Gus Arnheim and Jules LeMare, music (LeMare was a pen name of Charles N. Daniels) · Harry Tobias, lyrics · Hit for Gus Arnheim's Cocoanut Grove Orchestra, Los Angeles, 1931
Sweet and Lovely
Gus Arnheim's dance orchestra made Sweet and Lovely a hit in 1931, with Donald Novis singing. Its take some surprising turns, so players learn them carefully before they improvise. Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald sing it; Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans play it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the 1931 dance-band hit and Bing Crosby's record from that year. Dexter Gordon's saxophone follows in 1947, then Thelonious Monk's trio in 1952, Monk with Gerry Mulligan in 1957, Bill Evans's trio in 1961, Monk's quartet in 1962 and Jimmy Raney's guitar quartet in 1981.
Gus Arnheim and His Cocoanut Grove Orchestra (vocal Donald Novis) · 1931
Single
Gus Arnheim's Cocoanut Grove Orchestra recorded it for Victor in Hollywood on July 19, 1931, with Donald Novis singing. According to JazzStandards.com, the song became the band's theme, and the record spent 14 weeks on the charts that year.
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Listen for
Donald Novis sings with the dance orchestra behind him. This is the record that took the song to the top of the 1931 charts.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 4 of the chart as : , , Gm7, C7, one chord per bar. Smaller version: play C7 alone for those four bars while you hum the melody.
Bing Crosby with Victor Young and His Orchestra · 1931
Single
Crosby, who had sung with Arnheim's band before going solo, recorded it in New York on September 14, 1931, with Victor Young's orchestra. Brunswick issued it, it reached No. 9 on the charts, and a reissue charted again in 1944.
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Listen for
Bing Crosby sings with Victor Young's orchestra behind him. The record runs 3:07, about half a minute shorter than the Arnheim hit.
Try it on your instrument
Play 5 to 8 of the chart: , , , . Smaller version: F for bar 5, B♭ for bar 6, C for bars 7 and 8.
Monk recorded it in New York on October 15, 1952, on his first trio date for Prestige, with Gary Mapp on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Prestige issued it in 1953 on a single with Bye-Ya.
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Listen for
Monk's piano leads, with Gary Mapp's bass and Art Blakey's drums behind it. The track runs 3:33, so it is easy to follow from start to finish.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole form once from the chart: A, A, , A, one or two per . Smaller version: play only the first and hum the bridge.
Gerry Mulligan and Thelonious Monk recorded it with Wilbur Ware and Shadow Wilson at Reeves Sound Studios in New York on August 12 or 13, 1957. Riverside put it out on Mulligan Meets Monk.
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Listen for
Gerry Mulligan's baritone saxophone and Monk's piano are the two voices out front, with Wilbur Ware on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums. At 7:18 it is more than twice as long as Monk's 1952 trio take.
Try it on your instrument
Play it with a friend: one of you plays the melody and the other plays the through the first , then swap. Smaller version: play the chords alone, one per , for bars 1 to 8.
Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian recorded it at Bell Sound Studios in New York on February 2, 1961. Riverside released it that year on Explorations.
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Listen for
Evans's piano leads, with Scott LaFaro's bass and Paul Motian's drums beside it. At 5:53 it runs about two minutes longer than Monk's 1952 trio take.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last four of the , bars 13 to 16: , , , . Smaller version: E♭ for bars 13 and 14, A♭7 for bar 15 and G7 for bar 16.
Monk recorded it with Charlie Rouse, John Ore and Frankie Dunlop in New York on November 6, 1962. Columbia issued it in 1963 on Monk's Dream.
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Listen for
Charlie Rouse's tenor saxophone joins Monk's piano, with John Ore on bass and Frankie Dunlop on drums. At 7:52 it is the longest take on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Solo over the 's and , using notes from the melody as a guide. This needs some practice at improvising, so the smaller version is to play the melody once and then again with one or two notes changed.
Jimmy Raney Quartet featuring Doug Raney · 1981 · Bebop
Raney '81
Jimmy Raney and his son Doug, both on guitar, recorded it with Jesper Lundgaard and Eric Ineke in Hilversum on February 27, 1981. It was on the first record Criss Cross Jazz released.
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Listen for
Two guitars, Jimmy Raney and his son Doug, lead the way, with Jesper Lundgaard on bass and Eric Ineke on drums. The record runs 6:28.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last , 25 to 32, as : , , Gm7, C7, , , , . Smaller version: play only bars 29 to 32.
Gus Arnheim's Cocoanut Grove Orchestra records the new song in Hollywood in July 1931, with Donald Novis singing. Bing Crosby, who had sung with Arnheim's band, records it in New York that September.
1940s
Dexter Gordon records it with a quartet in Los Angeles in December 1947. Dial puts it on a 78 in 1950.
1950s
Thelonious Monk plays it with his trio for Prestige in 1952 and with Gerry Mulligan for Riverside in 1957. Lee Konitz records it for Atlantic in 1956, and Crosby sings it again in 1954.
1960s
Bill Evans's trio records it in February 1961, and Ahmad Jamal's trio plays it live at his Chicago club that year. In November 1962 Monk records it with Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone.
1980s
Jimmy Raney and his son Doug play it on two guitars in Hilversum in February 1981, for the first record on the Criss Cross label.
1990s
Bryan Ferry sings it on As Time Goes By, an album of old songs released in 1999.
More great versions
6 more, from 1954 to 1999. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sBing Crosby and The Buddy Cole Trio1954 · Vocal
Konitz recorded Inside Hi-Fi at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, in September and October 1956. On the first four tracks, this one included, he plays with guitarist Billy Bauer, bassist Arnold Fishkin and drummer Dick Scott.
“Sweet and Lovely (Live at the Alhambra)”, Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra
Ahmad Jamal's trio played it live at his own club, the Alhambra in Chicago, in 1961, with Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums. Argo issued it on Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra.
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 · F · B♭ · E♭ · D♭keys it moves between
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
C
F
B♭
C
C
F
B♭
C
C
E♭
D♭
C
C
F
B♭
C
The chart in iReal Pro has four parts of 8 , 32 in all, in . A opens with twice, which leans toward F; F itself shows up only as in bar 5. Bar 6 is , bar 7 is and bar 8 settles on . The starts with and Cmaj7 twice, then moves to and , , and G7, which leads back to the last A. The last A repeats the first.