Table of Contents
Jazz Play Along Vol. 34: Once In A While (Jazz Standard) sheet music, Noten, partitura, spartiti, partition 楽譜
By Michael Edwards and Bud Green.
Best Sheet Music download from our Library.
Please, subscribe to our Library.
If you are already a subscriber, please, check our NEW SCORES’ page every month for new sheet music. THANK YOU!
Music. Michael Edwards
Lyrics. Bud Green
Composer Michael Edwards was also a classical violinist, an organist, and an arranger for publishing firms. His 1937 composition, “Once in a While” was given a lyric by Bud Green, who was also a composer and harmonica player. Green collaborated on such hits as “Alabamy Bound,” “Sentimental Journey,” and “Flat Foot Floogie.” “Once in a While” charted several times:
Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra (1937, with vocal quartet, 7 weeks at #1 for a total of 14 weeks)
Horace Heidt and His Orchestra (1937, #2 for one week of 7, featured the electric guitar of Alvino Rey)
Louis Armstrong (1938, two weeks peaking at #15)
Patti Page (1952, 11 weeks, peaking at #9, one of the early multi-track vocals)
The Chimes (1961 #11, doo-wop version, as “Once In Awhile”)
Note: Louis Armstrong recorded another tune named “Once in a While” (by William H. Butler) in 1927.
Come join us now, enjoy playing your beloved music and browse through great scores of every level and styles!
In Visions of Jazz: The First Century, Gary Giddins credits Rahsaan Roland Kirk with reviving interest among jazz musicians in “Once in a While” with his mid-sixties recording. Giddins notes that Kirk’s idol, saxophonist Don Byas, released a memorable recording of this “great, neglected ballad” in 1945.
The singer directs his plea to a lover from whom he has “drifted apart.” He’s hoping that he’s thought of “once in a while” even though someone else may be “nearer your heart.” The bridge peaks melodically and emotionally with these lines:
In love’s smoldering ember,
One spark can remain;
If love still can remember,
That spark may burn again.“Once in a While” was sung by Lee Sullivan in a 1941 “soundie,” and it was featured in the 1950 movie I’ll Get By. It’s lent itself to a variety of interpretations: Nat “King” Cole with the big band of Billy May, saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Sonny Clark, guitarist George Van Eps, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and the vocal duo of Jackie & Roy.
In 2007, it was recorded by vocalist/pianist Freddy Cole and by the group Pearl Django. One of the unique arrangements of the song, not yet available on CD, is from arranger/conductor Pete Rugolo’s 1956 LP, Music for Hi-Fi Bugs. With no rhythm accompaniment, the horns open the first eight measures in octave unison in a slow, fugue-like manner.
| Other recordings | ||
| Year | Performer | Album |
| 1937 | Louis Armstrong | |
| 1947 | Sarah Vaughan | |
| 1951 | The Dinning Sisters | |
| 1954 | The Art Blakey Quintet | A Night at Birdland, Volume 1 |
| 1954 | Sonny Clark | Jimmy Raney Visits Paris, Volume 1 |
| 1957 | The Pied Pipers | A Tribute to Tommy Dorsey |
| 1958 | Lem Winchester and Ramsey Lewis | A Tribute to Clifford Brown |
| 1961 | Fats Domino | I Miss You So |
| 1968 | Ella Fitzgerald | 30 by Ella |
| 1974 | Dean Martin | Once in a While |
| 1976 | Bing Crosby | Feels Good, Feels Right |
| 1977 | Liza Minnelli | New York, New York |
| 1984 | Elkie Brooks | Screen Gems |
| 1986 | Cleo Laine | That Old Feeling |
| 2010 | Mose Allison | The Way of the World |
| 2011 | Eddie Vedder | Ukulele Songs |
| 2019 | Seth MacFarlane | Once in a While |