I Was So Young (You Were So Beautiful) is a very early George Gershwin/Irving Caesar song that has entered the public domain. Caesar’s touching story of the memory of young love is perfectly mated with Gershwin’s nostalgic, but never overly sentimental melody. I’ve made the harmonies a bit more sophisticated match Denzal’s approach to the song and also to engage the gentleman in the orchestra. This song has 2 verses; presumably one for men to sing and one for women. I love them both and thought it would be fun to intersperse them with the chorus; verse, chorus, verse, chorus. This way Denzal gets to tell both sides of the story. Notice how delicately the ensemble plays. Every musician has virtuosic control of his instrument. In jazz we have plenty of experience playing loudly. This piece is about being soft and expressive. In case you wonder where romance has gone in our modern world, it is alive and well for at least these 4 minut...