Yesterdays (1933 song)

"Yesterdays"
Song

"Yesterdays" is a 1933 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Otto Harbach.

It was written for the show Roberta (1933), where it was introduced by Fay Templeton. The song was soon picked up by jazz musicians and has since gone on to become one of the top jazz standards. JazzStandards.com (see "External links" below) ranks it ninth among all jazz standards, in terms of being "included most often on currently issued CDs by the greatest number of jazz artists."

Irene Dunne performed the song in the film version Roberta (1935).

Barbra Streisand performed the song in her TV special Color Me Barbra and included a recording on her album Color Me Barbra (1966).

Notable recordings

• Artie Shaw (1938)
• Billie Holiday - Commodore 824055 (1939)
• Erroll Garner - Signature label (1945)
• Art Tatum - Piano Starts Here (1949, live at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A.)
• Bud Powell - Clef/Verve (1950)
• Johnny Smith - Moonlight in Vermont - (1952)
• Kenny Drew - Blue Note (1953)
• Bernard Peiffer - Blue Star (1953)
• Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill with Clifford Brown (1954)
• Miles Davis - Miles Davis Volume 1 (1955); Highlights from the Plugged Nickel (1965)
• Carmen McRae - Torchy (1955)
• Paul Chambers - Bass on Top (1957)
• The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Modern Jazz Quartet (1957)
• Four Freshmen - Voices In Latin (1958)
• The Hi-Lo's - Love Nest (1958); arranged by Clare Fischer (instrumental arrangement by Frank Comstock)
• Jeri Southern - Coffee, Cigarettes and Memories (1958)
• Oscar Peterson - Plays the Jerome Kern Songbook (1959)
• Margaret Whiting - Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook (1960)
• Frank Sinatra - Sinatra and Strings (1962)
• Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook (1963)
• Sonny Rollins & Coleman Hawkins - Sonny Meets Hawk! (1963)
• Ben Webster - There Is No Greater Love 1965
• Barbra Streisand - Color Me Barbra (1966)
• Bill Evans - Further Conversations with Myself (1967)
• Ray Charles - A Portrait of Ray (1968)
• Frank Rosolino - Conversation (Live) (1975)
• Clare Fischer - Alone Together (1977)
• Sun Ra - Reflections in Blue 1986
• Marianne Faithfull - Strange Weather (1987)
• Larry Coryell - Shining Hour (1989)
• McCoy Tyner - Revelations (1989)
• Dave Brubeck - Once When I Was Very Young (1991)
• Roseanna Vitro - Reaching for the Moon (1991)
• Tal Farlow - Jazz Masters 41 (1995)
• June Christy - A Friendly Session, Vol. 2 (1999) with the Johnny Guarnieri Quintet
• Patricia Barber - Nightclub (2000)
• Bert van den Brink and Clare Fischer - Bert van den Brink Invites Clare Fischer (2001)
• Elkie Brooks and Humphrey Lyttelton - Trouble in Mind (2002)
• Stevie Holland - More Than Words Can Say (2006)
• Al Hermann and The New Impressions Trio - Dream Dances (2012) Summit Records DCD 598

External links

• "Yesterdays" at Jazzstandards.com

See also

• List of 1930s jazz standards