Two Dozen More Versions of 'So Rare'

Following my post on Jimmy Dorsey's So Rare, I received a flood of emails from readers who are fans of the late 1950s version and had favorites. The addictive tune was written by composer Jerry Herst and lyricist Jack Sharpe, but before it was published in 1937, Fred Astaire sang the song early that year on his radio show, The Packard Hour.

Over the years, So Rare has been recorded by big bands, jazz combos and pop singers. To help get the song out of our system, I've pulled together 24 renditions, each a gem:

Here's Jimmy Ray in the spring of 1937...



Here's Tommy Dorsey (Jimmy's younger brother) in June 1937 with vocalist Edythe Wright...



Here's the Benny Goodman Trio in August 1937 on the Camel Caravan radio show, with Goodman (cl), Teddy Wilson (p) and Gene Krupa (d)...



Here's Edgar Hayes in September 1937...



Here's the George Shearing Trio in February 1947 with Shearing (p), Gene Ramey (b) and Denzil Best (d)...



Here's Toots Thielemans in April 1955 with Toots Mondello and Artie Beck (as,cl), Carl Prager (bass sax), George Berg (ts,cl), Toots Thielemans (hca), Tony Mottola (g), Oscar Pettiford (b) and Cliff Leeman (d)...



Here's Ella Fitzgerald with the Frank DeVol Orchestra in October 1957...



Here's the Bob Florence Big Band in 1958...



Here's Bob Scobey in January 1958, with Bob Scobey (tp), Jack Buck and Doug Skinner (tb), Pud Brown (cl), Stan Wrightsman (p), Clancy Hayes (bj), Bob Short (tu,b) and Dave Black (d)...



Here's vocalist Betty Johnson in the late 1950s, with Phil Bodner (cl,woodwinds), Lou Garisto (p), Frank Garisto (g) and Pat Merola (b)...



Here's Les Brown in 1960...



Here's U.K. drummer Tony Crombie and his band in 1960...



Now two by Mose Allison. Here's the first on Epic, in May 1961, with Aaron Bell (b) and Osie Johnson (d)...



Here's the second in November 1962, with Jimmy Knepper (tb), Jim Reider (ts), Mose Allison (p), Addison Farmer (b) and Frankie Dunlop (d)...



Here's King Curtis in February 1961, with King Curtis (as,ts), Brother Jack McDuff (org), Billy Butler and Eric Gale (g), Bob Bushnell (el-b), Ray Lucas (d) and Willie Rodriguez (bgo,cga)...



Here's the Bill Black Combo and a big band in 1964...



Here's Chet Atkins in 1964...



Here's Les and Larry Elgart in the mid-1960s...



Here's guitarist Joe Pass and pianist Jimmy Rowles in 1981...



Here's clarinetist Alex Hutchinson in 2014...



Here's tenor saxophonist Rick Fay...



Here's Anthony Braxton on clarinet (melody statement) and alto saxophone (solo), with Kevin O'Neil (g), Andy Eulau (b) and Kevin Norton (perc) in 2003...  



Here's the George Shearing Trio in 2004, with George Shearing (p), Reg Schwager (g) and Neil Swainson (b)...  



And here's pianist Ahmad Jamal with James Cammack on bass in 2016...