The Song Is You

The Song Is You was composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II in 1932 for the Broadway musical Music in the Air, which premiered at the Alvin Theater on November 8 of that year and ran for 342 performances. It was introduced onstage by Tulio Carminati and Natalie Hall. Kern reportedly considered it one of his favorite melodies, immediately phoning Hammerstein upon completing it. The composition features a lyrical, soaring melody with an extended structure that builds toward a masterful bridge, where the harmony gains brilliance and sophistication. Alec Wilder praised it as one of Kern's self-consciously elegant art songs, noting the release's harmonic and melodic innovation. The earliest recording was by Jack Denney for Victor in 1932, but the tune's place in jazz was cemented by its post-war revival through big band versions by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Claude Thornhill in 1945. Charlie Parker recorded a fast alto saxophone improvisation on it in 1952, and Paul Desmond featured it with the Dave Brubeck Quartet on the acclaimed 1953 live album Jazz Goes to College. Wynton Marsalis recorded it on Marsalis Standard Time Vol. I in 1986, with solos by Marsalis and pianist Marcus Roberts featured on AllSolos, alongside a later version by the trio of Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, and Charlie Haden from their 1996 album Alone Together.