Why this tune?
East of the Sun (and West of the Moon) has a different history from many of the classic American songs we still play in the jazz world. Brooks Bowman, a Princeton undergrad, wrote it in 1935 for a student production. The song quickly became a hit after Tom Coakley recorded it with his dance band in 1936. Tommy Dorsey picked it up soon after that, recording it with Frank Sinatra in 1940. By the early 1950s the song weas already established as a jazz standard, and has remained a popular call for vocalists and instrumentalists ever since.
Bowman sadly died in a car crash in 1937, just as he was set to start a songrwriting career. Judging from this song, he had a promising future. The song has some clever twists and turns, and the lyric includes a few lovely turns of phrase. I particularly like “a harmony of life to a lovely tune”
Given its ongoing popularity in the jazz world, I’ve been spending time with the tune, trying to commit it confidently to my memory. The experts say that the best way to really learn a song is to play it in all 12 keys, so you can internalize the structure and patterns of the melody and chords. Bowman wrote it in G. I played it here in F on the Baldwin grand at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. We came to the museum to see their powerful Pride Prism exhibition. The print you see behind me is by the Cuban artist Miguel.
Tunes On Tuesday Reel
Check it out
Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra
Ella Fitzgerald
Cyrus Chestnut
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 