This recording of "I'm an Old Cowhand" comes from Stephen Riley's 2007 album Once Upon a Dream. Written by Johnny Mercer in 1936, the song was originally a humorous novelty number about a dude ranch cowboy, but it entered the jazz canon through Sonny Rollins's celebrated 1957 recording on Way Out West, which transformed it into a swinging vehicle for improvisation. Riley carries on that tradition here, taking three choruses on tenor saxophone over the tune's unusual 18-bar form in E-flat at a comfortable medium swing tempo of 141 BPM. His phrasing reveals the unmistakable stamp of Lester Young's airy lyricism, with long, sinuous lines that float across the bar lines. Bassist John Brown matches Riley's three-chorus statement with his own solo, pushing the tempo slightly to 157 BPM while navigating the asymmetrical form with assurance. The choice of this tune speaks to Riley's affinity for the classic jazz tenor tradition, particularly the lineage running from Young through Rollins. By placing it on an album filled with standards and jazz classics, Riley situates the song firmly within the improviser's repertoire rather than treating it as a novelty, revealing the rich harmonic and melodic possibilities embedded in Mercer's deceptively simple composition.
