The Summer Knows is a jazz ballad based on Michel Legrand's theme for the 1971 film Summer of ’42. The music was composed by Legrand with English lyrics added by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The film won the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score in 1971, and the tune became a Grammy-winning standard when instrumental versions circulated that year, notably Peter Nero’s orchestral take reaching the charts. In 1977 Art Farmer released a dedicated album The Summer Knows, recorded in 1976 for East Wind (EW-8047) with Cedar Walton, Sam Jones, and Billy Higgins, presenting lyrical, ballad-focused readings of Legrand’s theme and other jazz standards. The tune has since been covered across genres by artists including Jessye Norman and Toots Thielmans.
