An Example of Jazz

Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade”

http://www.last.fm/music/Glenn+Miller/_/Moonlight+Serenade

I stand at your gate and the song that I sing is of moonlight.
I stand and I wait for the touch of your hand in the June night.
The roses are sighing a Moonlight Serenade.

The stars are aglow and tonight how their light sets me dreaming.
My love, do you know that your eyes are like stars brightly beaming?
I bring you and sing you a Moonlight Serenade.

Let us stray till break of day
in love's valley of dreams.
Just you and I, a summer sky,
a heavenly breeze kissing the trees.

So don't let me wait, come to me tenderly in the June night.
I stand at your gate and I sing you a song in the moonlight,
a love song, my darling, a Moonlight Serenade.

This song, a staple of the “Big Band” style of Jazz, was first recorded in 1939 by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. It was written in the form ABAB and the key of C-Minor. This song was not originally written with lyrics, but Miller saw fit to add lyrics after the original recording was made. The song features the woodwind section throughout the piece, using the brass section to provide a counter-melody. The song does not include a section devoted to solos or improvisation, due the fact that it is more of a Jazz ballad than a conventional Jazz piece.