Come Fly With Me: The Best Of Sammy Cahn (Medley): SSA Choral Octavo

Kirby Shaw's arrangement captures the sophisticated ease of these Cahn-Van Heusen classics while making them genuinely singable for SSA voices. The medley structure lets you deliver a full concert of jazz standards in one cohesive package, and the writing respects the character of each song without oversimplifying the harmonic landscape.

Sophisticated, urbane, and genuinely fun to sing. The arrangements sparkle with the elegance of a mid-century lounge without ever feeling campy or dated. There's a lightness to the orchestration that makes even complex harmonic moments feel conversational and natural.

This medley works beautifully for women's choirs and mixed ensembles looking to program jazz standards with real harmonic depth. It's equally at home in a spring pops concert, a cabaret night, or a jazz-focused repertoire showcase.

• Keep the swing feel consistent across all songs in the medley; establish the groove early and maintain it through transitions to create flow rather than stopping between songs.
• Listen to Sammy Cahn's original recordings as a choir to absorb the phrasing and rhythmic sensibilities that make these songs swing; notation alone won't capture the style.
• Balance the middle voices carefully in the chordal sections so the melody lines remain the focal point without the arrangement collapsing into a homogeneous wash.
• Explore the lyrical moments where the arrangement pulls back; these quiet passages give singers breath and audiences a chance to hear the beauty of Van Heusen's melodies clearly.

Use this as your closing number for a standards-based concert or as the anchor for a full pops program built around American songbook material. At 23 pages, it carries enough weight to command the second half of a program while remaining accessible enough that rehearsal time pays off quickly.

• Swing rhythm interpretation and stylistic phrasing
• Jazz harmony recognition and intonation in chromatic passages
• Voice independence in sectional writing with sustained inner parts
• Song form awareness across multiple standards in medley sequence
• Lyrical interpretation and emotional coloration in jazz repertoire