Jerome Kern, music · Otto Harbach, lyrics · Introduced by Tamara in the Broadway musical Roberta
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach wrote this ballad for the 1933 Broadway musical Roberta. Players from Art Tatum to Keith Jarrett recorded it, and its middle section strays far from home. The Platters' recording reached number one in the United States.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Paul Whiteman's hit from the year the song was written. It then follows the tune through a tenor saxophone quartet, a piano trio with guitar, Thelonious Monk's quintet, Clifford Brown with strings and Sarah Vaughan with a big band, and ends with Keith Jarrett's trio in 1989 and Archie Shepp's quartet in 1992.
Sarah Vaughan with the Count Basie Orchestra1957 · Vocal
1960s
1970s
1980sKeith Jarrett Trio1989 · Post-bop
1990sArchie Shepp Quartet1992 · Contemporary jazz
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Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (vocal Bob Lawrence) · 1933
“(When Your Heart's on Fire) Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”
Paul Whiteman's orchestra recorded the song in New York on 3 November 1933, fifteen days before Roberta opened on Broadway, with Bob Lawrence singing. According to JazzStandards.com, this record reached number one in 1934.
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Listen for
Bob Lawrence sings the song with the orchestra behind him. Listen to how the tune sounds when a singer carries it, before any jazz player takes it over.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 4 of the slowly: , , , . If the diminished are new, use E♭maj7, Fm7, B♭m7 and A♭maj7 for one bar each, and hum the tune over them.
Tenor saxophonist Don Byas led this quartet with Erroll Garner on piano, Slam Stewart on bass and Doc West on drums. The Discogs notes for the Jazz Society LP date the session to 1 November 1945 in New York.
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Listen for
Listen to a tenor saxophone playing the tune that Bob Lawrence sang in the first step, with Erroll Garner's piano behind it.
Try it on your instrument
Play 5 to 8 of the : , , Gm7 , Fm7 B♭7. Hold each for two beats at a slow pace and sing the melody over them.
Oscar Peterson recorded the song in Los Angeles on 7 December 1953 for his album of Jerome Kern songs. Barney Kessel played guitar and Ray Brown played bass.
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Listen for
The trio is piano, guitar and bass. Follow Ray Brown's bass under the piano and guitar, and notice how a small group keeps the beat on its own.
Try it on your instrument
Play the , 17 to 24, slowly: , , , , Bmaj7, , , Fm7 B♭7. Notice how far from E♭ the moves and how the last three bars bring it home. A smaller version: play only the first of each bar.
Thelonious Monk's quintet recorded the song at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on 11 May 1954. Ray Copeland played trumpet, Frank Foster tenor saxophone, Curly Russell bass and Art Blakey drums.
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Listen for
This is the first step with two horns, a trumpet and a tenor saxophone, alongside Monk's piano, bass and drums. At 4:29 it is also longer than the steps before it, so try to name which instrument has the tune at each moment.
Try it on your instrument
Play the full 32 slowly with the first written in each bar, and hum the melody over it. If you can solo over changes, try a two-note idea in each bar. If not, stay with the melody.
Clifford Brown recorded this in New York on 19 January 1955 for his album with strings, with arrangements and conducting by Neal Hefti. Max Roach played drums and Richie Powell piano.
With strings
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Listen for
Brown's trumpet plays the tune with violins, violas and a cello behind it. Listen for how the strings give the song a softer, fuller setting than the small bands before it.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 8 of the with a held under the melody, using the piano pedal or letting a guitar chord ring, so the chords sit under the tune the way a string section would: , , , , , Fm7 B♭7, Gm7 , Fm7 B♭7.
Sarah Vaughan with the Count Basie Orchestra · 1957 · Vocal
No Count Sarah
Sarah Vaughan recorded No Count Sarah in New York in August 1957 with players from the Count Basie Orchestra behind her, and EmArcy released it in 1959.
Big band
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Listen for
Listen to how a band of trumpets, trombones and saxophones sits behind one voice, and how the of piano, guitar, bass and drums keeps time under it.
Try it on your instrument
Sing the melody first with no , then with the last , 25 to 32: , , , , , Fm7 B♭7, Cm7, Fm7 B♭7. Pick the that fits your voice.
Keith Jarrett's trio, with Gary Peacock on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums, played the song at the Philharmonie in Cologne on 15 October 1989. ECM released the concert as Tribute in 1990.
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Listen for
Listen for how a song of 32 lasts more than eight minutes, and follow whichever of the three players is in front at each moment.
Try it on your instrument
Loop 1 to 4 of the ( , , , ) and improvise by picking one tone per chord. That needs some practice soloing over changes. A smaller version: play the root and third of each chord in your left hand while your right hand plays the melody.
Archie Shepp recorded the song with Horace Parlan on piano, Wayne Dockery on bass and Stephen McCraven on drums at Studio 44 in Monster, Holland, on 13 January 1992. It appears on his album Black Ballads.
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Listen for
Archie Shepp's saxophone leads, with Horace Parlan's piano under it. Listen to how much of the song's mood the saxophone carries alone, and what the piano adds.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole form once as written, then again slower with the melody an octave higher. In the last , play 31 as and end there.
The song comes from the musical Roberta, which opened on Broadway in November 1933. Paul Whiteman's orchestra recorded it with singer Bob Lawrence fifteen days before the opening.
1940s
Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five recorded it with a harpsichord in 1940, and tenor saxophonist Don Byas cut a quartet version with Erroll Garner on piano in 1945.
1950s
Art Tatum played it alone at the piano in 1953, and Thelonious Monk led a quintet through it the next year. In 1955 Clifford Brown recorded it with a string section.
1970s
Bryan Ferry recorded it in London in spring 1974 for his album Another Time, Another Place. The UK singles chart put it at number 17 that year, according to Wikipedia.
1980s
Keith Jarrett's trio played it live in Cologne in October 1989, stretching the song past eight minutes.
1990s
Archie Shepp recorded it with Horace Parlan in Holland in 1992, and Jackie McLean's quartet cut a version in New York in 1999.
More great versions
3 more, from 1953 to 1999. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sArt Tatum1953
The Platters1958 · Soul & R&B
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990sJackie McLean Quartet1999 · Bebop
Art Tatum
1953
The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 7
Art Tatum played the song alone at the piano on 28 or 29 December 1953. It was later gathered into the 13-LP Pablo set The Tatum Solo Masterpieces.
The Platters recorded the song in 1958, and Mercury released it as a single that November. According to Wikipedia, it reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Jackie McLean recorded the song at Avatar Studios in New York on 12 or 13 June 1999, with Cedar Walton, David Williams and Billy Higgins. It appears on his album Nature Boy, which he produced.
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♭ → B → E♭key centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
E♭
B
E♭
The runs 32 in four sections of eight: A, A, B, A, in . Each A opens with and , then and , and , and and . Bar 5 is and , and bar 6 is Fm7 and B♭7. The first A ends with Gm7 and Fm7 B♭7, which sends it back to the top; the second ends with and , which leads into the . B moves to , far from E♭: , , , D♭m7 G♭7, then Bmaj7 again. Bars 6 to 8 of B return home with Fm7 B♭7, E♭maj7 C7 and Fm7 B♭7. The last A repeats the opening and ends with E♭6 Cm7 and Fm7 B♭7. The chart on this page is iReal Pro's.