Richard Rodgers, music · Lorenz Hart, lyrics · Introduced by Doris Carson and Ray Bolger in On Your Toes, 1936
There's a Small Hotel
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote it for the show Jumbo, dropped it, and used it in On Your Toes. According to JazzStandards.com, Hal Kemp's record held first place for two weeks. Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins and Charlie Parker are among the jazz names who recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Hal Kemp's 1936 dance band hit. It then follows the song through a Coleman Hawkins band, a Stan Getz quartet, an Oscar Peterson trio, a Chet Baker quartet, Ella Fitzgerald's songbook, a Jimmy Smith organ trio and Dorothy Ashby's harp.
Hal Kemp and His Orchestra recorded it on March 12, 1936, and Brunswick issued it as number 7634. According to JazzStandards.com, the record held first place for two weeks.
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Listen for
A dance band plays for a singer, and the whole record lasts about three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight with one to a bar under the melody: , Gmaj7, Gmaj7, , , Am7, Gmaj7, . Smaller version: play only Gmaj7 for the first four bars and D7 for the last.
Coleman Hawkins recorded it in New York on August 29, 1949, with trombonists Bennie Green and J.J. Johnson, baritone saxophonist Cecil Payne and pianist Al Haig. It came out on the album The Jazz Scene in 1949.
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Coleman Hawkins's tenor saxophone leads a band that also has two trombones, a baritone saxophone, piano, guitar, bass and drums. The track runs about three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole tune with the melody in your right hand and only the lowest note of each in your left. Smaller version: do this for the first only.
Stan Getz recorded it in New York on January 6, 1950, with Al Haig, Tommy Potter and Roy Haynes. It was first issued that year as a 78 on Birdland 6001.
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Listen for
Stan Getz's tenor saxophone leads, with piano, bass and drums behind him. The record runs under three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first three of the as under the melody: , then with , then Cmaj7. Smaller version: play only Cmaj7 and G7.
Oscar Peterson recorded it in Los Angeles on January 26, 1952, with guitarist Irving Ashby and bassist Ray Brown. Mercury issued it as a single on 89007, and Clef put it on the album Oscar Peterson Plays Pretty.
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Listen for
Oscar Peterson's piano, Irving Ashby's guitar and Ray Brown's bass make up the whole group, and the track lasts under two and a half minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play 7 and 8 of the two ways: with then with (back to the top), and Gmaj7 with Em7 then with (on into the ). Smaller version: play only Am7 then D7, and Dm7 then G7.
Chet Baker recorded it in Paris on October 24, 1955, with pianist Gerard Gustin, bassist Jimmy Bond and drummer Bert Dahlander. Barclay issued the session as Chet Baker Quartet in 1956, and Pacific Jazz issued it as Chet Baker in Europe.
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Listen for
Chet Baker's trumpet leads a quartet with piano, bass and drums. The track runs just under four minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play 4 to 8 of the as : with , , Bm7 with E7♭9, with , with . This needs seventh chords with a flattened ninth. Smaller version: play Bm7, Am7, Bm7, Am7 and then D7.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book
Ella Fitzgerald recorded her Rodgers and Hart songbook for Verve in August 1956, with Buddy Bregman arranging and conducting. Norman Granz produced the set.
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Ella Fitzgerald sings with an orchestra led by Buddy Bregman, and the track runs under three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Hum the melody from start to finish without stopping, then play it with a steady beat at a comfortable tempo. Smaller version: hum only the .
Jimmy Smith recorded it at Manhattan Towers in New York on February 12, 1957, with Kenny Burrell on guitar and Art Blakey on drums. Blue Note issued it on Jimmy Smith at the Organ, Volume 1.
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Listen for
Jimmy Smith's organ, Kenny Burrell's guitar and Art Blakey's drums turn the song into a track of almost twelve minutes, far longer than the earlier records on this path.
Try it on your instrument
Loop the 's over a steady beat, the way an organ trio can on a long track: , Gmaj7 with , with , with , Am7 with , Gmaj7 with , Am7 with D7. Smaller version: loop only the first four .
Dorothy Ashby recorded it at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on March 21, 1958, with Frank Wess on flute. Prestige issued it that year on Hip Harp.
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Dorothy Ashby plays the harp, with Frank Wess on flute, Herman Wright on bass and Art Taylor on drums. The track runs almost six minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play each of the as a spread chord, one note at a time from low to high, with the melody above. Smaller version: spread only and .
Rodgers and Hart's song is introduced in the 1936 musical On Your Toes. Hal Kemp's orchestra records it in March 1936, and JazzStandards.com says the record reached first place for two weeks.
1940s
Claude Thornhill's orchestra records it in 1942 with the vocal group the Snowflakes and an arrangement by Gil Evans. Coleman Hawkins records it in New York in August 1949 with two trombones and a baritone saxophone.
1950s
Stan Getz's quartet records it in New York in January 1950. Ella Fitzgerald sings it for her 1956 Rodgers and Hart songbook, and Jimmy Smith stretches it to almost twelve minutes on the organ in 1957.
1970s
Pianist Hank Jones records it with a bass and drums trio at the MPS studio in Villingen, West Germany, in August 1977.
1980s
Chet Baker plays it live in Hanover in April 1988, with a piano, guitar and drums quartet and the Radio Symphony Hannover.
2010s
Jane Monheit sings it on Home, her 2010 album for EmArcy.
More great versions
3 more, from 1942 to 2010. Tap a cover to play it here.
Claude Thornhill's orchestra recorded it in 1942 with the vocal group the Snowflakes, in an arrangement by Gil Evans. Columbia issued it as number 36725.
An Evening at Home with the Bird: Jazz Immortal Series, Volume One
Charlie Parker played it at the Pershing Hotel Ballroom in Chicago in the fall of 1950, with tenor saxophonist Claude McLin and guitarist George Freeman. Savoy issued it on An Evening at Home with the Bird in 1961.
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
32 barsA · A · B · A form
G → C → A m → Gkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
G
C
A m
G
The iReal Pro chart runs 32 in : A (8 bars), A (8), B (8) and A (8). Each A opens with two bars of , then Gmaj7 with and with start a step-by-step walk down through with to Am7 with , and Gmaj7 with leads to Am7 with D7. The first A ends there and repeats. The second A ends on with instead, which points into the . The bridge starts on , moves through Dm7 with G7 and returns to Cmaj7. Bm7 with then leads to Am7, Bm7 with E7♭9 comes back, and with and with D7 bring the music home for the last A. The last A matches the first, except that bar 7 is Gmaj7 alone.