Brown first recorded "Joy Spring" in a studio session led by him on August 6, 1954, at Capitol Recording Studios, in Los Angeles, with Harold Land (tenor sax), Richie Powell (piano), George Morrow (bass), and Max Roach (drums).
[1][2] Six days later (August 12, 1954), at the same studio, Brown, as leader, recorded Jack Montrose's arrangement of it with Stu Williamson (valve trombone), Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Bob Gordon (baritone sax), Russ Freeman (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), and Shelly Manne (drums).
[3] Larue Anderson, before marrying Brown, had been a classical music student at the University of Southern California.
Max Roach, her friend who introduced her to Brown, took her aside and said: "Honey, the whole world is not built around tonic / dominant."
[3][5] In 1985, Jon Hendricks wrote lyrics to Brown's music and the song was performed and published by Manhattan Transfer on their album Vocalese with the title "Sing Joy Spring".