Richard Rodgers, music · Lorenz Hart, lyrics · Introduced on Broadway in Too Many Girls
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote this song for the 1939 Broadway musical Too Many Girls. Its tune keeps shifting between a sad minor sound and a bright major one. Frank Sinatra sang it in the 1957 film Pal Joey, and Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the 1939 dance-band record and a slow sung version, then moves through two saxophone records, two piano trios, a live band and a quartet with vibraphone. Each step changes who leads, how fast it goes or how many players there are.
1960sArt Blakey and the Jazz Messengers1963 · Hard bop
McCoy Tyner Quartet1968 · Post-bop
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Meet the song
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (vocal Louise Tobin) · 1939
Benny Goodman's orchestra recorded it in New York on 13 September 1939, with Louise Tobin singing, about five weeks before the Broadway show opened. According to JazzStandards.com, the record entered the charts on 28 October and reached sixth place.
Sung versions
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Louise Tobin sings the tune with the full dance band behind her. It was one of the first hit records of the song.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody slowly with one per for the first four bars: , , , . If those chords are new, play and A7 over the same bars and hear where the tune leans before it settles in .
Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra · 1957 · Vocal, Swing
Songs for Distingué Lovers
Billie Holiday recorded it in Los Angeles on 4 January 1957, with Ben Webster on tenor saxophone and Harry Edison on trumpet. Verve issued it in 1958 on Songs for Distingué Lovers.
ballad · Sung versions
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Holiday takes the song as a slow ballad that runs over six minutes. The small band behind her has Ben Webster on tenor saxophone and Harry Edison on trumpet.
Try it on your instrument
Sing or hum the melody at ballad speed and breathe where each phrase ends. Smaller version: hum it with no instrument at all.
Producer Norman Granz put Lester Young together with Roy Eldridge, Vic Dickenson and a of Teddy Wilson, Freddie Green, Gene Ramey and Jo Jones. They recorded the album in New York on 12 January 1956.
ballad · slow tempo · Saxophone leads
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Ten minutes at ballad pace, with Lester Young's tenor saxophone out front and a trumpet and a trombone in the band.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody at about half your usual tempo and let each ring for a full . Smaller version: play only the first line, holding the long notes.
Charlie Parker with Strings (Jimmy Carroll Orchestra) · 1949 · Bebop
Charlie Parker with Strings
Charlie Parker recorded it at Reeves Sound Studios in New York on 30 November 1949, with a string section, oboe and harp and Jimmy Carroll conducting. Mercury issued it on a 78 with “Summertime” and on the LP Charlie Parker with Strings.
Saxophone leads
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Parker's alto saxophone leads, with violins, viola, cello, oboe and harp around him and a piano, bass and drums underneath. The whole record is just over three minutes long.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight with one per bar in your left hand (, , , , then the same four again). Smaller version: hold only the bass notes F♯, B, E and A under the melody.
Sonny Clark recorded it with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones at Van Gelder Studio on 13 October 1957. Blue Note put take 3 on Sonny Clark Trio in 1958.
medium tempo · Piano trios
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Piano, bass and drums at a medium pace. According to JazzStandards.com, players now take the tune at this pace as often as at a slow one.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole tune once at a medium tempo, melody with , with a metronome clicking. Smaller version: play only the first eight bars and repeat them.
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers · 1963 · Hard bop
Ugetsu
The Jazz Messengers played it live at Birdland in New York on 16 June 1963, with Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller and Wayne Shorter in the . Riverside issued it that year on Ugetsu.
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A live club recording with trumpet, trombone and tenor saxophone side by side, over piano, bass and drums. The track runs about six and a half minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody once, then play only the for a full while a backing track or a friend takes a turn. Soloing over these changes takes more practice. Smaller version: play just the root of each chord, one per bar, in time.
McCoy Tyner recorded it at Van Gelder Studio on 17 May 1968 with Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone. Blue Note issued it in 1969 on Time for Tyner.
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Bobby Hutcherson's vibraphone rings next to Tyner's piano, with bass and drums underneath. The record runs just over seven minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody an octave higher than usual with the soft underneath, for a ringing sound. Smaller version: play the melody alone, high on the keyboard.
Rodgers and Hart write the song for the Broadway musical Too Many Girls, which opens in October 1939. Benny Goodman's orchestra records it in September, with Louise Tobin singing.
1940s
Charlie Parker plays it on alto saxophone in November 1949, with violins, viola, cello, oboe and harp around him.
1950s
Lester Young plays it as a slow ballad in 1956, Billie Holiday sings it in 1957, and Sonny Clark's trio plays it at a medium pace that year.
1960s
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers play it live at Birdland in 1963. In 1968 McCoy Tyner records it with Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone.
1970s
Joe Pass plays it alone on guitar in February 1979, for his album I Remember Charlie Parker.
1980s
Cassandra Wilson sings it in New York in February 1988 on her album Blue Skies, with piano, bass and drums.
2010s
Cécile McLorin Salvant sings it on WomanChild, released by Mack Avenue in 2013, with a piano trio behind her.
More great versions
2 more, from 1988 to 2013. Tap a cover to play it here.
Cassandra Wilson sings it on Blue Skies, recorded in New York in February 1988 with Mulgrew Miller on piano, Lonnie Plaxico on bass and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums.
Cécile McLorin Salvant sings it on WomanChild, recorded at Avatar Studios in New York and released by Mack Avenue in 2013, with a piano trio behind her.
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
G majorusual key
36 barsA · A · B · A form
Gkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A12 bars
G
The runs 36 : A (8), A (8), B (8) and a last A of 12. Each A opens with and , then and , and repeats that pair of bars before , Em7 with , and with . The first A ends on Am7 and , which send it back to the top. The second A ends on Am7 and D7, which lead into B. B opens on , repeats F♯m7♭5 and B7♭9 for two bars, then plays Em7 , Cmaj7, Gmaj7, Em7 A7 and Am7 Gm7. The last A repeats the first seven bars, then adds , Bm7 , Am7 D7 and two bars of . According to JazzStandards.com, the song swings between and and ends in G major.