 · Vocal
1970s
1980s
1990sDave Brubeck Quartet1998
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (vocal: Helen Forrest)
Artie Shaw's orchestra recorded it with singer Helen Forrest on 12 March 1939. Bluebird released it in April, and Wikipedia lists it at number 17 on the US charts.
Clarinetist Tony Scott recorded it in New York on 6 July 1956 with pianist Bill Evans, bassist Les Grinage and drummer Lenny McBrowne. RCA Victor issued it that year on The Touch of Tony Scott.
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
F majorusual key
32 barsA · B form
F majorkey centers
A16 bars
B16 bars
F
The iReal Pro chart runs 32 in , in two 16-bar halves, A and B, that share the same until the last two bars. Each half opens with , , and , then Fmaj7, , and . Bars 9 to 14 are Gm7, , , , Gm7 and C7. The A half closes with Fmaj7 D7 and Gm7 C7, which leads into the B half. The B half closes with D7 and Gm7 C7, which turns back to the top for another .