Johnny Green, music · Edward Heyman, Robert Sour and Frank Eyton, lyrics · 1930
Body and Soul
A 1930 torch song by Johnny Green that became the tenor saxophone's great test piece. Its bridge jumps up a half step to a far-off key and finds its way back, which makes it a workout for improvisers. Coleman Hawkins's 1939 record turned it into a jazz standard, and almost every tenor player since has recorded it.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Billie Holiday✓
- 2 Improvise on the changes Coleman Hawkins✓
- 3 Hear it when it was new Louis Armstrong and His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra✓
- 4 Small-group swing Benny Goodman Trio✓
- 5 Slow tenor ballad Stan Getz✓
- 6 Reharmonized changes John Coltrane✓
- 7 Alone at the piano Thelonious Monk✓
- 8 A duet for two voices Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse✓
How the tune works
Each block is a key, and each thin line is one bar. Both A sections stay in D♭. The bridge jumps up a half step to D, then steps down to C, and the last bar of the bridge slides back to D♭ for the final A.
These are the changes as Coleman Hawkins's band played them in 1939, transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Fake books simplify several bars, and many players reharmonize the bridge.
Fake books simplify several of these bars, and many players reharmonize the bridge.
Source: Weimar Jazz Database: Coleman Hawkins, Body and Soul (1939)
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗Start with Billie Holiday's 1940 record to learn the song, then hear Coleman Hawkins improvise on its changes with the melody almost gone. The rest of the path shows other ways in: early jazz, a clarinet trio, a slow tenor ballad, Coltrane's reharmonized A sections, Monk alone at the piano and a closing duet.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra 1940
Vocalion single 5481
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Hear the song sung straight, with Eldridge's trumpet answering from the band. Her phrases sit behind the beat, but the AABA shape stays easy to follow.
- Try this
- Sing or hum along with the record and count 32 bars as AABA. Mark the bar where the bridge starts and notice how the last A comes home.
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Step 2 · Improvise on the changes Now playing
Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra 1939
Bluebird single B-10523
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- Listen for
- Follow the harmony instead of the tune. Hawkins mostly leaves the written melody behind and builds new lines on each chord, including the jump up a half step at the bridge.
- Try this
- Play the chart's chords on piano or guitar and improvise one chorus that never states the melody. Start with long notes on the 3rd and 7th of each chord.
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Step 3 · Hear it when it was new Now playing
Louis Armstrong and His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra 1930
OKeh single 41468
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- Listen for
- Hear how much of the written tune survives in an early jazz treatment. Armstrong's trumpet leads, and the band plays a dance-band setting behind him.
- Try this
- Play the melody once as written, then again with your own timing and a few added notes. Keep the chords exactly the same.
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Step 4 · Small-group swing Now playing
Benny Goodman Trio 1935
“Body and Soul (Take 1)”, Victor single 25115
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- Listen for
- With only three players the harmony is implied. Listen to how Wilson's left hand and Goodman's lines outline the chords, and how lightly Krupa keeps time.
- Try this
- Play it as a duo with no bass. The pianist plays bass notes and chords with the left hand while the other player takes the tune.
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Step 5 · Slow tenor ballad Now playing
Stan Getz 1952
Stan Getz Plays
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- Listen for
- Hear how little Getz hurries at about 63 beats per minute. His long, even phrases follow the chords through the bridge's far key and back home.
- Try this
- Play the tune at about 60 beats per minute and hold one phrase longer than feels comfortable. At this speed every chord change shows.
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Step 6 · Reharmonized changes Now playing
John Coltrane 1960
Coltrane's Sound
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- Listen for
- The transcribed A sections spend long stretches over an A♭ bass note instead of the usual chord-a-bar movement. The bridge moves through new keys more quickly, at a medium-up pace.
- Try this
- Hold an A♭ in the bass and improvise over the first eight bars with the notes of E♭ minor and A♭7. Then play the same bars over the usual changes and compare.
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Step 7 · Alone at the piano Now playing
Thelonious Monk 1962
Monk's Dream
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- Listen for
- There is no rhythm section, so Monk sets the time himself. Listen for the space he leaves between phrases and for how the bridge's key change lands.
- Try this
- Play the first A section alone with left-hand roots and simple right-hand voicings. Leave a beat of silence where you would normally fill.
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Step 8 · A duet for two voices Now playing
Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse 2011
Duets II
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- Listen for
- Two singers share the song, one older and one younger. Notice how each phrases against the beat and where their lines meet.
- Try this
- Sing it with a partner and trade lines every four bars. Decide in advance who takes the bridge.
More great versions
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Chu Berry and His Little Jazz Ensemble 1938
Commodore 78 rpm single
Tenor and trumpet each get a solo on the changes.
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Frank Sinatra 1947
Frankly Sentimental
A ballad treatment with Bobby Hackett on cornet and a large orchestra arranged by Alex Stordahl.
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Dexter Gordon 1976
“Body and Soul (Live)”, Homecoming: Live at the Village Vanguard
A 13-minute live reading from Gordon's 1976 return engagement at the Village Vanguard, showing how far a tenor player can stretch the form.
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David Murray Quartet 1983
Morning Song
A slow quartet ballad from Murray's 1983 sessions with Ed Blackwell on drums, in the usual key of D♭.
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Joe Lovano 1991
From the Soul
A modern tenor reading of the full tune at a slow tempo, with Michel Petrucciani on piano.
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Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden 2007
Jasmine
A piano and bass duet that gives the tune over eleven minutes of room to breathe.