My Song Factory class is coming up on the Standards and Showtunes unit, covering the Great American Songbook. I mainly relate to these tunes via jazz.
In this post, I collect versions of tunes that appear in movie musicals, and I pair each one with a well-known jazz interpretation. Note that most of these songs had appeared in stage musicals many years before the films were made. Enjoy!
“The Way You Look Tonight” from Swing Time (1936)
“The Way You Look Tonight” by Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (1956)
“They Can’t Take That Away From Me” from Shall We Dance (1937)
“They Can’t Take That Away From Me” by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (1956)
“Someday My Prince Will Come” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
“Someday My Prince Will Come” by Miles Davis (1961)
“There Will Never Be Another You” from Iceland (1942)
“There Will Never Be Another You” by Art Tatum (1954)
“But Not For Me” from Girl Crazy (1943)
“But Not For Me” by John Coltrane (1961)
“Like Someone in Love” from Belle of the Yukon (1944)
“Like Someone in Love” by Björk (1993)
“I Got Rhythm” from An American in Paris (1951)
“I Got Rhythm” by Sarah Vaughan (1964)
“Cotton Tail” by the Duke Ellington Orchestra (1940) – one of a million jazz tunes that use the form and chord changes of “I Got Rhythm”.
“Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise””from Deep In My Heart (1954)
“Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise” by John Coltrane (1961)
“If I Were a Bell” from Guys and Dolls (1955)
“If I Were a Bell” by Miles Davis (1958)
“All Of You””from Silk Stockings (1957)
“All Of You””by Miles Davis (1957)
“I Could Write A Book” from Pal Joey (1957)
“I Could Write A Book” by Miles Davis (1958)
“Til There Was You” from The Music Man (1962)
“Til There Was You” by the Beatles (1963)
“My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music (1965)
“My Favorite Things” by John Coltrane (1961)
“Bye Bye Blackbird” from The Partridge Family (1970)
Miles Davis – “Bye Bye Blackbird” (1957)
Ethan Iverson says that jazz musicians should study the musical theater versions of these tunes. He’s right! And so should my songwriting students.