Vincent Youmans, music · Harold Adamson and Mack Gordon, lyrics · Introduced in the Ziegfeld musical Smiles
Time on My Hands
Time on My Hands is a 1930 ballad by Vincent Youmans, written for the Broadway show Smiles. The words by Harold Adamson and Mack Gordon tell of two lovers who lose track of the hours. Singers, saxophonists and pianists have recorded it, from Al Bowlly in 1931 to Keith Jarrett in 2005.
Listen in this order
The path follows the song from a London dance band in 1931 to Billie Holiday's 1940 record, then through saxophone, piano trio and trumpet versions in the 1950s, and ends with a solo piano concert in 2005.
1930sRay Noble and the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, vocal Al Bowlly1931
1940sBillie Holiday1940
1950sSonny Rollins Quartet1951 · Bebop
Stan Getz Quintet1952 · Bebop
Oscar Peterson Trio1953
Ben Webster Quintet1957 · Swing
Chet Baker1959 · Hard bop
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000sKeith Jarrett2005 · Contemporary jazz
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Hear the first recording
Ray Noble and the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, vocal Al Bowlly · 1931
Nostalgia: Four Great British Dance Bands
Ray Noble led the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra on the first recording of the song, made in London on 19 February 1931 with singer Al Bowlly. The record took off in the United Kingdom, and Bowlly recorded the song three more times that year.
The first recording
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Al Bowlly sings the words and the orchestra plays behind him. This is the song before any jazz soloist took it up, on a record of about three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first slowly: for two , to , for two bars, then for two. Hum the tune over the .
Billie Holiday recorded the song in New York on 7 June 1940, with Roy Eldridge on trumpet, Teddy Wilson on piano and Lester Young on tenor saxophone in the band. Young takes no solo and plays behind her.
A great singer
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Roy Eldridge's trumpet plays the introduction and then answers Holiday at the end of her lines. In the middle part Lester Young's tenor saxophone moves in behind her, and Eldridge and Teddy Wilson each take a solo.
Try it on your instrument
Sing or hum the tune slowly and play the under it ( for two , to , for two, for two). Leave a short gap at the end of each line, the way the trumpet fills it here.
Sonny Rollins recorded it at Apex Studios in New York on 17 December 1951, in a quartet with Kenny Drew, Percy Heath and Art Blakey. Prestige first issued it on PRLP 137 and put it on the 1956 LP Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Tenor saxophone
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Rollins's tenor saxophone plays the tune and the solo, with piano, bass and drums behind him. The whole track runs under three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the slowly with the melody over it: , , , , , , to , to C7. If those are new, play only the root of each one first.
Stan Getz recorded it in New York on 12 December 1952 with Duke Jordan on piano and Jimmy Raney on guitar. Clef put it on the LP Stan Getz Plays, and Norgran issued it on a 1955 single with Stella by Starlight on the other side.
Tenor saxophone
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Getz's tenor saxophone leads over piano, guitar, bass and drums. Notice Jimmy Raney's guitar in the mix next to Duke Jordan's piano.
Try it on your instrument
Play through the first (eight ) and loop them while you hum the tune. If you can play the whole 32 bars from the chart, try that next.
Oscar Peterson's trio recorded it in Los Angeles on 7 December 1953, with Barney Kessel on guitar and Ray Brown on bass. It came out in 1954 on Oscar Peterson Plays Vincent Youmans, an album of songs by this tune's composer.
Piano trio
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Peterson's piano leads a trio of piano, guitar and bass. The track is under three minutes, so each part of the song goes by quickly.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody on piano or guitar with the in the other hand or underneath, starting with the first . A smaller version: play only the chord roots in time and sing the tune over them.
Ben Webster recorded it in Los Angeles on 15 October 1957 with Oscar Peterson at the piano and Herb Ellis on guitar. Verve issued it in 1958 on the album Soulville.
Tenor saxophone
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Webster's tenor saxophone leads, and the track runs 4:19, longer than the earlier versions on the path. That leaves room for the full band of piano, guitar, bass and drums to be heard behind him.
Try it on your instrument
Play along with the first at half speed: hold each for its full and play the melody notes you know over it. If the chords are too many, play only the roots.
Chet Baker recorded it at Reeves Sound Studios in New York on 19 January 1959 for his Riverside album Chet, in a quartet with Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums.
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Baker's trumpet leads over piano, bass and drums, and Bill Evans is the pianist. The track runs 4:31, and Chambers's bass and Jones's drums keep the time under the trumpet.
Try it on your instrument
Play the (eight ): for two bars, , to , , , Gm7, C7. Take it slowly, one bar at a time, and listen for where it returns to F.
Keith Jarrett played it alone at the piano at Carnegie Hall in New York on 26 September 2005. ECM released the concert in 2006 as The Carnegie Hall Concert.
Solo piano
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One pianist and no band: Jarrett plays the tune, the and the rhythm himself. At 7:30 it is the longest track on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Play just the first alone, one to a with the melody on top, then repeat it a second time with your own small change to the melody. If that is too much, play it as written twice.
The song comes from the Ziegfeld musical Smiles, which opened in November 1930. Ray Noble's orchestra made the first recording in London in February 1931, with singer Al Bowlly.
1940s
Billie Holiday records it in June 1940 with Roy Eldridge on trumpet, Teddy Wilson on piano and Lester Young on tenor saxophone in her band.
1950s
Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio record it between 1951 and 1953. Ben Webster follows in 1957 with Peterson at the piano, and Chet Baker plays it with Bill Evans in 1959.
1960s
Ahmad Jamal's trio plays it live at the Alhambra, Jamal's own club in Chicago, in June 1961. Argo opens the album All of You with it.
1980s
Duke Jordan records it in Copenhagen in July 1985 with a bass player and a drummer. The Danish label SteepleChase issues it in 1988 on an album named for the song.
2000s
Keith Jarrett plays it alone at Carnegie Hall in September 2005, in a version that runs 7:30.
More great versions
7 more, from 1951 to 1985. Tap a cover to play it here.
Dizzy Gillespie's small group recorded it in New York on 25 October 1951, and it came out first on his own Dee Gee label. Savoy put it on the 1956 LP The Champ.
Pianist Paul Bley recorded it in New York on 30 August 1954 with bassist Peter Ind and drummer Al Levitt. It came out on the Wing LP Paul Bley in 1955.
Coleman Hawkins played it on tenor saxophone with Hank Jones, Wendell Marshall and Shadow Wilson at a concert at the Pythian Temple in New York on 7 November 1955. Decca first issued it on Brunswick BL 54027.
Erroll Garner recorded it in New York on 7 June 1956 with bassist Al Hall and drummer Specs Powell. Columbia put it on the LP The Most Happy Piano in 1957.
Duke Jordan recorded it in Copenhagen on 29 July 1985 with bassist Jesper Lundgaard and drummer Billy Hart. The Danish label SteepleChase issued it in 1988 on the album Time on My Hands.
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
F majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · C form
F major → G minor → F majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
C8 bars
F
G m
F
The runs 32 in four sections of eight: A, A, B, C, in . Each A opens with two bars of , then to , then two bars of . The first A ends on two bars of , which sends it back to the top. The second A ends on to and steps into B. B starts with two bars of , then , Gm7 to C7, , , Gm7 and C7, leaning toward before it turns back. C is the closing section: Fmaj7, , , D7♭13, G7♯11, C7, to , then Gm7 to C7, which leads into the next chorus.