Transcription: “It’s Like Reaching For The Moon” by Billie Holiday & Teddy Wilson

The Teddy Wilson recordings featuring Billie Holiday is some of the my favorite music. It’s moody, has the nice Swing era 2 balladic two-feel, and it’s just the real thing. A gorgeous recording.

Personnel in the recording:

Jonah Jones (trumpet) Johnny Hodges (alto) Harry Carney (clarinet,bari) Teddy Wilson (piano) Lawrence Lucie (guitar) John Kirby (bass) Cozy Cole (drums) Billie Holiday (voc)

I couldn’t find sheet music for the tune anywhere, so I approximated the melody from Billie’s vocals and Jonah’s interpretation and my buddies John Eubanks & Alex Belhaj gave me some insight into how they heard the chords.

Here it is:

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2 Comments

  1. Hi Andy,

    I’ve been working on this song for many years. Still trying to create a string quartet score. I don’t remember when I first heard it, but seems I always loved it. Thanks for your work and sharing. The 1936 recording is my favourite version. I don’t know why more folks aren’t in love with it!

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