“There Is No Greater Love” (PDF) from the Frank Rosolino album, Free For All

Isham Jones’ Midwestern upbringing - among the Great Lakes, during the industrial advancements of the early-twentieth century - led to his commercial success in music publishing and recording. His early hit songs, such as “It Had to Be You” and “You’re in the Army Now,” established Jones as one of the most popular bandleaders prior to his 1936 composition of “There Is No Greater Love,” a thirty-two-bar AABA tune that shares similarities with traditional New Orleans and Chicago-style jazz: a simple melody with blues ornaments.

Additionally, his working relationship with Victor Records permitted Jones the creative license to develop the sound of his radio orchestra into the modern swing dance band due to its inclusion of the blues, as Ted Gioia suggests in his book The Jazz Standards. Although his output diminished during the war, Isham Jones’ music continued to be played by popular big-bands and would resurface later through reinterpretations by smaller jazz groups, including this 1958 Frank Rosolino arrangement of one of Jones’ greatest works.

Here is a YouTube video of an alternate transcription of Frank Rosolino’s trombone solo:

Recommended reading: The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire by Ted Gioia. Published by Oxford University Press.