The Way You Look Tonight was written by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It was first brought to the spot light by Fred Astaire in the 1936 hit film Swing Time. This brilliant composition was quickly adapted by jazz musicians and has been known as a jazz standard for many years. Pay special attention to the form on this song. It is the classic A-A-B-A form however the last A has an additional 4 bars added to it. Each section is 16 bars long, except for the last A which is 20 bars, all for a grand total of a 68 bar form. It is definitely important to check out vocal versions of this tune such as Frank Sinatra’s or Fred Astaire’s original. This will help you understand the melody better when you go to listen to instrumental versions.
This tune is most commonly played in the key of F major by instrumentalists.
The Way You Look Tonight
If you want to start fully understanding jazz standards, how they work, and how to improvise over them, check out my eBook and companion course
"The Jazz Standards Playbook"
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Videos to learn the melody/changes
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