Leigh Harline (1907-1969) was an American composer known especially for songs and film scores. He began life in Utah and attended the University of Utah, where he undertook piano and organ studies with Mormon Tabernacle Choir conductor J. Spencer Cornwall. He later made his way to California. Early work in radio led to arranging and then composition work with the Walt Disney company in Los Angeles, including dozens of shorts and the movies Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Pinocchio. From the latter film, he won two Academy Awards: Best Original Score and Best Original Song (with lyricist Ned Washington) for “When You Wish Upon a Star.” He left Disney in 1941, and went on to score dozens more feature films, earning several more Academy Award nominations. Read up on him at Wikipedia, IMDb, the Disney Archives, and MormonWiki.

“When You Wish Upon a Star” is easily Harline’s most enduring work. It opens Pinocchio, sung by the character of Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Cliff Edwards), setting the stage for a story about wishes and magic. Its melody provided the core material for the film’s score as well. It has remained closely associated with Disney ever since. It was used to open the Walt Disney Anthology series in the 1950s and 1960s, and since the 1980s it has accompanied the logo that opens all Disney media. It has been re-recorded by prominent artists several times in association with Disney events. It has also become a jazz standard, adding to its deep catalog of recordings.

This space is devoted to band music, so we will begin our dive into “When You Wish Upon a Star” recordings with Sammy Nestico‘s ravishing arrangement of the tune. It starts slow, moves into a jazz waltz, and then builds to a majestic climax, leaving room for a final nebulous flute cadenza.

Here is the original as it was first heard in Pinocchio:

Sara Bareilles recorded it for Disney’s 100th anniversary:

Here is an orchestral and choir version:

And in a jazz version by the Keith Jarrett Trio:

Read more about “When You Wish Upon a Star” at Wikipedia, Disney Fandom, and UDiscoverMusic.