"A Child Is Born" is a jazz instrumental that was later recorded with lyrics added. It was written in 1969 by the jazz trumpeter

Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Biography Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan, U ...

with lyrics added independently by

Alec Wilder Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder (February 16, 1907 – December 24, 1980) was an American composer. Biography Wilder was born in Rochester, New York, United States, to a prominent family; the Wilder Building downtown (at the "Four Corners") ...

after hearing the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra perform the instrumental. The instrumental and the song have been recorded by a number of musicians including

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...

Stanley Turrentine Stanley William Turrentine (April 5, 1934 – September 12, 2000) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began his career playing R&B for Earl Bostic and later soul jazz recording for the Blue Note label from 1960, touched on jazz fusion dur ...

and

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

(also released on '' Christmas with Sinatra & Friends''), Richard Davis,

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...

Dee Dee Bridgewater Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...

Hank Jones Henry Jones Jr. (July 31, 1918 – May 16, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored ...

and

Helen Merrill Helen Merrill (born Jelena Ana Milcetic; July 21, 1930) is an American jazz vocalist. Her first album, the eponymous 1954 recording ''Helen Merrill'' (with Clifford Brown), was an immediate success and associated her with the first generation ...

.Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950-2000 David Jenness, Donald Velsey - 2014 - 1136797459 Even finer is A Child Is Born (1969), music written by jazz musician Thad Jones. It is Wilder's best independent lyric, fitting Iones's exquisite melody perfectly; it's a pity the song is heard most often as an instrumental (Figure 4.11). The crucial notes are the ones, all low in pitch, that start successive long phrases: here D, later E-flat, D, E~natural, F: they occur low in the range, like a cello digging in. The highest tones in each phrase are mostly near'oc~ taves, and sound like a woodwind ...

Possible contribution of Roland Hanna to ''A Child Is Born''

Jazz historian Mark Stryker, in his book ''Jazz from Detroit'', provides the following account of the writing of "A Child Is Born":

Lyrics

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

Form

"'A Child Is Born' is a 32 bars long song in 3/4 time, and when soloing over it, jazz musicians "usually omit the last two bars", leaving a "30-bar solo form". The original was recorded in

B-flat major B-flat major is a major scale based on B, with pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor. The B-flat major scale is: : Many transposing instr ...

. It features a slow, lengthy introduction on the piano, lasting over a minute. Bob Yurochko in his book ''A Short History of Jazz'' refers to it as a "beautiful ballad" of mainstream jazz.""

References

Songs about children 1969 songs 1960s jazz standards Songs written by Alec Wilder Jazz compositions in B-flat major {{1960s-jazz-composition-stub