Jerry Brainin, music · Buddy Bernier, lyrics · Night Has a Thousand Eyes, film, 1948
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
Jerry Brainin and Buddy Bernier wrote this song for the 1948 film Night Has a Thousand Eyes. Long stretches of the tune sit over one held low note, which gives it a steady, rolling feel. On this page you can hear Horace Silver, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Paul Desmond and Pharoah Sanders play it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with a quintet, then moves through a Coltrane quartet, a Rollins septet with three percussionists, a Desmond quartet and a piano trio. It ends with a McCoy Tyner quartet, a long Pharoah Sanders performance and a modern tenor quartet.
Horace Silver's quintet recorded it in New York on July 18, 1956, with Donald Byrd and Hank Mobley in the . Epic issued it on the album Silver's Blue.
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Listen for
Count the five players: trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass and drums. At almost nine minutes, the band has room to stretch out.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four of the with for two bars and for two bars, and keep your left hand on a low D under both. That held low note is what the tune sits on.
Coltrane's quartet recorded it at Atlantic Studios in New York on October 26, 1960. Earlier tries in 1959 and on October 21, 1960 went unissued, and this take came out on Coltrane's Sound in 1964.
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Listen for
A saxophone carries the tune with piano, bass and drums behind it. Listen for McCoy Tyner's piano and Elvin Jones's drums behind the saxophone.
Try it on your instrument
Play 9 to 12 of the slowly, one per bar: , , , . It is the one stretch in the A section that moves away from the low D, so play it by itself before putting the whole A together.
Rollins recorded it in New York on April 5, 1962, with guitarist Jim Hall and three percussionists. It came out that June on the RCA Victor album What's New?
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Listen for
Besides bass and drums, three percussionists play on this session, so listen for the extra layer of rhythm under the saxophone and guitar. It runs over nine minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight of the : , , , B♭maj7, then , , , A♭maj7. If you know the melody, play it over those one slow time.
Paul Desmond and Jim Hall recorded it in New York on July 29, 1964, with Gene Wright on bass and Connie Kay on drums. It is on the RCA Victor album Bossa Antigua.
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Listen for
Alto sax and guitar are the two lead instruments, with bass and drums behind them. At just over five minutes, it is the shortest track on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole twice. The first time, stay on in bar 16 to lead back to the top; the second time, end on .
Steve Kuhn recorded it in Paris on October 13, 1969, with Steve Swallow on bass and Aldo Romano on drums. The BYG label issued it on Childhood Is Forever.
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Listen for
The piano is the lead voice, with bass and drums playing alongside it. This is the only three-piece band on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last eight of the : , , , , , D7sus, Gmaj7/D, D7sus. Smaller version: play just the last four bars. Soloing over the whole tune takes more experience, so wait until you know the well.
McCoy Tyner, who played piano on Coltrane's 1960 recording, led this New York session on November 27, 1972. Milestone issued it on Song for My Lady in 1973.
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Listen for
Listen for the saxophone in front and Tyner's piano behind it. Tyner is also credited with percussion on this session.
Try it on your instrument
Count through the full form once without stopping: A for 16 bars, A for 16 bars, then B for 16 bars. It is longer than the usual 32-bar tune, so keep a steady count.
Pharoah Sanders recorded it at Studio Davout in Paris on October 12 and 13, 1989, with a quintet that includes percussionist Cheikh Tidiane Fall. Timeless issued it on Moon Child in 1990.
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Listen for
At over twelve minutes, this is the longest track on the path. Listen for Sanders on saxophone at the front and for the percussion added to the usual drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play a steady low D in your left hand while your right hand plays the first 's melody. That held low note is the base the tune is built on.
Eric Alexander recorded it at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on April 2, 2015, with Harold Mabern, John Webber and Joe Farnsworth. HighNote released the album The Real Thing that year.
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Listen for
Four players make up the band on this track: tenor sax, piano, bass and drums. It runs almost ten minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last four of the , , , Gmaj7/D, D7sus, and then jump straight back to the top of the , as a band does when a ends.
Jerry Brainin and Buddy Bernier write it for the 1948 film Night Has a Thousand Eyes. Buddy Clark's vocal version is on a Columbia 78 that Discogs lists under 1947.
1950s
Horace Silver's quintet records it in New York in July 1956, with Donald Byrd on trumpet and Hank Mobley on tenor sax. Ahmad Jamal's trio plays it live in Washington, DC, in September 1958.
1960s
John Coltrane's quartet records it in October 1960. Sonny Rollins records it with three percussionists in 1962, and Paul Desmond's quartet follows in 1964 for the album Bossa Antigua.
1970s
McCoy Tyner records it in New York in November 1972 with Sonny Fortune on alto and soprano sax, for the album Song for My Lady.
1980s
Pharoah Sanders records it in Paris in October 1989 with a quintet that includes a percussionist. The track runs over twelve minutes.
1990s
Kenny Burrell records it in June 1995 with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Yoron Israel, for the Concord album Lotus Blossom.
2000s
Steve Kuhn's trio and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano record it in New York in December 2008 for the ECM album Mostly Coltrane.
2010s
Eric Alexander records it for the album The Real Thing at Van Gelder Studio in April 2015, with Harold Mabern on piano.
More great versions
7 more, from 1947 to 2008. Tap a cover to play it here.
1940sBuddy Clark1947
1950sAhmad Jamal Trio1958 · Post-bop
1960sGary Burton and Stéphane Grappelli1969 · Swing
1970sHerb Ellis & Remo Palmier1977 · Cool jazz
1980sSonny Stitt1981 · Bebop
1990sKenny Burrell1995 · Bebop
2000sSteve Kuhn Trio with Joe Lovano2008 · Post-bop
Buddy Clark
1947
Columbia 38263
Buddy Clark sang it on Columbia 38263, a 78 rpm single that Discogs lists under 1947. According to SecondHandSongs, his version with Dick Jones's orchestra is the first recording of the song.
“The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (Live at the Spotlight Club)”, The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956-62
Ahmad Jamal's trio played it live at the Spotlight Club in Washington, DC, on September 5 or 6, 1958. It came out in 2010 in Mosaic's box set of the trio's Argo recordings.
Gary Burton and Stéphane Grappelli recorded it in Paris with Steve Swallow and Bill Goodwin for the album Paris Encounter. Atlantic released the album in 1972.
Guitarists Herb Ellis and Remo Palmier play it as a two-guitar piece with George Duvivier on bass and Ron Traxler on drums. They recorded the album Windflower for Concord at Bell Sound Studios in New York in October 1977.
“The Night Has a Thousand Eyes (Live)”, Just in Case You Forgot How Bad He Really Was
Sonny Stitt plays it live at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco in September 1981, with Herbie Lewis on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The set came out on CD in the late 1990s.
Kenny Burrell plays it in a guitar trio with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Yoron Israel. They recorded it in June 1995 for the Concord album Lotus Blossom.
Steve Kuhn's trio recorded it with tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano at Avatar Studios in New York in December 2008. ECM released it on Mostly Coltrane in 2009.
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
G majorusual key
48 barsA · A · B form
G major → B♭ major → A♭ major → G majorkey centers
A16 bars
A16 bars
B16 bars
G
B♭
A♭
G
Each A is 16 over a held low D. It starts with for two bars, for two, Gmaj7/D for two, then D7sus and . Bars 9 to 12 move one per bar through , , and , and bars 13 to 16 return to Gmaj7/D, D7sus, G/D and D7sus. The first A ends on that D7sus to lead into the repeat, and the second ends on . The is also 16 bars: and F7 lead to for two bars, and lead to for two bars, then and D7sus lead home to Gmaj7, , Gmaj7/D and D7sus, and the section repeats the last two chords.