Goodbye is a poignant ballad composed by Gordon Jenkins in 1934, born from personal tragedy: the death of a woman close to him during childbirth. Jenkins, then a young arranger working with the Isham Jones Orchestra, kept the piece unpublished after Jones rejected it as too sad. It found its purpose when Jenkins shared it with friend Benny Goodman, who adopted it as the closing theme for NBC's Let's Dance radio program beginning in December 1934. Goodman's first commercial recording followed in 1935 for RCA Victor, featuring Bunny Berigan, and the tune became Goodman's lifelong sign-off, ending every performance he gave thereafter. Written as a minor-key fox trot, the composition carries an inherent melancholy that songwriter analyst Alec Wilder singled out for praise. Its chord structure bears close resemblance to Blue Prelude, another Jenkins composition. The tune has attracted a wide range of interpreters, from Andy Kirk's 1938 first vocal version to Frank Sinatra's devastating 1958 rendition on Only the Lonely, arranged by Nelson Riddle, and Duke Ellington's 1962 tribute with Johnny Hodges on alto saxophone. On AllSolos, Marcus Roberts's piano solo from Wynton Marsalis's 1986 album Marsalis Standard Time Vol. I is available. Goodbye remains a recognized standard in the jazz and popular repertoire, its emotional weight and elegant construction ensuring its continued performance.
