Songs from 1914 to 1953

Tin Pan Alley through the years

These 38 songs were published as popular songs, not written for a show or a film, from W. C. Handy's St. Louis Blues in 1914 to My One and Only Love in 1953. Singers and dance bands make many of the first records, and then jazz players take the songs up, decade after decade. The page follows them from Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong in the 1920s, through Charlie Parker and Bill Evans, to Keith Jarrett and, in 2024, Michael Mayo.

Through the years

1910s
The first songs arrive. W. C. Handy publishes St. Louis Blues in 1914, one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song. After You've Gone is new in 1918, introduced by Al Jolson at the Winter Garden, and Marion Harris records it that July with Rosario Bourdon's orchestra.
1920s
Singers and dance bands make many of the first records: Al Jolson sings Avalon in 1920, Ethel Waters sings Dinah in 1925, and Gene Austin has the hit of Bye Bye Blackbird in 1926. Jazz musicians come in soon after. Bessie Smith sings St. Louis Blues in 1925 with Louis Armstrong on cornet, Duke Ellington's band records it in 1928, and Armstrong sings After You've Gone in 1929.
Al Jolson Avalon · 1920 Ethel Waters with her Plantation Orchestra Dinah · 1925 Bessie Smith St. Louis Blues · 1925 Ben Bernie and His Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra Sweet Georgia Brown · 1925 Gene Austin Bye Bye Blackbird · 1926 Bessie Smith After You've Gone · 1927 Red Nichols and His Five Pennies Avalon · 1928 Fred Elizalde and His Music, with Al Bowlly If I Had You · 1928
4 more
Duke Ellington St. Louis Blues · 1928 Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra Sweet Lorraine · 1928 Louis Armstrong After You've Gone · 1929 Annette Hanshaw Mean to Me · 1929
1930s
Nearly half of the songs are written in this decade. Bing Crosby records Out of Nowhere, and Ray Noble's The Very Thought of You reaches number one. Louis Armstrong records Georgia on My Mind and All of Me, Art Tatum plays alone, Django Reinhardt's quintet records in Paris, and Coleman Hawkins's 1939 Body and Soul improvises with the tune only hinted at.
Louis Armstrong and His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra Body and Soul · 1930 Louis Armstrong Dinah · 1930 Hoagy Carmichael Georgia on My Mind · 1930 Bing Crosby and The Mills Brothers Dinah · 1931 Louis Armstrong Georgia on My Mind · 1931 Gus Arnheim and His Cocoanut Grove Orchestra, vocal refrain by Bing Crosby I Surrender Dear · 1931 Louis Armstrong I Surrender Dear · 1931 Red McKenzie Just Friends · 1931
32 more
Bing Crosby Out of Nowhere · 1931 Louis Armstrong Star Dust · 1931 Gus Arnheim and His Cocoanut Grove Orchestra Sweet and Lovely · 1931 Bing Crosby with Victor Young Sweet and Lovely · 1931 Louis Armstrong All of Me · 1932 Bing Crosby How Deep Is the Ocean? · 1932 Bing Crosby with Isham Jones Sweet Georgia Brown · 1932 Art Tatum St. Louis Blues · 1933 Art Tatum After You've Gone · 1934 Django Reinhardt and the Quintette du Hot Club de France Dinah · 1934 Ray Noble and His Orchestra, vocal Al Bowlly The Very Thought of You · 1934 Benny Goodman Trio After You've Gone · 1935 Coleman Hawkins with Michel Warlop Avalon · 1935 Benny Goodman Trio Body and Soul · 1935 Fats Waller and His Rhythm Dinah · 1935 Benny Goodman Goodbye · 1935 Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli St. Louis Blues · 1935 Coleman Hawkins with Django Reinhardt Star Dust · 1935 Teddy Wilson Sweet Lorraine · 1935 Quintette du Hot Club de France with Freddy Taylor After You've Gone · 1936 Benny Goodman Quartet Dinah · 1936 Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers Gone with the Wind · 1937 Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra with Billie Holiday Mean to Me · 1937 Benny Goodman Quartet Avalon · 1938 Ray Noble Cherokee · 1938 Billie Holiday The Very Thought of You · 1938 Larry Clinton You Go to My Head · 1938 Coleman Hawkins Body and Soul · 1939 Charlie Barnet Cherokee · 1939 Count Basie Cherokee · 1939 Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, with Mildred Bailey I Thought About You · 1939 Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra Out of Nowhere · 1939
1940s
Singers and big bands still bring out new songs: Frank Sinatra sings Polka Dots and Moonbeams with Tommy Dorsey in 1940, and Nat King Cole records Nature Boy in 1947. Bebop players take up older ones. Charlie Parker builds Ko-Ko on Cherokee in 1945 and plays Just Friends with strings in 1949. Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan both record Lover Man, and Bud Powell's trio plays Cherokee.
Benny Carter All of Me · 1940 Billie Holiday Body and Soul · 1940 Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra, vocal by Herb Jeffries Flamingo · 1940 Benny Goodman Sextet featuring Charlie Christian I Surrender Dear · 1940 Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey Polka Dots and Moonbeams · 1940 Artie Shaw Star Dust · 1940 The King Cole Trio Sweet Lorraine · 1940 Billie Holiday with Eddie Heywood All of Me · 1941
26 more
Tommy Dorsey Everything Happens to Me · 1941 Gene Krupa and His Orchestra with Anita O'Day and Roy Eldridge Skylark · 1941 Billie Holiday Lover Man · 1944 Margaret Whiting with Billy Butterfield Moonlight in Vermont · 1944 Charlie Parker’s Reboppers Cherokee · 1945 Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie Lover Man · 1945 Frank Sinatra You Go to My Head · 1945 Jazz at the Philharmonic After You've Gone · 1946 Lennie Tristano Trio I Surrender Dear · 1946 Charlie Parker Quintet Lover Man · 1946 Bud Powell Trio Everything Happens to Me · 1947 Charlie Parker How Deep Is the Ocean? · 1947 Frank Sinatra Mean to Me · 1947 Nat King Cole Nature Boy · 1947 Charlie Parker Quintet Out of Nowhere · 1947 Dexter Gordon Quartet Sweet and Lovely · 1947 Sarah Vaughan Tenderly · 1947 Billie Holiday with Bob Haggart There Is No Greater Love · 1947 Frank Sinatra with the Jeff Alexander Choir Nature Boy · 1948 Erroll Garner Trio All of Me · 1949 Bud Powell Trio Cherokee · 1949 Charlie Parker with Strings Everything Happens to Me · 1949 The King Cole Trio For All We Know · 1949 Charlie Parker with Strings Just Friends · 1949 Art Tatum Sweet Lorraine · 1949 Wardell Gray Quartet Sweet Lorraine · 1949
1950s
Small groups make the songs regular material. Miles Davis's quintet records Bye Bye Blackbird for his first Columbia album in 1956, Thelonious Monk plays I Surrender Dear alone at the piano, and John Coltrane plays Star Dust as a ten-minute ballad in 1958. Stan Getz, Dave Brubeck and Chet Baker record many of them, and Frank Sinatra sings Angel Eyes with Nelson Riddle in 1958.
The Dave Brubeck Trio Avalon · 1950 Stan Getz Quartet Gone with the Wind · 1950 The Stan Getz Quartet Out of Nowhere · 1950 Bud Powell Trio Sweet Georgia Brown · 1950 The Dave Brubeck Trio Sweet Georgia Brown · 1950 Earl Bostic Flamingo · 1951 Stan Getz Body and Soul · 1952 Miles Davis How Deep Is the Ocean? · 1952
104 more
Stan Getz Quintet How Deep Is the Ocean? · 1952 Flip Phillips If I Had You · 1952 Johnny Smith Quintet featuring Stan Getz Moonlight in Vermont · 1952 Thelonious Monk Trio Sweet and Lovely · 1952 The Dizzy Gillespie Jazz Ensemble Sweet Lorraine · 1952 Billie Holiday Tenderly · 1952 Johnny Smith Quintet Tenderly · 1952 Billie Holiday You Go to My Head · 1952 Oscar Peterson Trio You Go to My Head · 1952 The Dave Brubeck Quartet with Paul Desmond For All We Know · 1953 Gerry Mulligan Quartet Moonlight in Vermont · 1953 Frank Sinatra with Nelson Riddle's orchestra My One and Only Love · 1953 Charlie Parker Old Folks · 1953 Bud Powell Trio Polka Dots and Moonbeams · 1953 Art Tatum Star Dust · 1953 Nat King Cole Tenderly · 1953 Ben Webster Tenderly · 1953 The Stan Getz Quintet Willow Weep for Me · 1953 Lou Donaldson - Clifford Brown Quintet You Go to My Head · 1953 Stan Getz Quintet Flamingo · 1954 Billie Holiday How Deep Is the Ocean? · 1954 Billie Holiday I Thought About You · 1954 Art Blakey Quintet If I Had You · 1954 Sarah Vaughan Lover Man · 1954 The Dave Brubeck Quartet Out of Nowhere · 1954 Chet Baker Quartet Out of Nowhere · 1954 Sarah Vaughan Polka Dots and Moonbeams · 1954 Stan Getz Quintet Polka Dots and Moonbeams · 1954 Louis Armstrong St. Louis Blues · 1954 The Oscar Peterson Trio Sweet Lorraine · 1954 Dinah Washington with Clifford Brown There Is No Greater Love · 1954 Billie Holiday Willow Weep for Me · 1954 Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet Cherokee · 1955 Stan Getz Quartet Everything Happens to Me · 1955 Billie Holiday Gone with the Wind · 1955 Teddy Wilson Trio If I Had You · 1955 Lennie Tristano If I Had You · 1955 Chet Baker Just Friends · 1955 Lester Young - Harry Edison Sextet Mean to Me · 1955 Miles Davis Quintet Nature Boy · 1955 Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet with Neal Hefti Orchestra Star Dust · 1955 Dexter Gordon Quintet Tenderly · 1955 Chet Baker Quartet Tenderly · 1955 The Miles Davis Quintet There Is No Greater Love · 1955 Sonny Criss After You've Gone · 1956 Wes Montgomery After You've Gone · 1956 Lester Young and Teddy Wilson Quartet All of Me · 1956 Art Pepper with Warne Marsh Avalon · 1956 Miles Davis Quintet Bye Bye Blackbird · 1956 Chet Baker Big Band Dinah · 1956 The Oscar Peterson Trio Flamingo · 1956 Art Tatum / Ben Webster Quartet Gone with the Wind · 1956 Sonny Criss Quartet How Deep Is the Ocean? · 1956 Thelonious Monk I Surrender Dear · 1956 Art Pepper Quartet I Surrender Dear · 1956 Jimmy Smith Trio Moonlight in Vermont · 1956 Art Tatum and Ben Webster My One and Only Love · 1956 Sarah Vaughan Old Folks · 1956 Hoagy Carmichael with the Pacific Jazzmen Skylark · 1956 John Lewis with Jim Hall, Percy Heath and Chico Hamilton Skylark · 1956 Nat King Cole Star Dust · 1956 Sonny Criss Quintet Sweet Georgia Brown · 1956 Tal Farlow There Is No Greater Love · 1956 Ray Bryant Trio Angel Eyes · 1957 Charles Mingus Sextet Flamingo · 1957 Mose Allison I Thought About You · 1957 Ella Fitzgerald with Frank DeVol I Thought About You · 1957 Barney Kessel with Shelly Manne and Ray Brown Mean to Me · 1957 Billie Holiday Moonlight in Vermont · 1957 Horace Silver Quintet My One and Only Love · 1957 Lou Donaldson Quintet Old Folks · 1957 Thelonious Monk and Gerry Mulligan Sweet and Lovely · 1957 The Red Garland Trio The Very Thought of You · 1957 Lou Donaldson Quintet There Is No Greater Love · 1957 Sonny Rollins There Is No Greater Love · 1957 Sarah Vaughan Willow Weep for Me · 1957 Frank Sinatra Angel Eyes · 1958 Chet Baker Quartet Everything Happens to Me · 1958 Jimmy Smith Flamingo · 1958 Carmen McRae Flamingo · 1958 Stan Getz and Cal Tjader For All We Know · 1958 Billie Holiday with Ray Ellis For All We Know · 1958 Ahmad Jamal Trio Gone with the Wind · 1958 Ella Fitzgerald How Deep Is the Ocean? · 1958 Ahmad Jamal Trio Moonlight in Vermont · 1958 Chet Baker Quartet Polka Dots and Moonbeams · 1958 Carmen McRae with Ralph Burns Skylark · 1958 John Coltrane Quintet Star Dust · 1958 The Oscar Peterson Trio Sweet Georgia Brown · 1958 Bill Evans Trio Tenderly · 1958 Frank Sinatra Willow Weep for Me · 1958 Oscar Peterson Trio All of Me · 1959 The Sonny Stitt Quartet All of Me · 1959 Ben Webster and the Oscar Peterson Trio Bye Bye Blackbird · 1959 The Red Garland Trio Bye Bye Blackbird · 1959 Thelonious Monk Everything Happens to Me · 1959 The Paul Desmond Quartet For All We Know · 1959 The Dave Brubeck Quartet Georgia on My Mind · 1959 The Dave Brubeck Quartet Gone with the Wind · 1959 Kenny Dorham Old Folks · 1959 Dizzy Gillespie Sextet St. Louis Blues · 1959 Red Garland Trio St. Louis Blues · 1959 Barney Kessel Sweet Georgia Brown · 1959 Wynton Kelly Trio Willow Weep for Me · 1959
1960s
Players stretch the songs out. Sonny Rollins plays Everything Happens to Me for over eleven minutes in 1965, Grant Green takes For All We Know to almost fourteen in 1963, and John Coltrane plays Body and Soul much faster than a ballad in 1960. Bill Evans's trio records several of them, and Ray Charles's 1960 Georgia on My Mind is a No. 1 single.
Gene Ammons Quintet Angel Eyes · 1960 John Coltrane Body and Soul · 1960 Etta Jones Bye Bye Blackbird · 1960 Ray Charles Georgia on My Mind · 1960 Ben Webster Georgia on My Mind · 1960 Wes Montgomery Gone with the Wind · 1960 Stan Getz with strings Goodbye · 1960 Paul Gonsalves Quartet I Surrender Dear · 1960
52 more
Etta Jones If I Had You · 1960 Stan Getz with strings Nature Boy · 1960 Wes Montgomery Quartet Polka Dots and Moonbeams · 1960 Pee Wee Russell Quintet with Buck Clayton The Very Thought of You · 1960 The Tommy Flanagan Trio You Go to My Head · 1960 Lee Konitz All of Me · 1961 Ahmad Jamal Trio Angel Eyes · 1961 Lou Donaldson Avalon · 1961 Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans Goodbye · 1961 Bill Evans Trio How Deep Is the Ocean? · 1961 Miles Davis I Thought About You · 1961 Miles Davis Sextet Old Folks · 1961 Bill Evans Trio Sweet and Lovely · 1961 Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt There Is No Greater Love · 1961 Sarah Vaughan with Count Basie You Go to My Head · 1961 The Dave Brubeck Quartet Angel Eyes · 1962 Thelonious Monk Body and Soul · 1962 John Coltrane Quartet Bye Bye Blackbird · 1962 The Oscar Peterson Trio Georgia on My Mind · 1962 Bill Evans and Shelly Manne with Monty Budwig Goodbye · 1962 McCoy Tyner Trio Goodbye · 1962 Kenny Burrell with Coleman Hawkins I Thought About You · 1962 Grant Green My One and Only Love · 1962 Bill Evans Trio Polka Dots and Moonbeams · 1962 Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers Skylark · 1962 Thelonious Monk Quartet Sweet and Lovely · 1962 Larry Young Sweet Lorraine · 1962 Sarah Vaughan with Barney Kessel and Joe Comfort The Very Thought of You · 1962 Bill Evans Quintet You Go to My Head · 1962 Bill Evans Trio Everything Happens to Me · 1963 Grant Green For All We Know · 1963 Oscar Peterson Trio with Nelson Riddle's Orchestra Goodbye · 1963 Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins Just Friends · 1963 Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins Lover Man · 1963 John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman My One and Only Love · 1963 Ramsey Lewis Trio Nature Boy · 1963 Etta Jones Old Folks · 1963 Paul Desmond - Jim Hall Quartet Polka Dots and Moonbeams · 1963 The Dave Brubeck Quartet St. Louis Blues · 1963 Dexter Gordon with Bud Powell Willow Weep for Me · 1963 Paul Desmond featuring Jim Hall Angel Eyes · 1964 Thelonious Monk Dinah · 1964 Tony Bennett with Stan Getz Just Friends · 1964 Sonny Rollins My One and Only Love · 1964 Oscar Peterson Trio My One and Only Love · 1964 Ella Fitzgerald with Nelson Riddle Skylark · 1964 Sonny Rollins Quartet Everything Happens to Me · 1965 John Coltrane Quartet Nature Boy · 1965 Grant Green Willow Weep for Me · 1965 Ella Fitzgerald with Marty Paich Sweet Georgia Brown · 1966 Kenny Burrell If I Had You · 1967 Pat Martino Just Friends · 1967
1970s
Live tracks run long. Dexter Gordon plays Body and Soul for 13 minutes at the Village Vanguard in 1976, and Art Pepper's quartet plays Goodbye for 14 minutes there in 1977. Joe Pass plays Cherokee alone in 1973 and Lover Man as a duet with bass in 1978, Archie Shepp plays Flamingo for over twelve minutes, and Willie Nelson records Moonlight in Vermont for his Stardust album.
Oscar Peterson Trio Just Friends · 1970 Paul Desmond Mean to Me · 1974 Chet Atkins and Les Paul Avalon · 1975 Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson Mean to Me · 1975 Zoot Sims & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Out of Nowhere · 1975 Sonny Criss Out of Nowhere · 1975 Stan Getz and Jimmie Rowles Skylark · 1975 Art Pepper Quartet Goodbye · 1977
6 more
Milt Jackson - Ray Brown Sextet Mean to Me · 1977 Willie Nelson Moonlight in Vermont · 1977 Archie Shepp Quartet Flamingo · 1978 Joe Pass and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen Lover Man · 1978 Bill Watrous Quintet with Art Pepper Angel Eyes · 1979 Bill Evans For All We Know · 1979
1980s
Old songs find new settings. Ella Fitzgerald sings Georgia on My Mind in 1983 and Moonlight in Vermont in 1986, both as duets with guitarist Joe Pass. Wynton Marsalis plays Star Dust with strings in 1984 and Cherokee in 1986, and Sun Ra plays Gone with the Wind with a 19-piece group in 1988. In 1989 Keith Jarrett's trio opens a live double album with Lover Man.
Sonny Rollins The Very Thought of You · 1980 Shirley Horn Trio If I Had You · 1981 Jimmy Raney Quartet featuring Doug Raney Sweet and Lovely · 1981 Tommy Flanagan, Ron Carter and Tony Williams Angel Eyes · 1983 Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass Georgia on My Mind · 1983 Wynton Marsalis Star Dust · 1984 Wynton Marsalis Cherokee · 1986 Stan Getz Quartet I Thought About You · 1986
5 more
Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass Moonlight in Vermont · 1986 Sun Ra Gone with the Wind · 1988 Keith Jarrett Trio Lover Man · 1989 Keith Jarrett Trio Old Folks · 1989 Pat Metheny Trio Old Folks · 1989
1990s
Keith Jarrett's trio records Bye Bye Blackbird in 1991 for a tribute to Miles Davis, and Skylark in 1994. Hank Jones plays The Very Thought of You alone at the piano in 1991, and Roy Hargrove records it with strings in 1999. Archie Shepp's quartet records Georgia on My Mind in 1992, and Joshua Redman's quartet plays My One and Only Love for eleven minutes at the Village Vanguard in 1995.
Keith Jarrett Trio Bye Bye Blackbird · 1991 Keith Jarrett Trio I Thought About You · 1991 Hank Jones The Very Thought of You · 1991 Stan Getz and Kenny Barron There Is No Greater Love · 1991 McCoy Tyner Willow Weep for Me · 1991 Archie Shepp Quartet Georgia on My Mind · 1992 Jacky Terrasson Bye Bye Blackbird · 1994 Keith Jarrett Trio Skylark · 1994
4 more
Joshua Redman Quartet My One and Only Love · 1995 Archie Shepp Quartet Nature Boy · 1996 Jackie McLean Quartet Nature Boy · 1999 Roy Hargrove with strings The Very Thought of You · 1999
2000s
Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden record For All We Know and Goodbye as piano and bass duets in March 2007, and ECM releases them on Jasmine in 2010. Dee Dee Bridgewater sings Lover Man in 2009 for a Billie Holiday tribute album. Lizz Wright sings Goodbye on her album Salt, and Derek Bailey plays Gone with the Wind on guitar.
Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden For All We Know · 2007 Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden Goodbye · 2007 Dee Dee Bridgewater Lover Man · 2009
2010s
Tony Bennett sings Body and Soul with Amy Winehouse in March 2011, her last recording, and Nature Boy with Lady Gaga for Cheek to Cheek in 2014. Kamasi Washington arranges Cherokee for his triple album The Epic, and the German free-jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann plays I Surrender Dear alone on tenor saxophone in Vienna in 2018.
Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse Body and Soul · 2011 Kamasi Washington Cherokee · 2011 Peter Brötzmann I Surrender Dear · 2018
2020s
The latest recordings here come from this decade. Bill Charlap's trio plays Out of Nowhere on their 2021 album Street of Dreams, and Pat Metheny plays Everything Happens to Me on guitar for his 2024 album MoonDial. Michael Mayo sings Just Friends in 2024 with a soul jazz band.
Michael Mayo Just Friends · 2024

Through the years

The tunes