Arthur Schwartz, music · Howard Dietz, lyrics · Introduced by Jean Sargent in the Broadway revue Flying Colors, 1932
Alone Together
Alone Together is a minor-key song by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, in an unusual 44-bar form. Players take it as a slow ballad, a medium swinger or a Latin tune. Artie Shaw, Chet Baker, Jim Hall, Sonny Rollins and many others have recorded it.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Chet Baker✓
- 2 Hear the first jazz version Artie Shaw✓
- 3 Hear it sung Tony Bennett✓
- 4 Hear it as a duo Jim Hall and Ron Carter✓
- 5 Hear a tenor lead Sonny Rollins✓
- 6 Hear a piano trio Bill Evans Trio✓
- 7 Follow the chart Steve Lacy✓
- 8 Hear it opened up Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden✓
How the tune works
The tune runs 44 bars where most standards run 32: two 14-bar A sections, an 8-bar bridge and an 8-bar last A. Each long A opens on Dm6, then Em7♭5 to A7♭9 twice, and a ii–V in bar 6 moves to G minor. Bars 9 to 11 pass through Bm7 E7 and Gm7 C7 to F major, and bars 12 to 14 turn to a bright D major chord. The first A closes with a turnaround back to the top, and the second A holds D major for its last two bars. The bridge goes to G minor, then F major, and returns to D minor. The last A is the opening again, with B♭7 to A7 in bar 6. D minor is home, and the strip lists D major as its own region.
The changes under Steve Lacy's soprano saxophone solo on his 1957 Prestige recording, transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Fake books differ in places.
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with a ballad and the first jazz recording, then adds a vocal, a guitar and bass duo, a tenor saxophone quartet, a piano trio, Steve Lacy's soprano saxophone and a long live trio. Each step is the same song, so you hear what the players change around it.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Chet Baker 1958
Chet
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- Listen for
- A ballad with trumpet, flute, baritone saxophone, piano, bass and drums. The tune's A sections run 14 bars, not 8, so count them against the chart.
- Try this
- Play the first four bars of the chart slowly: Dm6, Em7♭5 to A7♭9, Dm6, Em7♭5 to A7♭9. Use the key buttons to match the record if it sits in a different key.
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Step 2 · Hear the first jazz version Now playing
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra 1939
Bluebird 78 single, with "Rose Room"
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- Listen for
- A big band with trumpets, trombones, saxophones and a rhythm section, led by Shaw's clarinet. JazzStandards.com points to Shaw's short clarinet passages as the place where the song opens up for improvising.
- Try this
- Count four beats to the bar along with the record and mark each time the clarinet steps out in front of the band.
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Step 3 · Hear it sung Now playing
Tony Bennett 1960
Alone Together
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- Listen for
- A voice backed by an ensemble that Frank DeVol conducts, in about three minutes. Follow the singer's phrasing through the long first section.
- Try this
- Hum the melody with Bennett, then play it on your instrument, finding the first note by ear. For a smaller version, play only the first four bars.
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Step 4 · Hear it as a duo Now playing
Jim Hall and Ron Carter 1972
Alone Together
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- Listen for
- Only guitar and bass play, so the chord changes show up in the bass line. JazzStandards.com points to the interplay between the two players.
- Try this
- Play only the chord roots from the chart, one note per chord, in your lowest register. Start with the first four bars: D, then E and A, then D, then E and A.
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Step 5 · Hear a tenor lead Now playing
Sonny Rollins 1958
Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders
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- Listen for
- Tenor saxophone with piano, guitar, bass and drums. Compare the rhythm section's Latin feel with the ballad pace of the first records on the path.
- Try this
- Play the first four bars of the chart with a steady Latin or bossa nova rhythm instead of a ballad pace. For a smaller version, hold each chord for a whole bar.
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Step 6 · Hear a piano trio Now playing
Bill Evans Trio 1964
“Alone Together (Live at the Trident Club)”, The Complete Bill Evans on Verve
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Piano, bass and drums. The 1997 box set holds more than one take of the song from The Trident, so you can compare two readings by the same trio.
- Try this
- Play the first eight bars of the chart with the root in your left hand and the third and seventh of each chord in your right. For a smaller version, play only roots and thirds.
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Step 7 · Follow the chart Now playing
Steve Lacy 1957
Soprano Sax
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- Listen for
- Soprano saxophone with piano, bass and drums. The Weimar Jazz Database puts Lacy's solo at 2:41 to 3:59 on its copy of the track, so follow the chart bar by bar there.
- Try this
- Point at each chord on the chart as Lacy's solo passes. If you lose your place, wait for the Dmaj7 near the end of each long section and pick the chart up there.
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Step 8 · Hear it opened up Now playing
Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden 1996
Alone Together
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Alto saxophone, piano and bass with no drums, over nearly 14 minutes. Keep the 44-bar chart in front of you and see how many times the trio goes around it.
- Try this
- Pick one four-bar phrase from the chart and play it as written, then play it again changing only the rhythm. For a harder version, improvise over the first eight bars.
More great versions
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Leo Reisman and His Orchestra (vocal by Frank Luther) 1932
Victor 78 single, with "A Shine on Your Shoes"
The first recording of the song to reach the charts, in late 1932, with Frank Luther singing.
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Dizzy Gillespie with Johnny Richards' Orchestra 1950
The Dizzy Gillespie Story
Dizzy Gillespie plays the tune as a ballad over strings and woodwinds arranged and conducted by Johnny Richards.
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The Jazz Messengers (Art Blakey) 1955
“Alone Together (Live)”, At the Cafe Bohemia, Volume 1
Hank Mobley's ballad feature, played live at Cafe Bohemia on November 23, 1955.
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Miles Davis Quintet 1955
Blue Moods
A quintet with trombone and vibraphone and no saxophone.
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Kenny Dorham 1959
Quiet Kenny
A trumpet quartet reading of about three minutes, from the 1960 album Quiet Kenny, with Tommy Flanagan on piano and Paul Chambers on bass.
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Stanley Turrentine with The Three Sounds 1960
Blue Hour: The Complete Sessions
JazzStandards.com holds this up as the hard-swinging, medium-tempo way to play the tune.
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Grant Green 1961
Green Street
A guitar trio with bass and drums and no piano, from the 1961 album Green Street.
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Paul Desmond Quartet with Jim Hall 1963
Take Ten
Paul Desmond's alto saxophone and Jim Hall's guitar share the front line, with Gene Cherico on bass and Connie Kay on drums and no piano.
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Brad Mehldau Trio 2000
“Alone Together (Live)”, The Art of the Trio, Volume 5: Progression
A piano trio stretches the tune to a little over fifteen minutes in a Village Vanguard set recorded in September 2000.