Origin:

Introduced by Adelaide Hall in Lew Leslie's Blackbird Revue.

Style:

Swing, taken at a wide variety of tempos.

Form:

A1-B-A2-C (32 Bars) [8-8-8-8]

Verse:

A1-B-A2 (16 Bars) [8-4-4]

Almost never included in performances, a 1928 recording from Martha Copeland features it.

Key:

Taken in a wide variety of keys, lead sheets will often include this piece in either C or G Major. However, Ab is also a very popular key with seminal recordings made by the likes of Louis Armstrong as well as Sonny  Stitt and Oscar Peterson.

Harmony/Overview:

The harmony of this composition is very functional. The A sections both begin with the very common progression of IMaj7 - bIIIdim7 - IImi7 - V7,  and A1 repeats this once again. The B section begins with a II - V of  IVMaj7, and finishes with a momentary stay on II7 before a final II - V returns back to the tonic. The second A section begins identically to the first, only in the following 4 bars it continues with a II - V of  IVMaj7. The final C section is also very conventional, with the very  common movement of IVMaj7 - #IVdim7 - IMaj7/V, before a V7 of II then leads to the final II - V which returns to the tonic to conclude the  form.

Recordings:

This  song has been recorded over 535 times to date. It was first introduced by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in January of 1928  in Lew Leslie's Blackbird Revue, which later opened on Broadway that year as Blackbirds of 1928. The first studio recording was also made in 1928 by Meyer Davis' Swanee Syncopators. Many notable jazz musicians would also go on to record it, from the likes of Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Sonny Stitt, and Ella Fitzgerald to name a few.

JGC Top Picks:

Louis Armstrong, 1929

Sonny Stitt, Sonny Stitt Sits In With the Oscar Peterson Trio, 1959

Ella Fitzgerald, Fine and Mellow, 1974