On Green Dolphin Street Lead Sheet — Free PDF Download

Composed by Bronisław Kaper · Lyrics by Ned Washington · Written 1947 for the MGM film Green Dolphin Street

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About On Green Dolphin Street

From Hollywood Film Score to Jazz Standard

On Green Dolphin Street was composed by the Polish-born Hollywood composer Bronisław Kaper, with lyrics by Ned Washington, in 1947. It was written as the title theme for the MGM film Green Dolphin Street, an adaptation of the 1944 novel by Elizabeth Goudge, starring Lana Turner and Van Heflin. The film is largely forgotten today; the song — which musicians now usually refer to simply as Green Dolphin Street — has become one of the most-played jazz standards of the twentieth century.

Kaper was a remarkable figure. Born in Warsaw in 1902, he trained at the Warsaw Conservatory before moving to Berlin and then Paris to write for stage and film. In 1935 he was put under contract by MGM and moved to Hollywood, where he spent the rest of his career. He scored the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera, won an Academy Award for Lili (1953) and went on to score Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and Lord Jim (1965). On Green Dolphin Street is his best-remembered song; his second is the jazz standard Invitation.

The first commercial recording was by the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra in October 1947, but the tune only became a jazz standard a decade later. The version that did it was Miles Davis's 1958 recording with the sextet that included Bill Evans, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley. That recording established both the modern interpretation of the tune and the key of C major as the standard key; everything that has followed has been in conversation with it.

The Form & Harmony

32-Bar ABAC with Latin and Swing Feels

On Green Dolphin Street is a 32-bar tune in ABAC form, eight bars per section. Its most distinctive feature is the way it moves between two feels: the A sections are typically played with a Latin or even-eighths feel over a pedal point, opening up into a swing feel for the B and C sections. The transition between feels — and back — is one of the most expressive moments on any standard, and band rapport on the feel changes is part of what separates a good performance from a great one.

Harmonically, the A section sits over a tonic pedal with what jazz analysts call constant-structures harmony — chord shapes moving in parallel above a stationary bass note. The result is a chromatic, almost modal sound that floats away from conventional ii-V-I cadences. The B and C sections, by contrast, move through more conventional ii-V sequences in related keys, which is what makes the return to the pedal-point A so satisfying.

The melody itself is unusually chromatic for a 1947 popular song. It moves in semitones above the underlying harmony, sometimes implying flat thirds and sharp elevenths, and pushes outside the obvious scale choices that a typical Tin Pan Alley ballad would suggest. This is part of why jazz musicians were drawn to it in the late 1950s: the tune was already harmonically adventurous before improvisers got hold of it.

The tune is commonly played in two keys. The key of C major is the modern standard, established by the Miles Davis 1958 recording. The key of Eb major is an older common key still found on many recordings and called at some sessions. Both versions are on this page; build your tune in whichever key you encounter most often, but be ready for either.

How to Learn On Green Dolphin Street

A Practical Approach for Saxophonists

1. Learn the melody by ear. Listen to the Miles Davis 1958 recording many times before touching your saxophone. Pay attention to how the band moves between the Latin feel of the A sections and the swing feel of the B and C sections, and how Miles phrases the chromatic opening motif. Sing the melody before you play it.

2. Get the feel changes under your fingers. The signature feature of this tune is the alternation between Latin and swing feels at every section boundary. Practise the head with a metronome, deliberately switching feels at each transition. This is one of the best tunes in the repertoire for working on feel changes — a skill that pays off on a lot of standards.

3. Map the harmonic landscape. The A section is a pedal point with constant-structure harmony moving above it — almost modal. The B and C sections move through more conventional ii-V sequences in related keys before returning. Practise arpeggiating each chord, then connect them with chromatic and diatonic passing notes.

4. Choose your key and commit. Decide whether you are learning the tune in the key of C (Miles Davis, most modern recordings) or the key of Eb (older recordings, some session calls). Both are in active use; both lead sheets are on this page. Learn one thoroughly first, then add the other.

If you would like one-to-one guidance working through On Green Dolphin Street or any standard, saxophone lessons in person in South East London or online are available, with a focus on jazz repertoire, transcription study and technique. You may also find our free saxophone transcriptions useful — studying how Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster and Lester Young approached the standards is one of the most direct ways to build your jazz vocabulary.

Essential Recordings

Five Versions Worth Knowing

The unmissable recording is Miles Davis (1958), originally issued on the album Jazz Track and later included on the compilation 1958 Miles. Recorded in May 1958 with the sextet that included Bill Evans on piano, Cannonball Adderley on alto, John Coltrane on tenor, Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums, this is the version that made the tune a jazz standard and established the key of C major as the modern standard. Bill Evans's piano introduction alone is one of the most-studied passages in jazz.

From there, listen to Bill Evans (1959) on his own trio album On Green Dolphin Street with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones — a beautifully poised reading where Evans returns to the tune that had so suited him on the Miles session. His block-chord solo here is essential listening.

Ahmad Jamal (1956) recorded the tune on Count 'Em 88, a couple of years before the Miles version made it ubiquitous. Jamal plays it in C but uses a dominant pedal (G) rather than the tonic pedal that most subsequent versions use — a small change that creates a noticeably different sense of suspension and release.

For a guitar perspective, Barney Kessel recorded it on The Poll Winners (1957) with Ray Brown and Shelly Manne. And for a more recent reading, Wynton Kelly's several versions throughout the 1960s show how the tune settled into the bebop and hard-bop mainstream once Miles had established its place in the repertoire.

If you enjoy this style of jazz standard, browse the online real book index for related tunes including Stella by Starlight, Autumn Leaves, Body and Soul and All the Things You Are — all available as free lead sheet PDFs.