"Jazzman" is a 1974 song performed by Carole King

Carole King

Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...

, from her album Wrap Around Joy

Wrap Around Joy

Wrap Around Joy is a 1974 album by American singer-songwriter Carole King. The album hit #1 on the Billboard album charts in the fall of 1974 and spun off successful singles with "Jazzman" and "Nightingale" .The album was certified Gold by the RIAA.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Carole...

. King provided the sheet music for the song, while David Palmer

David Palmer (vocalist)

David Palmer is an American vocalist and songwriter, most noted for his lead vocals on the Steely Dan song "Dirty Work" and as lyricist of the Carole King #2 hit, "Jazzman". Palmer was born and raised in Warren Township, Watchung, New Jersey....

 (formerly of Steely Dan

Steely Dan

Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...

) wrote the lyrics.

The song is best known for its lengthy saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 solos, performed by Tom Scott

Tom Scott (musician)

Tom Scott is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble The L.A. Express.-Biography:Scott was born in Los Angeles, California...

, while King sings an ode to "the Jazzman" and the effect he has on her.

The single quickly rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart in August 1974. The song also reached #4 on the Billboard easy listening chart

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks

The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

. The B-side of the "Jazzman" single was "You Go Your Way, I'll Go Mine."

The song was nominated for a Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 in 1975

Grammy Awards of 1975

The 17th Grammy Awards were presented March 1, 1975, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1974.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...

 in the category Best Female Pop Vocal performance

Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance is the latest in a series of awards recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. The award goes to the artist...

, losing out to Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John

Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...

's song "I Honestly Love You

I Honestly Love You

"I Honestly Love You" was a worldwide pop hit single for Olivia Newton-John in 1974. The song was Newton-John's first number-one single in the United States and Canada, thus cementing her as a household name in North America....

".

"Jazzman" was prominently featured in the Simpsons

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

episode "'Round Springfield

'Round Springfield

"Round Springfield" is the 22nd episode of the sixth season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on April 30, 1995. In the episode, Bart is rushed to hospital after eating a jagged metal Krusty-O and decides to sue Krusty the Clown. Whilst visiting Bart, Lisa meets her old mentor, jazz musician...

", in which Lisa Simpson

Lisa Simpson

Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...

 sings the vocals while her friend Bleeding Gums Murphy plays the saxophone.

Bonnie Koloc

Bonnie Koloc

Bonnie Koloc is an American folk music singer-songwriter, actress, and artist who was considered one of the three main Illinois-based folk singers in the 1970s, along with Steve Goodman and John Prine forming the "trinity of the Chicago folk scene."...

 also recorded a song called "Jazzman" on her album After All This Time in 1971. Composed by Ed Holstein, a Chicago-based folk musician, this song was also recorded by Pure Prairie League

Pure Prairie League

Pure Prairie League, sometimes abbreviated PPL, is an American country-rock band whose roots began between 1964 and 1969 in Waverly, Ohio with Craig Fuller, George Powell, Tom McGrail, Jim Caughlan and John David Call. In 1970 McGrail named the band after a 19th century temperance union mentioned...

, Steve Goodman, Tom Rush, Martin Simpson, and Bette Midler

Bette Midler

Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...

.

Charts

Charts (1974)	Position
Hot 100	2
AC	4
Cash Box Top Singles	1