Style:

Swing, taken at a wide variety of tempos.

Form:

A-A-B-C-A (72 Bars) [16-16-16-8-16]

Key:

Most commonly played in C Major.

Harmony/Overview:

The harmony of this composition is functional. The A sections are centered mainly around a I - VI - II - V, and oftentimes many variations thereof are used. In the 5th bar the harmony inches upwards through IMaj7 - IImi7 - bIIIdim7 - IIImi7 before arriving at bVII7#11. A II7 - V7 of V then leads to V7 - IImi7 - IIImi7 - IV7 before arriving once again at bVII7#11. A V of II is then used to set-up the final II - V which returns back to the tonic to conclude the section. The B section cycles through a II - V - I - VI in the home key. The C section begins in the parallel minor, and it is very common to precede the bVI7 which follows with a IImi7 as in a II - V of bII. A minor II - V in the home key then concludes the section before setting up the tonic once more for the final A section.

Recordings:

This song has been recorded over 445 times to date. It was first recorded by Leo Reisman and his Orchestra with Fred Astaire on vocals in June of 1935, and Astaire would also introduce it later that year in the the Musical Comedy film Top Hat. It would become a popular number amongst jazz musicians, with recordings coming from Teddy Wilson, Red Norvo, Oscar Peterson, and Buddy DeFranco to name a few. It has also become an especially popular number among vocalists.

JGC Top Picks:

Red Mitchell, Presenting Red Mitchell, 1957

Madeline Eastman, Mad About Madeline!, 1991

Stephen Scott, The Enja Heritage Collection: Vision Quest, 1998