On Green Dolphin Street is one of our 10 Mother Tunes. This famous tune was made for a 1947 movie, “Green Dolphin Street,” and is known for switching back and forth between latin and swing feels, and for the pedal I underneath changing harmonies for the first 7 bars of the A section. The form is basically ABAB, with the second B being different than the first B. It’s a 32 bar song form, as is so common in the jazz idiom. It’s normally called in C or Eb, although I heard Benny Green call it in Bb to test out a young bass player at a jam session one time. The poor guy couldn’t quite hang, so Benny graciously bumped it up to C for him.
Check out also On Green Dolphin Street in Eb. You should know the tune in both keys.
