Earl Hines, music · Henri Woode, lyrics · First recorded by Earl Hines and His Orchestra, 1933
Rosetta
Rosetta is a 1933 song by the pianist Earl Hines and his band's arranger Henri Woode. Hines and his orchestra recorded it first, and he kept coming back to it as a piano solo. Dance bands, jazz guitarists and Bob Wills's western swing band have all played it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Earl Hines's orchestra in 1933, Fats Waller's small band in 1935 and Hines alone at the piano in 1939. It continues with Red Allen's all-stars in 1957, Joe Pass's guitar quartet in 1964 and Johnny Hodges with Hines in 1966. It ends with Yusef Lateef's quartet in 1966 and a live quartet of two guitars, violin and bass in 2003.
2000sBucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, Johnny Frigo and Michael Moore2003 · Swing
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Hear the tune as its writer first recorded it
Earl Hines and His Orchestra · 1933
Rosetta
According to JazzStandards.com, Earl Hines first recorded Rosetta with his orchestra on February 13, 1933. The record was made in New York for Brunswick, with trumpeter Walter Fuller singing.
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Listen for
A full band plays the tune, and trumpeter Walter Fuller sings. Learn the tune here, because every later version on this page starts from it.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four of the slowly, one per bar: , , , . Smaller version: play only F6 and E7 and listen to how the sound drops.
Hines returned to his own tune on October 6, 1939, for a series of solo piano performances on Bluebird. His right hand plays octaves, in a style that was compared to Louis Armstrong's improvising.
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Listen for
Hines plays alone, so the tune and the beat come from one pair of hands. Listen to his right hand, which plays octaves.
Try it on your instrument
Play the with the melody in your right hand and one per in your left: , , , , , , D7, C7. Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
Red Allen's group played Rosetta on the CBS program The Sound of Jazz, broadcast on December 8, 1957. The album was made from a rehearsal recorded on December 4 and issued by Columbia in 1958.
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Five horns play together: trumpet, cornet, clarinet, tenor saxophone and trombone, with piano, guitar and bass behind them. See if you can pick out Pee Wee Russell's clarinet and Coleman Hawkins's tenor saxophone.
Try it on your instrument
Play the form once through: the , A again, the (, , Am, , , Dm7 G7, , ), then the last A. Smaller version: play only the B section.
Joe Pass recorded Rosetta in October 1964 at Pacific Jazz Studios in Hollywood for his album For Django. The album gathers tunes tied to Django Reinhardt, and Pass plays this one with a second guitarist, bass and drums.
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Two guitars, bass and drums play it in 3:05. Listen for the two guitars and see if you can tell which one plays the tune.
Try it on your instrument
On guitar, strum the for 1 to 4 of the , , , , , with a steady swing rhythm while you hum the tune. Smaller version: use only the first two chords.
Johnny Hodges and Earl Hines recorded Stride Right on January 14, 1966, at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Verve issued it that year.
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Hodges leads on alto saxophone, with Hines, a guitar, a bass and drums behind him. Compare this single saxophone line with the full bands and the guitars heard earlier.
Try it on your instrument
Play the , the contrasting middle of the tune: , , Am, , , Dm7 G7, , . Smaller version: play only the first four , Am, Bm7♭5 E7, Am, Dm7 G7.
Yusef Lateef recorded Rosetta at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs on June 15, 1966. Impulse! released it on The Golden Flute in January 1967.
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Listen for
Lateef leads a quartet with piano, bass and drums, and the track lasts 3:52. The album credits him on flute, tenor saxophone and oboe, so listen for which one he picks.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last four of the first : , , , C7. These bars lead back to at the start of the next section. Smaller version: play only G7 and C7.
Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, Johnny Frigo and Michael Moore · 2003 · Swing
Hot Club of 52nd Street
Bucky Pizzarelli and Howard Alden recorded the album Hot Club of 52nd Street live in New York on June 19, 2003, as a tribute to Django Reinhardt. Chesky released it on May 25, 2004.
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Listen for
Two guitars, a violin and a bass play it live, and the track runs 4:42, longer than every earlier step except the 1957 record.
Try it on your instrument
Play the full form once through with a steady beat: A, A, B, A, using the on this page. Smaller version: play only the .
Earl Hines and Henri Woode write the song, and Hines's orchestra records it in February 1933 with trumpeter Walter Fuller singing. Fats Waller's six-piece band cuts it in 1935, and Hines plays it alone in 1939.
1940s
Nat King Cole plays it at the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert in Los Angeles on July 2, 1944. Don Byas's quartet records it in 1947.
1950s
Red Allen's group plays it on The Sound of Jazz, rehearsed on December 4, 1957 for the CBS broadcast. Pee Wee Russell and Coleman Hawkins play with him.
1960s
Joe Pass plays it with a second guitarist on For Django in 1964. In 1966 Johnny Hodges and Earl Hines record it on Stride Right, and Yusef Lateef leads a quartet through it on The Golden Flute.
1970s
Earl Hines plays it again in a two-piano duet with Jaki Byard on the album Duet, dated 1972.
2000s
Bucky Pizzarelli and Howard Alden record it live on June 19, 2003, with violinist Johnny Frigo and bassist Michael Moore, on a tribute to Django Reinhardt.
More great versions
3 more, from 1937 to 1972. Tap a cover to play it here.
1930sBob Wills and His Texas Playboys1937
1940sDon Byas Quartet1947
1950s
1960s
1970sEarl Hines and Jaki Byard1972 · Swing
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
1937
Legends of Country Music: Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
Western swing bandleader Bob Wills recorded Rosetta with the Texas Playboys, and the Legacy reissue dates the record to 1937. According to JazzStandards.com, he first recorded it in 1938, and the song became the name of his daughter.
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
F majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
F major → A minor → C major → F majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
F
A m
C
F
The tune stays in except for the . Every starts the same way, in 1 to 4: , , , , with the roots stepping down one bar at a time. Bars 5 to 8 of the first A run , , D7, C7. The second A ends with F6 and E7, and the last A ends with F6 and Gm7 C7. The B section, bars 17 to 24, opens in with , Bm7♭5 E7, Am and G7. It then moves to with Am7 and Dm7 G7, and returns through Gm7 and C7 to the last A. These follow iReal Pro's chart; other lead sheets may spell some differently.