Arthur Schwartz, music · Howard Dietz, lyrics · Sung on stage by Libby Holman in Revenge with Music, 1934
You and the Night and the Music
A 1934 song by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, written for the Broadway show Revenge with Music. The tune stays in a dark minor , and the middle part pulls away before the opening returns. Hear it from Libby Holman in 1934, Chet Baker in 1959 and Bill Evans in 1962.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the stage singer Libby Holman in 1934, then a West Coast band, Chet Baker's sextet and Frank Sinatra with an orchestra. Anita O'Day sings with a piano trio, Bill Evans's quintet stretches the song to seven minutes, and Kenny Burrell's guitar trio and Keith Jarrett's live trio finish.
1930sLibby Holman with Richard Himber and his Ritz-Carlton Hotel Orchestra1934
1940s
1950sShelly Manne & His Men1953 · Bebop
Chet Baker Sextet1959 · Hard bop
1960sFrank Sinatra1960 · Vocal
Bill Evans Quintet1962 · Post-bop
Anita O'Day & The Three Sounds1962 · Swing
1970sKenny Burrell Trio1978 · Bebop
1980s
1990sKeith Jarrett, Gary Peacock & Paul Motian1992 · Contemporary jazz
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Hear the song as the stage singer made it
Libby Holman with Richard Himber and his Ritz-Carlton Hotel Orchestra · 1934
Victor 78 rpm single
Libby Holman, who sang the song on stage in Revenge with Music, recorded it for Victor in New York on December 19, 1934, with Richard Himber's Ritz-Carlton Hotel Orchestra. According to JazzStandards.com, it reached number 11 on the Billboard chart in 1935.
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Listen for
Libby Holman sings with Richard Himber's orchestra behind her, and the whole record lasts 2:51. Start here to hear the tune and the mood before any jazz player changes them.
Try it on your instrument
Play 1 to 4 in : ; and (two beats each); Cm and (two beats each); . Hum the tune over them. Smaller version: play Cm for one bar and G7♭9 for the next, and repeat.
Shelly Manne's group recorded it in Los Angeles on April 6, 1953, in an arrangement by Bill Russo. According to JazzStandards.com, it was the next recording of the song after Tommy Dorsey's 1950 record.
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Listen for
Seven players share the song in a written arrangement by Bill Russo. Bob Cooper's tenor saxophone and Art Pepper's alto saxophone step out as soloists.
Try it on your instrument
Play the contrasting B part, 17 to 24, at a medium tempo: for two bars, for two bars, A♭7 for two bars, G7 and A♭7 in bar 23, G7 in bar 24. Smaller version: alternate A♭7 and G7, two bars each.
Chet Baker recorded it at Reeves Sound Studios in New York on January 19, 1959, in a sextet with Herbie Mann, Pepper Adams, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. Riverside issued it that year on the album Chet.
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The record opens with a duet between Chet Baker's trumpet and Paul Chambers's bass before the rest of the band joins. Bill Evans plays piano, and Herbie Mann's flute and Pepper Adams's baritone saxophone are in the lineup.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first slowly: | | Cm | | Dm7♭5 | G7♭9 | | Cmaj7. Smaller version: stop after 4.
Frank Sinatra recorded it in Los Angeles in December 1960, with Johnny Mandel arranging and conducting. It is on Ring-a-Ding-Ding!, the first album on his own Reprise label.
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Listen for
Frank Sinatra sings with an orchestra led by Johnny Mandel, and the record lasts only 2:35, the shortest on the path. The album it comes from was meant to hold fast, swinging songs.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last , 25 to 32, with four steady beats to the bar: | | Cm | | Dm7♭5 G7♭9 | Cm | Dm7♭5 G7♭9 | Cm. Smaller version: play only bars 25 to 28.
Bill Evans recorded it in New York on July 16 and 17, 1962, with Freddie Hubbard, Jim Hall, Percy Heath and Philly Joe Jones. Riverside released it in 1963 on the album Interplay.
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Listen for
Three lead instruments share the track: Freddie Hubbard's trumpet, Jim Hall's guitar and Bill Evans's piano, over Percy Heath's bass and Philly Joe Jones's drums. At 7:05 it is the longest record so far.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 twice through without stopping: the tune the first time, and only the the second. Smaller version: play the first twice at your own pace.
Kenny Burrell recorded it with bassist Reggie Johnson and drummer Sherman Ferguson in New York on February 28 and March 1, 1978. It is the first track on Handcrafted, released on Muse in 1979.
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Kenny Burrell's electric guitar leads, with only a bass and drums behind him. The track runs 4:43.
Try it on your instrument
Play the root of each in the first as a bass line: C | D G | C C | F | D | G | C | C. Smaller version: play C for four , then F for one bar.
Keith Jarrett recorded it live with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian at the Deer Head Inn on September 16, 1992. ECM released it on At the Deer Head Inn in 1994.
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Listen for
A piano trio plays for an audience at the Deer Head Inn: Keith Jarrett on piano, Gary Peacock on bass and Paul Motian on drums. The track runs 5:41.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 once, then play them again and change one thing, such as the volume or the rhythm. Playing a real solo over the takes more practice. Smaller version: hold one chord per bar and keep a steady beat.
Schwartz and Dietz write the song for the Broadway show Revenge with Music, which opens in November 1934. Libby Holman, who sings it on stage, records it with Richard Himber's orchestra for Victor that December.
1950s
Shelly Manne's West Coast group records Bill Russo's arrangement in 1953, and Lennie Niehaus's eight-piece band follows in 1955. In 1959 Chet Baker records it with Bill Evans and Herbie Mann.
1960s
Frank Sinatra records it in December 1960 for the first album on his Reprise label. In 1962 Bill Evans plays it for seven minutes with a quintet, and Anita O'Day sings it with the Three Sounds.
1970s
Kenny Burrell records it with a guitar trio in 1978 for the album Handcrafted, released on Muse in 1979.
1980s
Keith Jarrett's trio plays it in Munich in 1986 as the start of a 19-minute medley, and Chet Baker records it in the Netherlands that December. Helen Merrill sings it with Ron Carter's bass on Duets.
1990s
Jarrett returns to it in 1992 with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian at the Deer Head Inn, in a trio take of under six minutes that ECM released in 1994.
More great versions
6 more, from 1955 to 1989. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sLennie Niehaus Octet1955
Bill Evans Trio1959 · Post-bop
1960sJulie London1960 · Vocal
1970s
1980sChet Baker Quartet1986
Keith Jarrett Trio1986 · Post-bop
Helen Merrill & Ron Carter1989 · Vocal
Lennie Niehaus Octet
1955
Vol. 3: The Octet #2
Lennie Niehaus led an eight-piece band in Los Angeles in early 1955, with Shelly Manne on drums and Jimmy Giuffre on baritone saxophone. Contemporary issued the session as Vol. 3: The Octet #2.
Bill Evans recorded it as a trio with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones on January 19, 1959, in New York, the same day and studio as Chet Baker's version. It stayed unreleased until 1975.
Julie London sang it in August 1960 at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles for her Liberty album Around Midnight. Dick Reynolds arranged the album and conducted the orchestra.
Chet Baker recorded it with Harold Danko, Jon Burr and Ben Riley in Monster, Holland, in December 1986, twenty-seven years after his Riverside version. Timeless released it on As Time Goes By in 1990.
“You and the Night and the Music / Extension / Intro / Someday My Prince Will Come”, Still Live
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette played it in Munich on July 13, 1986, as the first part of a 19-minute medley. ECM released it in 1988 on Still Live.
Helen Merrill and Ron Carter recorded it as a voice and bass duet at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey, with percussion by Victor See-Yuen. It appears on their album Duets, released on EmArcy in 1989.
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 minorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
C m → A♭ → G → A♭ → G → C mkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
C m
A♭
G
A♭
G
C m
The iReal Pro chart runs 32 in : A, A, B and A, eight bars each. The first A opens with , then and in bar 2, Cm and in bar 3, and in bar 4. Bars 5 and 6 are Dm7♭5 and G7♭9, and the chart ends the first two with two bars of . The B part, bars 17 to 24, moves between two : for two bars, for two, A♭7 for two, then G7 and A♭7 in bar 23 and G7 in bar 24. The last A repeats the first four bars, then plays Dm7♭5 and G7♭9, Cm and , Dm7♭5 and G7♭9, and a closing Cm.