A Smooth One

This is a riff tune from the Benny Goodman Sextet, cut in 1941 and played by swing bands ever since. The A Smooth One chords and the backing track here can be taken at any tempo and moved to any key.

Who wrote "A Smooth One"

The credit is Benny Goodman's, and the piece dates from 1941. It has no lyric; it was written as a head for the sextet to blow on, and it went round earlier under the title "Moppin' It Up". Whether Goodman wrote it is another matter: the sextet built heads collectively out of riffs, and Charlie Christian is most often named as the real source. The Goodman Sextet recorded it for Columbia in New York on 13 March 1941, with Christian on guitar, Cootie Williams on trumpet and Georgie Auld on tenor. It remains under copyright.

Recordings that made it a standard

• Benny Goodman Sextet, single (Columbia, 1941) — the issued master from 13 March. Christian's chorus is the one guitarists learn, and the arrangement on the record is what most bands still play.
• Charlie Christian and the Goodman Sextet, "Waitin' for Benny" (recorded 1941) — from the same afternoon. Goodman was late, the engineers ran the tape to set a balance, and what they caught was the sextet jamming on the tune with nobody in charge. Issued years afterwards, and the better music of the two.
• Georgie Auld and his Orchestra, single (1941) — the tenor player from the sextet taking it into a big band the same year, with Cootie Williams and Sid Catlett. It shows the riff scored for sections rather than played by six men.