Victor Herbert, music · Al Dubin, lyrics · A 1919 piano piece, given words in 1939
Indian Summer
Victor Herbert wrote the melody in 1919 as a piano piece, and Al Dubin added words in 1939. The first section returns after the second, and the last eight bring something new. Tommy Dorsey's 1939 record made it a hit, and Sidney Bechet, Stan Getz and Frank Sinatra recorded it later.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the two dance-band records of 1939, then hears Sidney Bechet's soprano saxophone in 1940 and Stan Getz's tenor in 1949. A guitar and clarinet quintet from Stockholm, Dave Brubeck alone at the piano and Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington's orchestra follow, and Jimmy Raney's guitar trio closes the path in 1990.
1960sFrank Sinatra with Duke Ellington1967 · Big band
1970s
1980s
1990sJimmy Raney Trio1990 · Hard bop
Progress can't be saved in this browser.
Step 1 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard
Learn the song
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (vocal Jack Leonard) · 1939 · Big band
Indian Summer / A Lover Is Blue
Tommy Dorsey's orchestra recorded the new song in New York on September 27, 1939, with Jack Leonard singing. According to Wikipedia, it reached number one on the Billboard singles chart that year.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Jack Leonard sings the melody with the orchestra behind him. Hum along, because every later version in this path is built on this tune.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 4 with in bars 1 and 3 and in bars 2 and 4. If D7♯5 is new, play a plain G for all four bars instead.
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (vocal Ray Eberle) · 1939
Bluebird 78 rpm single
Glenn Miller's orchestra recorded it in New York on November 5, 1939, with Ray Eberle singing, and Bluebird issued it on B-10495 that month. According to Wikipedia, it charted for ten weeks in 1940 and rose to number eight.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Ray Eberle sings it here. Play it right after the Dorsey record and notice how the singer and the band sound different on the same tune.
Try it on your instrument
Play 9 to 16 on their own: , then and sharing bar 10, twice, twice, Am7, . If the two-chord bar is too much, play only B7♭9 there.
Sidney Bechet recorded it with a quintet in New York on February 5, 1940, and Bluebird issued it as B-10623. According to Wikipedia, it was one of the first jazz versions of the song.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Bechet leads on soprano saxophone, a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family, with piano, guitar, bass and drums behind him. Hear a horn carry the tune that the first two records gave to a voice.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of 1 to 8, then play it again with one change of your own, such as holding one note longer. That small step is where jazz begins.
Stan Getz's quartet recorded it in New York on June 21, 1949, with Al Haig on piano, Gene Ramey on bass and Stan Levey on drums. Prestige first issued it on the single Prestige 740 and put it on the 1955 LP Stan Getz Quartets.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Getz plays tenor saxophone with a piano, bass and drums trio. The track runs 2:47, short enough to hear twice in a row.
Try it on your instrument
Play the of 1 to 4 (, , Gmaj7, D7♯5) at a slow, steady beat, then add the melody on top. If D7♯5 is new, use a plain .
Jimmy Raney's quintet recorded it in Stockholm on January 13, 1954, with Putte Wickman on clarinet and Bengt Hallberg on piano. Metronome issued it on the EP MEP 63 in 1954, and EmArcy put it on Swingin' In Sweden in 1958.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Raney plays guitar and Wickman plays clarinet, with piano, bass and drums behind them. Try to tell the two lead instruments apart.
Try it on your instrument
Play for one and for one bar, over and over. These two close every section of the tune, so they help with all 32 bars.
Dave Brubeck played it alone at his home in Oakland on February 8, 1957. The track is on the album Plays and Plays and Plays, reissued by Original Jazz Classics in 1992.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Brubeck plays alone for 3:49, so you hear the melody and the with nothing else around them. The four sections are easy to follow because only one instrument is playing.
Try it on your instrument
Play the root of each in your left hand for 1 to 4 (G, D, G, D) and the melody in your right. If that is too much at once, play the roots alone first.
Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra · 1967 · Big band
Francis A. & Edward K.
Frank Sinatra recorded it with Duke Ellington's orchestra at Western Recorders in Hollywood on December 11, 1967, with arrangements by Billy May. Reprise released it in 1968 on Francis A. & Edward K.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Sinatra sings at a slow pace with the full band behind him. Listen for Johnny Hodges on alto saxophone and Duke Ellington on piano.
Try it on your instrument
Play 25 to 32 slowly, one per bar where you can: , and sharing bar 26, , and E♭7 sharing bar 28, Bm7 and , and , , Am7 and D7. The E♭7 bars sound far from G, and the last four bars bring you home. If two chords to a bar is too much, play the first chord only.
Jimmy Raney recorded it again on December 5, 1990 at Manhattan Recording Studio in New York, with George Mraz on bass and Lewis Nash on drums. His quintet had recorded it in Stockholm 36 years earlier.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Raney plays with only a bass and drums, so the guitar carries the tune. The track runs 5:24, more than twice as long as his 1954 version.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 slowly, one per bar, using the first chord shown in the chart where a bar has two. For a smaller version, play only the first (bars 1 to 8).
Victor Herbert writes the melody in 1919 as a piano piece called An American Idyll. It has no words yet.
1930s
Al Dubin adds words in 1939. Tommy Dorsey's orchestra records it with singer Jack Leonard in September, and Glenn Miller's orchestra follows in November with Ray Eberle.
1940s
Sidney Bechet plays it on soprano saxophone in New York in 1940. Stan Getz's quartet records it in 1949, with Al Haig on piano.
1950s
Jimmy Raney's quintet, with clarinetist Putte Wickman, plays it in Stockholm in 1954. Dave Brubeck plays it alone at the piano at his home in 1957.
1960s
Leo Wright plays flute on a seven-minute version for Atlantic in 1960, with a violinist beside him. Frank Sinatra sings it with Duke Ellington's orchestra in Hollywood in December 1967.
1970s
Ella Fitzgerald sings it live at Carnegie Hall on July 5, 1973, during the Newport Jazz Festival.
1990s
Jimmy Raney returns to the song in December 1990 with a guitar, bass and drums trio in New York.
More great versions
4 more, from 1956 to 1973. Tap a cover to play it here.
Joe Puma's quartet recorded it in New York in late summer 1957 with Bill Evans on piano, Oscar Pettiford on bass and Paul Motian on drums. Jubilee issued it on Joe Puma Quartet and Trio.
Leo Wright plays flute on a seven-minute version for Atlantic, joined by Harry Lookofsky on violin, Junior Mance on piano, Art Davis on bass and Charlie Persip on drums. The album Blues Shout was recorded in New York on May 25 and August 29, 1960.
Ella Fitzgerald sang it live at Carnegie Hall in New York on July 5, 1973, as part of the Newport Jazz Festival. Columbia released the concert on record later that year.
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
32 barsA · B · A · C form
G major → E minor → D major → G major → A♭ major → G majorkey centers
A8 bars
B8 bars
A8 bars
C8 bars
G
E m
D
G
A♭
G
Four sections of eight run A, B, A, C, all in except for two short detours. A opens with and alternating in bars 1 to 4, then Gmaj7 and share bar 5, and share bar 6, and and fill bars 7 and 8. B starts on Am7, then and share bar 10 and lead to for bars 11 and 12. holds for bars 13 and 14, pointing toward D, and Am7 and D7 bring the section home. A returns in bars 17 to 24. C starts on Gmaj7 in bar 25, Bm7 and Em7 share bar 26, fills bar 27 and and E♭7 share bar 28, which is the stretch farthest from G. Bm7 and share bar 29, Am7 and D7 share bar 30, fills bar 31 and Am7 and D7 close bar 32. Am7 and D7 end every section. The follow the iReal Pro chart, in G; players vary them.