A Child is Born

[GA Russell]

On the Before It's Too Late thread, Ghost of Miles requested A Child Is Born on an Organissimo Christmas album.

I have Kenny Burrell doing that on a Mack Avenue Christmas album, and I have come to consider the song a jazz standard.

The earliest recording of it I am aware of is the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis rendition on their album Consummation, which was recorded May 25, 1970.

Did Jones or anyone else record it before then?

Was the song considered a jazz standard before then?

If not, I would suggest that the song is one of the most recently written jazz standards.

[JSngry]

The Jones/Lewis is the first version I'm aware of.

I agree, it got to be a standard very quickly, even obtaining lyrics and such. That makes me wonder if the original wasn't a "radio hit" on the East Coast on not just jazz stations, but stations that played the "adult pop" of the day. I could see that happening.

Calling those who were there!

[rostasi]

I remember Eddie Harris doing this in the late 60's,

but I can't recall which LP. have to check...

A few years back I sent a Xmas tape to a local jazz DJ (the local jazz DJ) Roger Boykin.

He was a bit puzzled that I had included A Child Is Born because he had always thought

that it was written for Thad's child and had no religious connotation at all.

This, of course, confused me because I had always thought the later to be the case.

EDIT:

OK. I was wrong...it was from '72 on ...Sings the Blues

Edited November 3, 2005 by rostasi

[Joe G]

I've never thought of it as a Christmas tune either. It is a beautiful song.

[rostasi]

I've never thought of it as a Christmas tune either. It is a beautiful song.

←

Yes, it is beautiful. I just always made the Xmas connection

because that's where it began showing up a lot - Xmas compilations, seasonal musics, etc -

and so I just assumed that this was the story behind the tune:

Thad's try at writing a beautiful Xmas tune.

Maybe it was just hijacked for Xmas purposes (like many other things)?

[Jim R]

I never connected this with X-mas either (don't recall it being on the jazz x-mas collections I have). Anyway, I can see why it happened (sort of). It's less easy for me to see why something like "My favorite things" has been included on x-mas albums. I guess some producers want something "fresh" on their holiday releases.

[marcello]

The lyrics to "A Child is Born" by Thad Jones:

(these are the original lyrics by Alec Wilder)

Now, out of the night;

New as the dawn,

Into the light,

This Child,

Innocent Child,

Soft as a fawn,

This Child is born.

One small heart;

One pair of eyes;

One work of art,

Here in my arms,

Here he lies,

Trusting and warm,

Blessed this morn

A Child is born.

A Child Is Born - Composer: Thad Jones - ©1969

[EKE BBB]

Lord lists "A child is born" recorded on December 9, 1969, from "Muses for Richard Davis", a MPS disc with bassist Richard Davis and pianist Roland Hanna. No idea if that´s "our" "A child is born", as I haven´t heard it.

Edited November 3, 2005 by EKE BBB

[jazztrain]

Lord lists "A child is born" recorded on December 9,  1969, from "Muses for Richard Davis", a MPS disc with bassist Richard Davis and pianist Roland Hanna. No idea if that´s "our" "A child is born", as I haven´t heard it.

←

Almost certainly the same tune. Roland Hanna was the pianist with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis band and would have played the tune with them. He also recorded it on his own. There also was some speculation that he might have had a hand in writing it.

[RDK]

Don't hate me, but I really like Stanley Jordan's solo version of the tune on his first album.

[Spontooneous]

Hanna claimed to have written the tune. He said this, with several hundred witnesses, during his last concert in Kansas City.

The tune seems to stand apart from Thad's other writings, and it seems closer in style to Hanna's writing. I tend to believe him.

Hanna said it started as a piano interlude he'd play between numbers with the Thad/Mel band. Thad liked it, wrote the arrangement -- then told him, "It's my tune now."

If it is indeed Hanna's, he may have been a Christmas connection in mind. Consider that other piano interlude he played with Thad and Mel, which he called "Bible Story."

[GA Russell]

Thanks guys. Very interesting!

[Spontooneous]

Surely I'm not the only one here who's heard Hanna's claim, am I?

[Daniel A]

On the cover of Mel Lewis' A&M album "Mel Lewis and Friends" (1976) the score for 'A Child Is Born' is included. The note at the bottom says "Copyright © 1963 D'Accord Music". Could it really have been copyrighted as early as 1963?

Edited March 23, 2006 by Daniel A

[Hot Ptah]

The version of "A Child Is Born" on the Richard Davis album is THE song. I was also at that Kansas City appearance by Roland Hanna and heard him state that he had written the song. I know Richard Davis so I asked him about it after that. Richard told me that Roland had always said that he was the composer of this song throughout the years.

[DMP]

Nice tune, but when I see it on an album I automatically take a pass - it can stop a record dead in its tracks.

[Chas]

Nice tune, but when I see it on an album I automatically take a pass - it can stop a record dead in its tracks.

One album where A Child is Born fits the vibe of the record perfectly is Quintessence by Bill Evans :

Great music for a Sunday morning in bed . While Philly Joe was certainly great at booting a band when necessary , he really shows his range here , with sensitive brushwork throughout . Oh , and you get Harold Land , Kenny Burrell and Ray Brown too .

[Free For All]

Nice tune, but when I see it on an album I automatically take a pass - it can stop a record dead in its tracks.

So you like it so long as you don't have to hear it?

BTW, the version on Mel Lewis and Friends is one of my favorites. Freddie kills it.

[DMP]

Right - I like it, but am sick of it. (I'm sure everyone has a couple of songs they've had enough of.) For some reason it lends itself to ponderous interpretations Not just on records - the Jones/Lewis band was here once as part of some kind of jazz extravaganza down at the local arena, the crowd seemed up for them (a few calls for "Jive Samba," which was on their just released album) and about 2 songs in they pretty much brough the show to a halt with "Child." (And the versions mentioned above are all fine - I was just listening to Eddie Harris the other day, that may be as nice as any.)

[Larry Kart]

OK, I'll go all the way -- I never much liked the tune, and I'm sick of it too. It's like a teenage girl who's not as cute as she thinks who keeps looking at herself admiringly in the mirror from different angles. And don't get me started on "Waltz for Debby."

[JSngry]

So, Larry, what about "Waltz For Debby"?

[Alexander Hawkins]

I'm on the Waltz for Debby (anti-)bandwagon.

[Larry Kart]

"Waltz for Debby" -- a doll-sized merry-go-round made from spun sugar. Seriously, Jim, don't both "Debby" and "Child" circle back on themselves too much? All you can do with the things is decorate what's already decorative. On the other hand, I can imagine that draped in boldly solo piano figuration, "Child" (as originally conceived by Sir Ronald H.) might have been something different.

[JSngry]

Not at all a fan of the Waltz myself...

The Child is better for me, but once every few years is about right.

Myself, I find that the "expression" of wonder is one step removed from the real thing, and that's one step too many. Call me cynical.

[Chuck Nessa]

OK. Hello Mr Cynical.