THAT'S MY DESIRE - Free Jazz Leadsheet

"That's My Desire" was written by Helmy Kresa and Carroll Loveday and first published in 1931. The earliest recording was made that same year by Russell Wooding’s Red Caps in New York, introducing the tune during the transition from early jazz to the dance-band era.

The song achieved its greatest popularity in the late 1940s through recordings by Frankie Laine and Louis Armstrong, both of whom reshaped it into a modern pop–jazz ballad. Its lyrics express an earnest longing for romantic closeness, supported by a slow, sentimental melodic line. The tune’s flexible 32-bar structure has made it adaptable for crooners, jazz vocalists, and instrumentalists drawn to its tender, yearning mood.