James P. Johnson, music · Henry Creamer, lyrics · First recorded by Eva Taylor with Clarence Williams' Blue Five, 1927
If I Could Be with You
James P. Johnson wrote the music in 1926, and Henry Creamer wrote the words. The words plead for one hour with a lover who is away, and the short suits improvising. McKinney's Cotton Pickers took it to number one in 1930, and Louis Armstrong recorded it that year.
Listen in this order
The path opens with the 1927 first record and a 1929 recording that never plays the melody. It then follows the song through the 1930 hits by McKinney's Cotton Pickers and Louis Armstrong, Count Basie's swing band, the composer's own piano, Nat King Cole's piano, and a 1961 reunion of two players from the 1929 record.
1920sEva Taylor with Clarence Williams' Blue Five1927
The Mound City Blue Blowers1929
1930sMcKinney's Cotton Pickers1930
Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra1930
Count Basie and His Orchestra with Helen Humes1939 · Big band
1940sJames P. Johnson1944
1950sNat King Cole with Nelson Riddle's Orchestra1955 · Big band
1960sPee Wee Russell & Coleman Hawkins1961 · Swing
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Hear the first record
Eva Taylor with Clarence Williams' Blue Five · 1927
Single
Eva Taylor sang it with her husband Clarence Williams' Blue Five for OKeh in New York on February 10, 1927. According to JazzStandards.com, she introduced the song on this record.
Singers
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Listen for
Eva Taylor sings with Clarence Williams' small band behind her. The record runs 2:54, one side of a ten-inch disc.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four of the from the chart: , , , . Smaller version: play just the root of each , F, B♭, E♭, C, and hum the tune over them.
Red McKenzie led this integrated session in New York on November 14, 1929, with Coleman Hawkins, Pee Wee Russell, Glenn Miller and Gene Krupa. According to JazzStandards.com, the band improvises over the song's and never alludes to the melody.
Tenor saxophone
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Listen for
Red McKenzie plays a comb, which buzzes like a kazoo. Hawkins on tenor saxophone and Russell on clarinet take solos over the song's .
Try it on your instrument
Play the chart's once through and make up your own tune over them. Improvising takes practice, so the smaller version is to play the chords and hum a tune you invent.
“If I Could Be with You One Hour To-night”, Single
McKinney's Cotton Pickers, a Detroit band, recorded it for Victor in New York on January 31, 1930, with George 'Fathead' Thomas singing. According to JazzStandards.com, it reached number one and was the band's only record to do so.
Singers · Dance band
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Listen for
George 'Fathead' Thomas sings with the full band around him. This is the faster of the two 1930 hits, so compare it with Armstrong's slower version next.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody at a bouncy dance tempo, then again slowly, and decide which suits it better. Use the chart's if you can.
Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra · 1930
“If I Could Be with You (One Hour To-night)”, Single
Armstrong recorded it for OKeh in Los Angeles on August 19, 1930, with the Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra and Lawrence Brown on trombone. According to JazzStandards.com, he plays the melody on trumpet and then sings it before the solos begin.
two-beat · Singers · Dance band
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Listen for
Armstrong plays the melody on trumpet first, then sings it. Listen for the tuba and banjo underneath and for Lawrence Brown's trombone solo.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody twice, once on your instrument and once sung or hummed, as in the record's order. Then play it at a relaxed two-beat pace, with a low note on beats 1 and 3 in your left hand.
Count Basie and His Orchestra with Helen Humes · 1939 · Big band
“If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight”, The Essential Count Basie, Vol. 1
Helen Humes sings it with Count Basie's orchestra on a record dated March 19, 1939, with Lester Young among the saxophonists. According to JazzStandards.com, both the band and the singer state the melody, which brought the song fully into the swing era.
Singers · Dance band · Tenor saxophone
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Listen for
Helen Humes sings the melody, and the band plays it too. Listen for the steady beat that Freddie Green, Walter Page and Jo Jones keep underneath.
Try it on your instrument
Try the melody over a steady four beats to the and compare the feel with the two-beat Armstrong record.
“If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)”, Single
James P. Johnson, who wrote the song, recorded it for Decca in New York on September 22, 1944, with only drummer Eddie Dougherty alongside him. Decca issued it as a 78, and it was later collected on the album Snowy Morning Blues.
Piano
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Listen for
Only two players are on this track, Johnson at the piano and Eddie Dougherty on drums. With only those two instruments, the melody comes straight from the composer's own hands.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody with your right hand and one per with your left, using the chart's chords for bars 1 to 4. Smaller version: play the melody alone.
Nat King Cole with Nelson Riddle's Orchestra · 1955 · Big band, Swing
“If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)”, The Piano Style of Nat 'King' Cole
Nat King Cole played piano on this instrumental version, recorded with Nelson Riddle's orchestra at Capitol's Melrose Studios in Los Angeles on August 23, 1955. Capitol issued it on the album The Piano Style of Nat 'King' Cole.
Piano
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Listen for
Cole's piano takes the lead, with Riddle's orchestra behind him, and the tune is heard without words.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last four of the chart, , , , , the part that differs from the first half. Smaller version: play A♭, E♭, B♭, E♭, one note per bar.
“If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)”, Jazz Reunion
Coleman Hawkins and Pee Wee Russell had not recorded together for 32 years when Nat Hentoff's Candid label brought them to a New York studio on February 23, 1961. They open the album Jazz Reunion with a remake of this song, which they had played on the 1929 Mound City Blue Blowers record.
Tenor saxophone
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Listen for
Hawkins on tenor saxophone and Russell on clarinet are the two featured voices, with a trumpet, a trombone and a around them. At 6:31 it runs almost twice as long as their 1929 record.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody once as written and once with one phrase changed in rhythm. Improvising a full solo needs more practice, so the smaller version is the one-phrase change.
James P. Johnson and Henry Creamer write the song in 1926. Eva Taylor records it with Clarence Williams' band in February 1927, and the Mound City Blue Blowers play it without the melody in November 1929.
1930s
McKinney's Cotton Pickers reach number one with it in 1930, and Louis Armstrong records it in Los Angeles that August. Jack Teagarden sings it with Ben Pollack's orchestra, and Count Basie's band records it with Helen Humes in 1939.
1940s
Sidney Bechet and Muggsy Spanier record it in 1940. In 1944 James P. Johnson plays his own song with a drummer, and in 1945 Kay Starr sings it with an all-star group and Oscar Peterson leads a quartet in Montreal.
1950s
Nat King Cole plays it as an instrumental with Nelson Riddle's orchestra in 1955. Benny Carter and Earl Hines record it in Los Angeles in 1958 for the album Swingin' the '20s.
1960s
Coleman Hawkins and Pee Wee Russell reunite in 1961, after 32 years, and start their album Jazz Reunion with this song. They had last recorded it together in 1929 with the Mound City Blue Blowers.
2000s
Ray Bryant plays it as a solo piano piece at Rutgers University in Newark in 2004. The recording came out in 2008 on the album In the Back Room.
More great versions
6 more, from 1930 to 2004. Tap a cover to play it here.
1930sBen Pollack and His Orchestra with Jack Teagarden1930
1940sSidney Bechet and Muggsy Spanier1940 · Early jazz
Oscar Peterson Quartet1945 · Swing
Kay Starr with the Capitol International Jazzmen1945
1950sThe Benny Carter Quartet1958 · Swing
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000sRay Bryant2004
Ben Pollack and His Orchestra with Jack Teagarden
1930
“If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight”, If I Could Be with You One Hour Tonight
Jack Teagarden sang it with Ben Pollack's orchestra on June 23, 1930. According to JazzStandards.com, it became a staple of Teagarden's repertoire for many years.
“If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)”, Swingin' the '20s
Benny Carter's quartet with pianist Earl Hines recorded it in Los Angeles on November 2, 1958, for the album Swingin' the '20s, which Contemporary released in 1959.
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
E♭ majorusual key
16 barsA · B form
E♭ majorkey centers
A8 bars
B8 bars
E♭
The chart in iReal Pro has a and a 16-bar in . The chorus starts with , , and , then , B♭7, E♭6 C7 and F7 B♭7. The second half opens with the same four bars. Bars 13 to 16 are new: , C7, F7 B♭7 and E♭6. JazzStandards.com labels the melody A, B, A, C, which fits that layout of four-bar phrases.