Art Hickman, music · Harry Williams, lyrics · Introduced at the Rose Room, St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco
Rose Room
Rose Room is a 1917 tune by Art Hickman, with words by Harry Williams that bands rarely sing. Duke Ellington liked its so much that he reused them in his own tune, In a Mellotone. Goodman's 1939 record with guitarist Charlie Christian entered the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2024.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the composer's own band in 1919, then follows the tune through Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Django Reinhardt and Benny Goodman's sextet with Charlie Christian. It ends with Sidney Bechet in 1941, Lester Young in 1954 and Cannonball Adderley's octet in 1955.
Benny Goodman Sextet featuring Charlie Christian1939
1940sSidney Bechet and His New Orleans Feetwarmers1941
1950sLester Young1954 · Bebop
Cannonball Adderley Octet1955
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Art Hickman's Orchestra · 1919
Columbia 78 rpm single
Art Hickman wrote the tune for the band he led at the Rose Room of San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel and recorded it for Columbia in New York in September 1919. According to JazzStandards.com, the record was a bestseller in 1920.
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Listen for
The saxophone carries the tune, and Hickman takes a bouncy ragtime piano solo. The rhythm sways in the ragtime way, before swing arrived.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four of the A part in A♭ at a slow tempo, one per bar: , , , A♭6. Smaller version: play only E♭7 and then A♭6, and listen for how the second chord settles.
“Rose Room (In Sunny Roseland)”, Brunswick 78 rpm single
Ellington's orchestra recorded it in New York on February 11, 1932, for Brunswick. According to JazzStandards.com, this record brought the song back into popularity.
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Listen for
Barney Bigard's clarinet takes the lead on much of the record, over a smooth, lightly swinging band.
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Play 5 to 8 of the A part, where the music steps into D♭, one per bar: , , , D♭6. Smaller version: play A♭7 and then D♭6, and listen to the move.
Benny Goodman Sextet featuring Charlie Christian · 1939
“Rose Room (In Sunny Roseland)”, Columbia 78 rpm single
At a concert in Beverly Hills in August 1939, Benny Goodman started this tune expecting guitarist Charlie Christian not to know it, and Christian played for more than 45 minutes. The sextet recorded it on October 2, 1939, with Christian featured for the first time.
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Listen for
Charlie Christian's electric guitar holds its own beside Goodman's clarinet and Lionel Hampton's vibraphone.
Try it on your instrument
Pick one note from each of the first four A (, , , A♭6), four notes per bar, to make a short line of your own. Improvising over all 32 bars, as Christian does here, takes more experience; the smaller version is to repeat the same four-bar line twice.
Sidney Bechet and His New Orleans Feetwarmers · 1941
Victor 78 rpm single
Sidney Bechet led his New Orleans Feetwarmers on this Victor session in New York on October 24, 1941, with trumpeter Charlie Shavers and pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith.
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Listen for
Bechet's soprano saxophone leads the tune, with trumpet, piano, guitar, bass and drums behind him in an old-school New Orleans setting.
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Play the last four of the B part, where the music builds back toward the second A, one per bar: , B♭7, , . Smaller version: play B♭7, then E♭7, then land on .
Lester Young recorded it for producer Norman Granz in New York on December 10, 1954, with a quintet. Norgran first issued it on the 1955 LP Lester Young.
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Listen for
Young's tenor saxophone floats over an easy swing, and trumpeter Jesse Drakes and pianist Gildo Mahones each take a solo.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last four of the C part, one per bar except where two are shown: , , with , with . Compare them with the end of B. Smaller version: play only the last two bars.
Cannonball Adderley led an octet in New York on August 5, 1955, playing an arrangement by Quincy Jones. It is on his first album for EmArcy.
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Listen for
Quincy Jones's arrangement for eight players, and solos by Nat Adderley on cornet, Cecil Payne on baritone saxophone and Max Roach on drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the A part's bass line: one note per on the roots B♭, E♭, A♭, A♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, D♭, repeating each note on every beat. Smaller version: play just the first four roots.
Art Hickman introduces the tune in 1917 at the Rose Room of San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel. Joseph C. Smith's Orchestra makes the first record in 1918, and Hickman's own Columbia record follows in 1919.
1930s
Duke Ellington's 1932 record, with Barney Bigard's clarinet out front, brings the song back into favor. In 1939 Benny Goodman's sextet records it with the electric guitarist Charlie Christian.
1940s
Sidney Bechet records it for Victor in New York in October 1941, leading his New Orleans Feetwarmers on soprano saxophone, with trumpeter Charlie Shavers and pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith.
1950s
Lester Young's quintet records it for Norman Granz in December 1954. In 1955 Cannonball Adderley's octet plays a Quincy Jones arrangement, and Lennie Niehaus's octet records it in Los Angeles.
More great versions
4 more, from 1918 to 1955. Tap a cover to play it here.
1910sJoseph C. Smith's Orchestra1918
1920s
1930sArtie Shaw1939
1940s
1950sNat "King" Cole1952
Lennie Niehaus Octet1955
Joseph C. Smith's Orchestra
1918
“Rose Room (medley with My Oriental Rose Bud)”, Victor 78 rpm single
According to the Library of Congress, this was the first recording of the tune, made for Victor in New York in June 1918 as part of a medley with My Oriental Rose Bud.
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
A♭ majorusual key
32 barsA · B · A · C form
A♭ → D♭ → A♭ → D♭ → A♭key centers
A8 bars
B8 bars
A8 bars
C8 bars
A♭
D♭
A♭
D♭
A♭
The chart in iReal Pro has four parts of 8 in , played A, B, A, C. A opens with and , which lead to for two bars. Bars 5 to 8 give , and for two bars, so the music steps briefly into D♭ before the part ends. B starts with , , and , then holds B♭7 for two bars, then and E♭7, which lead back to the second A. C begins like B and ends differently: bars 5 and 6 are B♭7 and E♭7, bar 7 is A♭6 and , and bar 8 is G♭7 and F7, which turn the around to the top.