“Blue Skies” is a standard written by Irving Berlin in 1926 as a last-minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart musical “Betsy.” The show ran for only 39 performances, but the tune was an instant success. The opening night audience brought the original singer, Belle Baker, back for a reported 24 encores. But during the last encore she forgot the lyrics, so Irving Berlin, who was sitting in the front row, sang the song.

In 1927, it became one of the first songs featured in a “talkie,” sung by Al Jolson in “The Jazz Singer.” The song was recorded by all the labels at the time, and later Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Fred Astaire, and Bing Crosby had hits with the tune. Crosby and Danny Kaye sang it in the 1954 film “White Christmas.” Willie Nelson's 1978 version hit #1 on the country charts. The website “SecondHandSongs,com lists 443 versions of “Blue Skies.”

I originally recorded the song with my trio (Paul Marcantonio on drums, Blake Newman on bass) on my album "American Standard Blue."