Body and Soul (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Body and Soul


Cover size =
Caption =
Artist = Coleman Hawkins
from Album =
A-side =
B-side =
Released =
Format =
Recorded = October 11, 1939 at RCA Studios, New York, NY
Genre = Jazz
Length = 3:00
Label = Bluebird
Writer = Edward Heyman
Robert Sour
Frank Eyton
Johnny Green
Producer =
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single =
This single =
Next single =
Misc ="Body and Soul" is a popular song written in 1930 by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton and Johnny Green. It was introduced by Libby Holman in the revue "Three's A Crowd" and used as a soundtrack theme in the 1947 film named for the song.

"Body and Soul" became a jazz standard, with hundreds of versions performed and recorded by dozens of artists. The most famous of these is the take recorded by Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra on October 11, 1939 at their only recording session for Bluebird, a subsidiary of RCA Victor. Hawkins' solo on this take is considered to be "one of the finest examples of pure, spontaneous creative artistry in the history of jazz."Fact|date=February 2007 It was one of the first straight jazz records (as against swing) to become a commercial hit. This was unusual, as the song's melody is never directly stated in the recording; saxophonist Hawkins two-choruses' worth of improvisation on the tune's chord progression constitute almost the entire take.Gary Giddins, "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead", p. 39–55 in Eric Weisbard, ed., "This is Pop", Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-674-01321-2 (cloth), ISBN 0-674-01344-1 (paper). p. 45.] In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. [Number 18 on [http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-2004reg.html The National Recording Registry 2004] , accessed online 14 August 2007.]

The pianist on Hawkins' recording of the song was Gene Rodgers.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-0/bodyandsoul.htm "Body and Soul"] at JazzStandards.com