Jerome Kern

Jerome Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular song, active in the early 20th century and widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the development of the American musical. Over his career he wrote more than 700 songs and dozens of Broadway shows and Hollywood films, helping shape the format of the modern musical.

His best-known songs, including «Ol' Man River», «Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man», «All the Things You Are», «The Song Is You» and «Yesterdays», combine sophisticated, flowing melodies with a harmonic richness that set new standards for theatre songwriting and moved it away from the simpler tunes of earlier operetta and vaudeville. Many of these songs, originally written for shows and films, were later adopted by jazz musicians and became core parts of the Great American Songbook.

Kern's influence extends well beyond his own era: his melodic and harmonic innovations informed later Broadway composers and countless jazz interpretations of his standards. Songs such as «Bill» and «The Last Time I Saw Paris» further illustrate his range across romantic ballads and topical, reflective material, cementing his place as a foundational figure linking early 20th-century theatre music to the jazz standard repertoire.