Frank Perkins, music · Mitchell Parish, lyrics · Number one for Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, 1934
Stars Fell on Alabama
Frank Perkins and Mitchell Parish wrote it in 1934, naming it for an 1833 meteor shower in Alabama. Jack Teagarden kept it in his repertoire for the rest of his career. Hear it from Louis Armstrong's All Stars, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Cannonball Adderley and Keith Jarrett.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the dance-band record that made the song a hit, then follows it through a live concert, a piano trio, a tenor saxophone quintet, two vocal records, an alto saxophone ballad and a long live trio from 2009.
1930sGuy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians1934 · Swing
1940sLouis Armstrong1947 · Swing
1950sAl Haig Trio1950 · Bebop
Stan Getz Quintet1952 · Bebop
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong1956 · Vocal
Billie Holiday1957 · Vocal
Cannonball Adderley Quintet1959 · Hard bop
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000sKeith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette2009 · Contemporary jazz
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Learn the song
Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians · 1934 · Swing
Stars Fell on Alabama / Give Me a Heart to Sing To
Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians recorded the song on August 27, 1934, for Decca, with Carmen Lombardo singing. According to JazzStandards.com, the record stayed on the Billboard chart nine weeks, four of them at number one.
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Carmen Lombardo sings the song with the band behind him. The record runs 3:09.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first six of the as : , , Cmaj7 , , Dm7, G7. A smaller version: hum the tune and name the section you are in, A, A, B (the ) or A.
Louis Armstrong's All Stars played Boston's Symphony Hall on November 30, 1947, and the concert was recorded. Decca issued it in May 1951 as Satchmo at Symphony Hall.
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Jack Teagarden sings, and Louis Armstrong plays a second line on trumpet behind his voice. This is a live concert recording that runs 5:18.
Try it on your instrument
Play only the root of each in the first six of the , slowly: C A, D G, C F, E A, D, G. Then play the tune over them if you can.
Al Haig's trio recorded it in New York on February 27, 1950. Prestige's New Jazz label issued it on a 78 rpm record with Liza, and the 1967 album Prezervation reissued it.
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Only piano, bass and drums play, with the piano out front and the words of the song left out.
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Play the first four of the : , , Dm7 G7, A7. Then add the next four: Dm7 , , , Dm7 G7.
Stan Getz recorded it with a quintet in New York on December 12, 1952. It came out in 1953 on a single with The Way You Look Tonight and on the LP Stan Getz Plays.
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Stan Getz's tenor saxophone carries the tune in a quintet with guitar, piano, bass and drums. The track runs 3:25.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four of the as broken , two beats per chord: , , Cmaj7 , .
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong · 1956 · Vocal
Ella and Louis
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong recorded it on August 16, 1956, at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, with the Oscar Peterson Quartet. Verve released the album Ella and Louis that October.
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Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong both sing, with the Oscar Peterson Quartet on piano, guitar, bass and drums behind them. It runs 3:34.
Try it on your instrument
Play both endings of the . The first goes back to the top with , . The second leads into the with , C6 A7.
Billie Holiday recorded it in Los Angeles on January 8, 1957, with Ben Webster, Harry Edison and Jimmy Rowles in her band. Verve issued it in 1958 on Songs for Distingué Lovers.
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Listen for the tenor saxophone and the trumpet behind her voice. Ben Webster and Harry "Sweets" Edison are both in this group, and the track runs 4:32.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last four of the : , , , Dm7 . Notice how Emaj7 brightens the sound before Dm7 G7 pulls it back to C.
Cannonball Adderley recorded it in Chicago on February 3, 1959, with Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Mercury issued it in 1960 on Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago.
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Cannonball Adderley plays alto saxophone with a piano, bass and drums trio behind him. John Coltrane plays on most of this album but sits out this track.
Try it on your instrument
This is a saxophone feature, and playing along needs improvising. A smaller version: play the third of each in the first four of the , one note per chord: E, C♯, F, B, E, A, G, C♯.
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette · 2009 · Contemporary jazz
“Stars Fell on Alabama (Live)”, Somewhere
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette played it at the KKL Luzern concert hall in Lucerne on July 11, 2009. ECM released the concert in 2013 as the album Somewhere.
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A live trio of piano, bass and drums plays it for 7:27, the longest track on this path.
Try it on your instrument
Play a full . When you reach the last two bars ( ), keep going straight back to the top for a second chorus, the way a trio does when it plays several in a row.
Perkins and Parish write the song in 1934. Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians record it that August with Carmen Lombardo singing, and it spends four weeks at number one.
1940s
Jack Teagarden joins Louis Armstrong's All Stars in 1947. The group records a live concert at Boston's Symphony Hall that November, and Teagarden sings the song with Armstrong playing behind him.
1950s
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong sing it as a duet in 1956, and Billie Holiday records it with a small group in January 1957. Cannonball Adderley plays it on alto saxophone in 1959.
2000s
Keith Jarrett's trio plays it live in Lucerne in 2009, and ECM releases the concert in 2013 on the album Somewhere.
2020s
Saxophonist Joshua Redman and singer Gabrielle Cavassa record a short version for his 2023 Blue Note album.
More great versions
6 more, from 1952 to 2023. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sJohnny Smith Quintet featuring Stan Getz1952
Frankie Laine and Buck Clayton1955 · Vocal
Anita O'Day1956 · Vocal
Frank Sinatra1956 · Swing
Sonny Stitt Quartet1956 · Bebop
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020sJoshua Redman featuring Gabrielle Cavassa2023 · Contemporary jazz
Johnny Smith Quintet featuring Stan Getz
1952
Johnny Smith Quintet Vol. 2
Johnny Smith's quintet recorded it in New York on November 9, 1952, with Stan Getz on tenor saxophone. Roost released it on Johnny Smith Quintet Vol. 2 and again on Moonlight in Vermont.
Frankie Laine recorded Jazz Spectacular on October 24 and 25, 1955, with trumpeter Buck Clayton and a jazz band, and this song is on it. Columbia released the album in 1956.
Anita O'Day recorded it in 1956 for her album Pick Yourself Up with Anita O'Day, with arrangements by Buddy Bregman. Verve released the album in February 1957.
Frank Sinatra recorded it in November 1956 at Capitol Studio A in Hollywood, with Nelson Riddle conducting. Capitol released A Swingin' Affair! in May 1957.
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
C majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
C major → A minor → E major → C majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
C
A m
E
C
The iReal Pro chart runs 32 in : A (8 bars), A (8), B (8, the ) and A (8). Each A starts with six bars: , , Cmaj7 , , then Dm7 and G7 for a bar each. The first A closes with Cmaj7 A7 and Dm7 G7, which lead back to the top. The second A closes with and C6 A7, which lead into the bridge. The bridge opens with Dm7 G7, Em7 A7, Dm7 G7 and C6 A7, then moves through Dm7 , , and Dm7 G7, so the music touches and before Dm7 G7 returns it to C. The last A repeats the first six bars and closes on Cmaj7 A7 and Dm7 G7, which turn back to the top for another .