It was also recorded by the
Glenn Miller Orchestra on November 5, 1939. Miller's version with vocalist
Ray Eberle charted in 1940 for ten weeks, rising to number eight. Also in 1940,
Sidney Bechet recorded one of the first jazz versions of the tune, performing it on
soprano sax. Another significant version is
Coleman Hawkins' from 1945. Perhaps some of "Indian Summer's" success as a jazz tune is that it "bears no European mark", being a "thirty-two measure song with the form of A-B-A-C. "The melody sings marvelously throughout without a single cliche or let down," composer and critic
Alec Wilder wrote in
American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900–1950 (1972), despite admitting that he was generally no fan of Victor Herbert. "Indian Summer" has been recorded by
Bing Crosby (recorded February 7, 1951 for Decca Records), the
Gene Krupa Orchestra,
Richard Tauber,
Ginny Simms,
Paul Desmond,
Ella Fitzgerald,
Sarah Vaughan,
Duke Ellington,
Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington (for the 1968 album
Francis A. & Edward K.),
Tony Bennett (for the 1992 tribute album to Sinatra titled
Perfectly Frank),
Tony Martin with orchestra conducted by Ray Sinatra, Decca 2936 in 1940; and
Bobby Caldwell (for his 1999 album Come Rain or Come Shine). There are many other vocal versions, and in instrumental versions for saxophone, piano, and guitar. In other recordings, instrumental versions have been covered by
Joe Puma with sideman
Bill Evans.
Mrs. Mills recorded a version in 1968, on Parlophone R 5678, with
Geoff Love and his Orchestra. == References ==