I Didn’t Know What Time It Was (The Jazz Messengers’s version)

The Jazz Messengers: Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Cedar Walton (piano), Reggie Workman (bass) and Art Blakey (drums). From the album Ugetsu (1963).

Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, the great rivals of the swing era, recorded this song a few days apart in 1939. Goodman’s version was a best-seller and Jimmy Dorsey also made his own version. Afterwards, the tune was forgotten until George Shearing recorded it again in 1949 and Charlie Parker included it in his repertoire with his string ensemble.

But it was Hollywood’s decision to include it in the 1957 musical film Pal Joey, where it was sung by Frank Sinatra, that ensured its popularity with the general public. It has also been played by Art Blakey in the mid-1960s, Betty Carter, who broke it down to almost an avant-garde theme, Brad Mehldau, who played it in 1996 in 5/4 meter, and the group Sphere.

The theme begins with an introduction in which Walton first takes part and then Shorter, who also plays it. He says that when he met his beloved she held his hand, it was a great thing and he didn’t know what day it was. Seeing her face and talking to her, he thought “I’m all yours” and didn’t know what year it was. He wanted love and there it was, shining in front of him, and now he knew what time it was. Suddenly the whole group wakes up full of joy and they let Shorter express himself by performing a solo until they re-expose the theme.