Portrait of Jennie is a 1948 jazz ballad written by J. Russel Robinson with lyrics by Gordon Burdge. It was first recorded and released in December 1948 by Ronnie Deauville, and quickly became a jazz standard with numerous vocal and instrumental covers, including Nat King Cole’s popular 1949 version titled Portrait Of Jenny. The tune is linked to the 1948 film Portrait of Jennie, whose score fused Debussy-inspired themes with Dimitri Tiomkin’s music and Bernard Herrmann’s Jennie’s Theme. Over the years the song has been recorded by many artists in both vocal and instrumental forms, earning a reputation as a haunting, romantic ballad.
