Moonglow (song)
Moonglow , also known as Moonglow and Love , is a popular song published in 1934. The music is by Will Hudson and Irving Mills , with text by Eddie DeLange .
background
While the writer George T. Simon was working on a compilation of music for The Big Band Songbook , he contacted composer Will Hudson regarding "Moonglow": Hudson explained how the melody came about. “It happened very easily. In the early 30s I had a band at the Graystone Ballroom in Detroit and needed a theme song. So I wrote Moonglow . "
Moonglow is a 32-bar melody in the song form AABA. Moonglow appears in the key of G in jazz books and music sheets, although it is believed that it was originally held in the key of C. The melodic riff of the A section consists of a repeated small third interval followed by a large third interval and a repeated note. Most of the harmonic movement is in an ascending circle of quarters or with descending chromatic substitutions, but there is also movement between thirds or between major and minor seventh chords. Minor seventh chords are often played in the first inversion in this melody and can therefore be viewed and notated as six chords of the relative major. According to Carlo Bohländer , the slow swing number is based on the harmonies of Ellingston's "Lazy (Swanee) Rhapsody".
Rhythmically, Moonglow is a foxtrot that is usually played at a slow pace, although some performers, particularly Art Tatum , have played it faster. The rhythm is synchronized. Jazz musicians usually swing the eighth notes.
Moonglow was first recorded by Joe Venuti and his orchestra in September 1933 , even before the song was published by Irving Mills' music publisher; Venuti liked the song so much that he recorded it again a month later. Hudson managed to get his tune on the Broadway show Blackbirds of 1934 , which opened in New York in December 1933 and finally played in London in August 1934. For this he received a text from Eddie DeLange.
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Further recordings were made in early 1934 by Cab Calloway and Benny Goodman as instrumental versions; Goodman's version was his first really big hit, which was number one on the American charts for 15 weeks. The version recorded by the Casa Loma Orchestra in July 1934 was the first text version sung by Kenny Sargent . The next month Ethel Waters played her cover version with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra . Art Tatum also recorded the song in 1934.
Since then, the song has become the jazz standard that has been performed and recorded frequently. The Benny Goodman Quartet with Teddy Wilson , Gene Krupa and Lionel Hampton recorded a famous version of the song in 1936; Artie Shaw played him in 1941, and Harry James in 1946 (published on Columbia in 1950); 1953 followed Don Byas (with Mary Lou Williams ). Moonglow was also used in the 1956 film The Benny Goodman Story ; there the melody formed the basis for the title song of the film, "Picnic".
Bing Crosby recorded the song for use on his radio show in 1956 (it is included in the 2009 box set The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56) released by Mosaic Records ). Other prominent singers who have recorded Moonglow include June Christy (1946), Billie Holiday (1952), and Sarah Vaughan (1962). A recording by George Cates and his orchestra reached number four. The Coasters released a version on their album One by One (1960). In the field of jazz, 622 versions of the song were recorded between 1933 and 2019 , according to Tom Lord .