Memories of You

"Memories of You" is a popular song about nostalgia[1] with lyrics written by Andy Razaf and music composed by Eubie Blake and published in 1930.

This article is about the song. For the album by Bette Midler, see Memories of You (album).

Song history

The song was introduced by singer Minto Cato in the Broadway show Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930. A 1930 version recorded by Louis Armstrong featuring Lionel Hampton is the first known use of the vibraphone in popular music.

The Armstrong recording in 1930 was reviewed by Times magazine's monthly record review alongside opera records and Western art music records of composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, and Ravel.[2]

A version of the song recorded by The Four Coins from the biopic The Benny Goodman Story reached #22 on the Billboard magazine chart in 1955.

Doc Severinsen and the NBC Orchestra performed an instrumental version on the final episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, on May 22, 1992. The song played over a five-minute montage showing brief silent clips of some of Carson's favorite guests, seen interacting with him through the years. This was also the final song on the final album Frank Sinatra recorded for Capitol Records, Point of No Return from 1962.

Other recordings

• Louis Armstrong – 1930[3] with his Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra[4]
• Casa Loma Orchestra – 1937[3]
• Benny Goodman with Lionel Hampton and Charlie Christian – 1939[3]
• Art Tatum – The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces, Vol. 5 – 1953[3]
• The Four Coins – Orchestra under the direction of Don Costa – (1955)
• Benny Goodman with Rosemary Clooney – Date with the King (1955)[3]
• Judy Garland - Judy (1956)
• Thelonious Monk – The Unique (1956) and It's Monk's Time (1964) [3]
• Charles Mingus – East Coasting (1957)[3]
• Frank Sinatra - Point of No Return (1962)[5]
• Al Hirt - Horn A-Plenty (1962)[6]
• Eubie Blake – Jazz Piano Masters (1972)[3]
• Tom Varner - The Window Up Above, American Songs 1770-1998 (1998)
• Jessica Williams – More for Monk (2002)[3]
• Fred Hersch – Alone at the Vanguard (2010)[3]
• Dr. John – Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch (2014)

See also

• List of 1930s jazz standards

References

1. Browne, Ray Broadus; Ambrosetti, Ronald J. (1993). Continuities in Popular Culture: The Present in the Past & the Past in the Present and Future. ISBN 9780879725938.
2. Brothers, Thomas (2014). Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 366. ISBN 978-0-393-06582-4.
3. Gioia, Ted (2012). The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire. New York City: Oxford University Press. pp. 262–264. ISBN 978-0-19-993739-4.
4. Brothers, Thomas (2014). Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 386. ISBN 978-0-393-06582-4.
5. https://www.discogs.com/Frank-Sinatra-Point-Of-No-Return/master/144081
6. "Horn A-Plenty - Al Hirt". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-01-05.

External links

• "Memories of You" at Jazz Standards