502 Blues is a jazz standard composed in 1958 by Jimmy Rowles. It’s a 32-bar A minor waltz in 3/4 time, not actually a blues. The first recording and release were by the Bill Holman - Mel Lewis Quintet, recorded June 6, 1958 and issued on the 1959 album Jive for Five. The tune is best known from Wayne Shorter’s 1967 rendition on Adam’s Apple, with Herbie Hancock on piano. Other notable recordings include Harold Danko Trio (1998), Michael Cochrane with Bob Malach (2001), and Jeremy Pelt (2003). It remains a widely performed jazz standard in The Real Book, and Shorter’s arrangement is noted for adding a Dbmaj7 in the second measure of each A section.
