Songs from 1953 to 1964

Hard bop through the years

These 20 tunes come from the and soul jazz years, from Tune Up in 1953 to Song for My Father in 1964, and the writers include Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan and Herbie Hancock. The page follows each tune from its first records through quartets, trios, vocal versions and big bands to recordings made as late as 2025.

Through the years

1930s
Hard bop reaches back to older songs. Oleo borrows its from I Got Rhythm, which Gershwin wrote for the musical Girl Crazy, and Red Nichols and His Orchestra record that song in October 1930, one of its first jazz-style records.
Red Nichols Oleo · 1930
1940s
Two 1946 recordings point ahead to tunes on this page. Kenny Clarke and His 52nd Street Boys record Royal Roost in September, the first recording of the melody Sonny Rollins later calls Tenor Madness, and an acetate from that year has Chuck Wayne playing a tune called Sonny, with a melody very like Solar's.
Kenny Clarke and His 52nd Street Boys Tenor Madness · 1946
1950s
Miles Davis records Tune Up in 1953 and Four and Solar in 1954, and in June 1954 Sonny Rollins brings him Airegin, Oleo and Doxy. Clifford Brown records Joy Spring twice that year. Rollins makes Tenor Madness with John Coltrane and St. Thomas in 1956, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers cut Moanin' in 1958, and in 1959 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross sing Jon Hendricks's words to Airegin, Four and Moanin'.
Miles Davis Quartet Tune Up · 1953 Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins Airegin · 1954 Thelonious Monk Trio Blue Monk · 1954 Miles Davis Doxy · 1954 Miles Davis Quartet Four · 1954 Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet Joy Spring · 1954 Clifford Brown Ensemble Joy Spring · 1954 Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins Oleo · 1954
30 more
Miles Davis Quintet Solar · 1954 Randy Weston Trio St. Thomas · 1955 Miles Davis Quintet Airegin · 1956 Miles Davis Quintet Four · 1956 The Miles Davis Quintet Oleo · 1956 Sonny Rollins St. Thomas · 1956 Sonny Rollins Quartet, with John Coltrane Tenor Madness · 1956 Miles Davis Quintet Tune Up · 1956 Phil Woods and Gene Quill Airegin · 1957 Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk Blue Monk · 1957 Red Garland Quartet Four · 1957 Lee Morgan I Remember Clifford · 1957 Carmen McRae I Remember Clifford · 1957 The Dizzy Gillespie Band at Newport I Remember Clifford · 1957 Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk Rhythm-a-Ning · 1957 Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan Rhythm-a-Ning · 1957 Phil Woods and Gene Quill Solar · 1957 Sonny Rollins Tune Up · 1957 Hank Mobley Tune Up · 1957 Oscar Peterson Trio Joy Spring · 1958 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Moanin' · 1958 Benny Golson with Roger Guerin and Bobby Timmons Moanin' · 1958 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Moanin' · 1958 Bill Evans Trio Oleo · 1958 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with Zoot Sims Airegin · 1959 Thelonious Monk Blue Monk · 1959 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with Zoot Sims Four · 1959 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Moanin' · 1959 John Coltrane Mr. P.C. · 1959 John Coltrane Tune Up · 1959
1960s
Nat Adderley records Work Song in 1960 and Herbie Hancock Watermelon Man in 1962. Joe Henderson's debut album brings Blue Bossa and Recorda Me in 1963, Lee Morgan records The Sidewinder that December and Horace Silver records Song for My Father in 1964. Mongo Santamaría's Watermelon Man single reaches No. 10 on the Hot 100, and Sonny Rollins plays Oleo for about 25 minutes live in 1962.
Wes Montgomery Airegin · 1960 Oliver Nelson Doxy · 1960 Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet I Remember Clifford · 1960 The Modern Jazz Quartet I Remember Clifford · 1960 Bobby Timmons Moanin' · 1960 Art Pepper Quintet Rhythm-a-Ning · 1960 Nat Adderley Work Song · 1960 Cannonball Adderley Quintet Work Song · 1960
42 more
Abbey Lincoln Blue Monk · 1961 Oscar Peterson Trio I Remember Clifford · 1961 Gary Burton Trio Joy Spring · 1961 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Moanin' · 1961 Oscar Peterson Trio Moanin' · 1961 Lambert, Hendricks & Ross with the Ike Isaacs Trio Mr. P.C. · 1961 Bill Evans Trio Solar · 1961 Oscar Peterson Trio with Milt Jackson Work Song · 1961 Sonny Rollins Doxy · 1962 John Coltrane Quartet Mr. P.C. · 1962 Sonny Rollins Oleo · 1962 Grant Green Oleo · 1962 Thelonious Monk Quartet Rhythm-a-Ning · 1962 Dave Pike St. Thomas · 1962 Grant Green Tune Up · 1962 Herbie Hancock Watermelon Man · 1962 Mongo Santamaría Watermelon Man · 1962 Cannonball Adderley Sextet Work Song · 1962 Joe Henderson Blue Bossa · 1963 Wes Montgomery Trio Moanin' · 1963 Joe Henderson Quintet Recorda Me · 1963 Lee Morgan The Sidewinder · 1963 Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan Watermelon Man · 1963 The Howard Roberts Quartet Watermelon Man · 1963 Les McCann Ltd. Work Song · 1963 Thelonious Monk Quartet Blue Monk · 1964 Miles Davis Quintet Four · 1964 Joe Pass Joy Spring · 1964 Horace Silver Quintet Song for My Father · 1964 Quincy Jones The Sidewinder · 1964 Cannonball Adderley Quintet with Ernie Andrews Work Song · 1964 Miles Davis Quintet Oleo · 1965 Horace Silver Quintet Song for My Father · 1965 Richard "Groove" Holmes Song for My Father · 1965 Tamiko Jones and Herbie Mann The Sidewinder · 1966 Illinois Jacquet with Milt Buckner and Alan Dawson Watermelon Man · 1966 Bill Evans Trio Airegin · 1967 Kenny Dorham Blue Bossa · 1967 Dexter Gordon Quartet Doxy · 1967 Joe Henderson with the Wynton Kelly Trio Four · 1968 Johnny "Hammond" Smith Song for My Father · 1968 George Benson Song for My Father · 1968
1970s
Dexter Gordon plays Airegin in 1972, Tenor Madness live in Zurich in 1975 and Blue Bossa as the only horn in 1976. Lee Morgan plays The Sidewinder at the Lighthouse on his 32nd birthday in 1970, and Hancock rebuilds Watermelon Man as a clavinet funk piece for Head Hunters in 1973. Late in the decade Pat Martino, Tommy Flanagan and Art Pepper each play Blue Bossa.
Joe Henderson Quintet Recorda Me · 1970 Lee Morgan Quintet The Sidewinder · 1970 Dexter Gordon Airegin · 1972 Sonny Rollins with the Heikki Sarmanto Trio St. Thomas · 1972 Jim Hall / Ron Carter Duo St. Thomas · 1972 Herbie Hancock Watermelon Man · 1973 Dexter Gordon Quartet Tenor Madness · 1975 Dexter Gordon Quartet Blue Bossa · 1976
7 more
Pat Martino Blue Bossa · 1976 Pat Martino I Remember Clifford · 1976 Tommy Flanagan Trio Blue Bossa · 1977 Doug Raney Quartet Mr. P.C. · 1977 Art Pepper Blue Bossa · 1978 Joe Henderson Quartet Recorda Me · 1978 Kenny Burrell Trio Work Song · 1978
1980s
Singers take up the tunes. Mark Murphy sings St. Thomas with new words in 1981, and in 1988 Carmen McRae sings Rhythm-a-Ning as Listen to Monk and Blue Monk as Monkery's the Blues. Tommy Flanagan and Chick Corea lead piano trios, Rollins plays Tenor Madness outdoors in 1986, thirty years after the Prestige record, and in 1989 Keith Jarrett's trio and Pat Metheny both play Solar.
Tete Montoliu Trio Tune Up · 1980 Freddie Hubbard Joy Spring · 1981 Chick Corea, Miroslav Vitous and Roy Haynes Rhythm-a-Ning · 1981 Mark Murphy St. Thomas · 1981 Massimo Urbani Tenor Madness · 1981 Tommy Flanagan Trio Mr. P.C. · 1982 Tommy Flanagan, Ron Carter and Tony Williams St. Thomas · 1983 Emily Remler Tenor Madness · 1984
6 more
Sonny Rollins Tenor Madness · 1986 Carmen McRae Blue Monk · 1988 Branford Marsalis Doxy · 1988 Carmen McRae Rhythm-a-Ning · 1988 Keith Jarrett Trio Solar · 1989 Pat Metheny with Dave Holland and Roy Haynes Solar · 1989
1990s
Players come back to their own tunes. Joe Henderson plays Blue Bossa in a trio with no piano in 1991 and Recorda Me with a big band in 1996, and Horace Silver records Song for My Father with a large band in 1993, then plays piano behind Dee Dee Bridgewater. Brad Mehldau's trio plays Solar in 1999 at the Village Vanguard, where Bill Evans recorded it in 1961.
Stéphane Grappelli and McCoy Tyner Mr. P.C. · 1990 Joe Henderson Trio Blue Bossa · 1991 Stan Getz and Kenny Barron I Remember Clifford · 1991 McCoy Tyner Quartet Recorda Me · 1991 Art Farmer Quartet Recorda Me · 1991 GRP All-Star Big Band The Sidewinder · 1992 Horace Silver Orchestra Song for My Father · 1993 Helen Merrill Joy Spring · 1994
12 more
Dee Dee Bridgewater Song for My Father · 1994 Benny Golson Funky Quintet The Sidewinder · 1994 Poncho Sanchez with Mongo Santamaría Watermelon Man · 1995 The Derek Trucks Band Mr. P.C. · 1996 Joe Henderson Big Band Recorda Me · 1996 Esbjörn Svensson Trio Rhythm-a-Ning · 1996 Jackie McLean and Junko Onishi Solar · 1996 Fred Hersch and Bill Frisell Blue Monk · 1997 McCoy Tyner and the Latin All-Stars Blue Bossa · 1998 Keith Jarrett Trio Doxy · 1998 Tierney Sutton Recorda Me · 1999 Brad Mehldau Trio Solar · 1999
2000s
Keith Jarrett's trio plays Four with no horn at Montreux in 2001, Stephen Riley plays Tune Up with only bassist John Brown in 2007, and Bobby Broom takes Rhythm-a-Ning to a guitar trio in 2009. David Hazeltine's trio plays an album of Silver tunes in 2000, and in December 2009 Lee Konitz plays Oleo and Solar at Birdland with Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian.
David Hazeltine Trio Song for My Father · 2000 Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette Four · 2001 McCoy Tyner with John Scofield Mr. P.C. · 2006 Stephen Riley Tune Up · 2007 Peter Bernstein Quartet Four · 2008 Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian Oleo · 2009 Bobby Broom Trio Rhythm-a-Ning · 2009 Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian Solar · 2009
2010s
Brad Mehldau's trio records Airegin in New York in 2011, and Kenny Barron and Mulgrew Miller play Joy Spring as a piano duo in Zurich that year. Michel Camilo and Kazumi Watanabe both record The Sidewinder in 2011, Gregory Porter records Work Song in Brooklyn, Chick Corea's trio plays Blue Monk on Trilogy in 2013, and in 2015 Branford Marsalis's quartet adds Kurt Elling, who scats on Doxy.
Brad Mehldau Trio Airegin · 2011 Kenny Barron & Mulgrew Miller Joy Spring · 2011 Michel Camilo The Sidewinder · 2011 Kazumi Watanabe The Sidewinder · 2011 Gregory Porter Work Song · 2011 Chick Corea Trio Blue Monk · 2013 Branford Marsalis Quartet with Kurt Elling Doxy · 2015 Stephen Riley St. Thomas · 2018
2020s
Gustav Lundgren's guitar trio plays Recorda Me live in Stockholm in February 2020. In 2025 Bobby Broom's guitar trio records Doxy on a Rollins tribute in Chicago, Esperanza Spalding and Robert Glasper play Watermelon Man at the ceremony where Hancock receives the Polar Music Prize, and Christian McBride's big band plays Moanin' with José James singing.
Gustav Lundgren, Jorge Rossy & Doug Weiss Recorda Me · 2020 Bobby Broom Trio Doxy · 2025 Esperanza Spalding and Robert Glasper Watermelon Man · 2025

Through the years

The tunes