Jazz Changes

Songs from 1929 to 1946

Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen wrote these seven songs between 1929 and 1946. Four have words by Ted Koehler, three of those for Cotton Club revues, two have words by Johnny Mercer for a film and a stage show, and It's Only a Paper Moon has words by E. Y. Harburg and Billy Rose. This page follows them from the dance-band and singers' records of the 1930s to piano trios, vocal albums and a Bob Dylan record from 2016.

Through the years

  1. 1920s

    Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler write Get Happy in 1929, soon after signing with the Piantadosi company. It is the first song they compose together.

  2. 1930s

    Most of the songs arrive now. Frankie Trumbauer's orchestra records Get Happy in 1930. Cab Calloway and then Louis Armstrong record Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and I've Got the World on a String. Ethel Waters sings Stormy Weather in the Cotton Club show, and she and Duke Ellington's orchestra both record it in 1933, the year Paul Whiteman's orchestra has a hit with It's Only a Paper Moon.

    Frankie Trumbauer Get Happy · 1930Cab Calloway Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea · 1931Louis Armstrong Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea · 1932The Boswell Sisters with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea · 1932Cab Calloway I've Got the World on a String · 1932Paul Whiteman It's Only a Paper Moon · 1933Louis Armstrong I've Got the World on a String · 1933Ethel Waters Stormy Weather · 1933
    2 more
    Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra Stormy Weather · 1933Dicky Wells Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea · 1937
  3. 1940s

    Film and stage bring two new songs. Glenn Miller's band and Judy Garland both record That Old Black Magic in July 1942, and Margaret Whiting records Come Rain or Come Shine in 1946. Art Tatum plays Get Happy alone in 1940, Lena Horne records Stormy Weather in 1941, the Nat King Cole Trio records It's Only a Paper Moon in 1943, and Red Norvo's sextet with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker takes Get Happy up in 1945.

    Art Tatum Get Happy · 1940Lena Horne Stormy Weather · 1941Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, vocals Skip Nelson and the Modernaires That Old Black Magic · 1942Judy Garland with David Rose That Old Black Magic · 1942The Nat King Cole Trio It's Only a Paper Moon · 1943Red Norvo and His Selected Sextet Get Happy · 1945Ella Fitzgerald with The Delta Rhythm Boys It's Only a Paper Moon · 1945Margaret Whiting Come Rain or Come Shine · 1946
    1 more
    Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra, vocal Johnny Hartman That Old Black Magic · 1949
  4. 1950s

    The songs become small-group material. Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins, Milt Jackson, J.J. Johnson with Clifford Brown, Bud Powell, Erroll Garner, Cannonball Adderley, Roland Kirk, Oscar Peterson's trio, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the Bill Evans Trio all record them. Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Ray Charles sing them, and Judy Garland sings Get Happy in Summer Stock.

    Judy Garland Get Happy · 1950Milt Jackson Quartet Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea · 1951Miles Davis It's Only a Paper Moon · 1951Billie Holiday Stormy Weather · 1952Jay Jay Johnson Sextet Get Happy · 1953Frank Sinatra I've Got the World on a String · 1953Dizzy Gillespie and His Operatic Strings Stormy Weather · 1953Erroll Garner Trio I've Got the World on a String · 1954
    14 more
    Erroll Garner Quartet That Old Black Magic · 1954Benny Carter Septet That Old Black Magic · 1954Bud Powell Trio That Old Black Magic · 1954Sammy Davis Jr. with Sy Oliver That Old Black Magic · 1955Cannonball Adderley Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea · 1956Jimmy Smith Trio Get Happy · 1956Kenny Drew Trio It's Only a Paper Moon · 1956Serge Chaloff I've Got the World on a String · 1956Roland Kirk Quartet Stormy Weather · 1956The Oscar Peterson Trio I've Got the World on a String · 1957Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Come Rain or Come Shine · 1958The Red Garland Trio Stormy Weather · 1958Ray Charles Come Rain or Come Shine · 1959Bill Evans Trio Come Rain or Come Shine · 1959
  5. 1960s

    Ella Fitzgerald sings Get Happy with Billy May's orchestra in 1960, and Frank Sinatra sings Come Rain or Come Shine with strings in 1961. Charles Mingus's quartet with Eric Dolphy takes Stormy Weather past thirteen minutes, and the Wynton Kelly Trio and Wes Montgomery's quintet play Come Rain or Come Shine. In 1967 Thelonious Monk plays Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea alone at the piano.

    Ella Fitzgerald with Billy May Get Happy · 1960Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers It's Only a Paper Moon · 1960Charles Mingus Quartet Stormy Weather · 1960Frank Sinatra Come Rain or Come Shine · 1961Wynton Kelly Trio Come Rain or Come Shine · 1961Wes Montgomery Quintet Come Rain or Come Shine · 1962Shirley Horn That Old Black Magic · 1963Oscar Peterson Trio It's Only a Paper Moon · 1965
    1 more
    Thelonious Monk Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea · 1967
  6. 1970s

    Sarah Vaughan sings I've Got the World on a String in Los Angeles in April 1978, with Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Ray Brown and Louie Bellson. The same year Tommy Flanagan's trio records Get Happy for an album of Arlen songs.

    Sarah Vaughan I've Got the World on a String · 1978
  7. 1980s

    Dave Brubeck's quartet records It's Only a Paper Moon in San Francisco in September 1981 for the Concord Jazz album Paper Moon, which takes its title from the song.

    The Dave Brubeck Quartet It's Only a Paper Moon · 1981
  8. 1990s

    Diana Krall records I've Got the World on a String in New York in September 1994, with bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash. André Previn, Mundell Lowe and Ray Brown play Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea on a 1990 album, and Joni Mitchell records Stormy Weather in 1999.

    Diana Krall I've Got the World on a String · 1994
  9. 2000s

    Brad Mehldau's trio records Get Happy in 2002, and McCoy Tyner records Come Rain or Come Shine in 2003 with a quintet. Michael Bublé sings I've Got the World on a String on an album released in 2007. Keith Jarrett's trio plays Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea live in Lucerne in July 2009.

    Brad Mehldau Trio Get Happy · 2002McCoy Tyner Come Rain or Come Shine · 2003Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea · 2009
  10. 2010s

    ECM releases Keith Jarrett's Lucerne version of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea on the album Somewhere in 2013. Bob Dylan sings That Old Black Magic on Fallen Angels, a Columbia album released in May 2016.

The tunes