Cherokee (song)


 * for the Europe song see Cherokee (Europe song)


 * For other uses of the term Cherokee, see Cherokee (disambiguation).

"Cherokee" (1938) is a jazz standard - also known as "Cherokee (Indian Love Song)" - written by Ray Noble and originally intended as the first of five movements for an "Indian Suite" (Cherokee, Comanche War Dance, Iroquois, Seminole, and Sioux Sue). "Cherokee" has been recorded over the years by many jazz musicians and singers, including Charlie Parker, Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra (1939), the Count Basie Orchestra, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan (1955), and Keely Smith.

Charlie Parker used this song for the basis of his 1945 composition "Ko-Ko". The song has also been covered as an instrumental by Bud Powell (1950), Clifford Brown, Don Byas, Stan Getz, Lionel Hampton and by Johnny Smith on his popularly and critically well-received album Moonlight in Vermont. It is noted for its string of 2-5-1 major-minor progressions.

The song was used in Jasper in a Jam (1946), sung by Peggy Lee, The Gene Krupa Story (1959), and as background music in Racing with the Moon (1984) and Lush Life (1993), a TV movie starring Jeff Goldblum and Kathy Baker.