When Lights Are Low is a jazz standard composed by Benny Carter and Spencer Williams in 1936. The original recording was by Benny Carter and His Swing Quartet featuring Elisabeth Welch on vocals with lyrics by Williams. It became a popular big band tune, with the first big band recording by Kai Ewans Orchestra in Holland and Carter sometimes singing on that version. A famous interpretation was recorded by Miles Davis in 1953-1954 and released on the album Blue Haze in 1954, though Davis used a bridge Carter did not write. The arrangement shown here is Carter’s final big band version, first performed by an all-star band at Princeton on December 3, 1973, published by Jazz Lines Publications as JLP-8460 and described as a Swing - Medium Jazz Big Band Arrangement.
