Michael Edwards, music · Bud Green, lyrics · A number one record for Tommy Dorsey's orchestra, 1937
Once in a While
Michael Edwards wrote the music and Bud Green the words, and the song came out in 1937. Tommy Dorsey's orchestra took it to number one in the United States that year. Trumpeters Louis Armstrong, Clifford Brown, Chet Baker and Roy Hargrove all recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Tommy Dorsey's 1937 hit and Louis Armstrong's version from that November, then follows trumpets, a guitar and Nat King Cole's singing through the 1950s. It ends with Roland Kirk's quartet in 1965 and Roy Hargrove's quintet in 1990.
1950sArt Blakey Quintet featuring Clifford Brown1954 · Hard bop
Jimmy Raney Quartet1954 · Post-bop
Chet Baker Quartet1955 · Bebop
Nat King Cole with Billy May's Orchestra1957 · Big band
1960sRoland Kirk Quartet1965 · Post-bop
1970s
1980s
1990sRoy Hargrove Quintet1990 · 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 · 1937
Victor single
Tommy Dorsey's orchestra recorded the song for Victor on July 21, 1937, with a male vocal quartet. The record went to number one in the United States that year.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
A male vocal group sings the tune with Dorsey's band behind it. The record lasts 2:42, so it is easy to hear twice in a row.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 4 with only the first of each bar: , E♭maj7, , Gm7. Then add the second chord of bars 1, 3 and 4 (, , ) and hear how each one leads into the next bar.
Louis Armstrong recorded the song with his orchestra in Los Angeles on November 15, 1937. Decca issued it on a single with On the Sunny Side of the Street on the other side.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Armstrong is listed on trumpet and vocals for this session, so listen for both his trumpet and his voice. The single runs 3:11.
Try it on your instrument
Play the twice, 1 to 16, and compare bars 7 and 8 each time. The first time they are and , which lead back to the top. The second time they are and E♭6 , which lead on to the . If that is a lot of , play only the first chord of each bar.
Art Blakey Quintet featuring Clifford Brown · 1954 · Hard bop
A Night at Birdland, Volume 1
Art Blakey's group recorded this live at Birdland in New York on February 21, 1954. On this track Clifford Brown's trumpet leads a quartet with Horace Silver, Curly Russell and Blakey, and Blue Note issued it on A Night at Birdland, Volume 1.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Clifford Brown's trumpet leads, with piano, bass and drums behind him, in a live club recording that lasts just over five minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Try the , 17 to 24: | | | Am7 D7 | Gmaj7 Em7 | Am7 D7 | | . The music moves to here and comes home to E♭ in bar 24. If that is too many , play G, and D7 for bars 17 to 22 and hold G for bar 23.
Guitarist Jimmy Raney recorded this in Paris on February 6, 1954, with pianist Sonny Clark, bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Bobby White. Vogue issued it on the album Jimmy Raney Visits Paris.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Raney's guitar takes the lead, with Sonny Clark's piano, bass and drums behind it. This session in Paris was made two weeks before the Birdland recording on the last step.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four the way a guitarist would, spreading each from the bottom note up, one chord per bar: , E♭maj7, , Gm7. Add the melody on top if you can.
Trumpeter Chet Baker recorded the song in Paris on November 28, 1955, with pianist Raymond Fol, bassist Benoit Quersin and drummer Jean-Louis Viale. It came out on Barclay in 1956, and EmArcy reissued it in 1988 in its Chet in Paris series.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Baker's trumpet leads a quartet of piano, bass and drums for about five and a half minutes. Compare how he and Clifford Brown each carry the tune on their own.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 8 slowly, one per bar: , E♭maj7, , Gm7, , Fm7, Gm7, Fm7. Hum the tune over them.
Nat King Cole with Billy May's Orchestra · 1957 · Big band, Swing
Just One of Those Things
Nat King Cole recorded this with Billy May's orchestra at Capitol Tower in Los Angeles on July 19, 1957. Capitol issued it on the album Just One of Those Things.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Cole sings with Billy May's orchestra behind him, a bigger setting than the small groups on the steps before. The track runs 2:51.
Try it on your instrument
Hum or sing the tune while you play 1 to 4, one per bar: , E♭maj7, , Gm7. Notice where you want to take a breath.
Roland Kirk recorded this at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on January 13, 1965, with Jaki Byard, Richard Davis and Elvin Jones. According to Wikipedia, this version was inspired by Clifford Brown.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Kirk plays several different horns across this album, so listen for which one carries the tune here. Piano, bass and drums stay behind him for the 3:58.
Try it on your instrument
Play the song once through at a slow tempo, 1 to 32, and say the section names out loud as each one starts: A, A, B, A. The starts in bar 17 on .
Trumpeter Roy Hargrove recorded this in New York in October 1990 with Antonio Hart, Stephen Scott, Christian McBride and Billy Higgins. Novus released it on the album Public Eye in 1991, where the title is spelled Once In Awhile.
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
Listen for
Two horns lead, Hargrove's trumpet and Antonio Hart's alto saxophone, over piano, bass and drums. Billy Higgins is on drums, and the track runs 5:36.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight with one per bar at a slow tempo, then go through all 32 bars the same way. When that feels easy, add the second chord that sits in bar 1 and in bars 3 to 8.
Michael Edwards and Bud Green's song comes out in 1937. Tommy Dorsey's orchestra records it in July, and Louis Armstrong's orchestra records it in Los Angeles in November.
1950s
Clifford Brown plays it live at Birdland in 1954, and Chet Baker records it in Paris in 1955. Nat King Cole sings it with Billy May's orchestra in 1957.
1960s
Trombonist Julian Priester records it in New York in January 1960. Roland Kirk's quartet, with Elvin Jones on drums, records it in January 1965.
1990s
Roy Hargrove's quintet records it in New York in October 1990, and Novus releases it on the album Public Eye in 1991.
2000s
Pianist Barry Harris records it with a trio in New York in June 2000. Mose Allison records it in California in July 2009, and it comes out on The Way of the World in 2010.
More great versions
6 more, from 1956 to 2009. Tap a cover to play it here.
Pianist Art Tatum and clarinetist Buddy DeFranco recorded this in Los Angeles on February 6, 1956, with bassist Red Callender and drummer Bill Douglass. It came out on Verve in 1958 and was reissued as Volume 7 of The Tatum Group Masterpieces.
Vibraphonist Lem Winchester recorded this with Ramsey Lewis's trio in Chicago on October 8, 1958. Argo issued it on the album A Tribute to Clifford Brown.
Trombonist Julian Priester recorded this in New York on January 11, 1960, with Jimmy Heath, Tommy Flanagan, Sam Jones and Elvin Jones. Riverside issued it on the album Keep Swingin'.
Tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims recorded this live at the Blue Note club in Paris in December 1961, with pianist Henri Renaud, bassist Bob Whitlock and drummer Jean-Louis Viale. United Artists issued it in 1962 on Zoot Sims in Paris.
Pianist Barry Harris recorded this in a New York studio on June 2, 2000, with bassist George Mraz and drummer Leroy Williams. The Japanese label Venus issued it on The Last Time I Saw Paris.
Mose Allison recorded the album The Way of the World at The Garfield House in South Pasadena, California, in late July 2009, with Joe Henry producing. It came out on ANTI- in 2010 and includes this song.
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
32 barsA · A · B · A form
E♭ major → G major → E♭ majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
E♭
G
E♭
Four sections of eight make 32 bars, in the order A, A, B, A. Every A starts the same way: and share bar 1, E♭maj7 fills bar 2, and share bar 3, Gm7 and share bar 4, then and C7 share bar 5 and Fm7 and share bar 6. The three differ only in bars 7 and 8. The first A has Gm7 and C7 in bar 7 and Fm7 and B♭7 in bar 8, which lead back to the top. The second A has and in bar 7 and E♭6, and in bar 8, and the Am7 and D7 point toward the . The last A has E♭6 and in bar 7 and Fm7 and B♭7 in bar 8. The bridge moves to for bars 17 to 23: and , then Am7 and D7, then and , then Am7 and D7, then Gmaj7 and Em7, then Am7 and D7 again, then and in bar 23. Fm7 and B♭7 in bar 24 bring the music home to E♭ for the last A. The follow the iReal Pro chart, in E♭; players vary them.