All the Things You Are
One of those tunes that every jazz musician eventually falls in love with — and sometimes wrestles with :)
“All the Things You Are” was actually born on Broadway in 1939, written by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II for the musical Very Warm for May. Funny thing: the show flopped… but the song absolutely didn’t. Jazz musicians quickly rescued it and turned it into a true standard.
What makes it so special? That constantly shifting harmony. The tune moves through several key centers so smoothly that you almost don’t notice how adventurous it is — until you try to solo on it! That’s why it became a rite of passage for jazz players, especially beboppers in the ’40s and ’50s. Charlie Parker loved it. Dizzy Gillespie loved it. Miles Davis recorded it more than once. And if you’ve ever heard jam sessions suddenly get very serious when someone calls this tune — now you know why.
Another fun detail: despite all those complex changes, the melody is incredibly lyrical and romantic. It’s one of those rare songs that works equally well as a ballad and as a burner at fast tempos. From Broadway to bebop, from jam sessions to concert halls — “All the Things You Are” really is all the things jazz loves❤
