See also: 1927 in music, other events of 1928, 1929 in music and the list of 'years in music'.

Events

• April 27 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet Apollon musagète is premiered in Washington
• September 11 - Leos Janacek's String Quartet No. 2 , Intimate Letters, is premiered in Brno
• September 12 - Anton Webern's String Trio is premiered in Siena
• September 14 - Carl Nielsen's Clarinet Concerto is given its first performance
• November 22 - Maurice Ravel's Bolero is premiered in Paris
• November 27 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet La Baiser de la Fée is premiered in Paris
• December 2 - Arnold Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra is premiered in Berlin
• Edward German is knighted for services to music.
• Eric Fenby begins work as amanuensis for Frederick Delius.
• Sammy Davis Jr.'s musical career begins
• Tampa Red 's musical career begins
• Scrapper Blackwell 's musical career begins
• Leroy Carr 's musical career begins
• Howlin' Wolf's musical career begins
• The first commercial recordings of Cajun music are released
• Armad Ardoin makes the first recordings of zydeco in Louisiana

Published popular music

• "After My Laughter Came Tears" w.m. Charles Tobias & Roy Turk
• "Alabama Song" w. Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "All By Yourself In The Moonlight" w.m. Jay Wallis
• "Anything You Say" w.m. Walter Donaldson
• "Back In Your Own Backyard" w.m. Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson & Billy Rose
• "Basin Street Blues" w.m. Spencer Williams
• "Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now" w.m. Walter Donaldson
• "Bill" w. P.G. Wodehouse & Oscar Hammerstein II
• "Button Up Your Overcoat" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "Can't Help Loving Dat Man" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Carolina Moon" w. Benny Davis m. Joe Burke
• "Cherry" w.m. Don Redman
• "Chiquita" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Mabel Wayne
• "C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-I-N-O-P-L-E" w.m. Harry Carlton
• "Coquette" w. Gus Kahn m. Carmen Lombardo & John Green
• "Cow Cow Blues" m. Charles Davenport
• "Crazy Rhythm" w. Irving Caesar m. Joseph Mayer & Roger Wolfe Kahn
• "Dance, Little Lady" w.m Noel Coward
• "Diga Diga Doo" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh
• "Doin' The New Low-Down" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh
• "Doin' The Raccoon" w. Raymond Klages m. J. Fred Coots
• "Don't Look At Me That Way" w.m. Cole Porter
• "Dusky Stevedore" w. Andy Razaf m. J.C Johnson
• "Empty Bed Blues" w.m. J. C. Johnson
• "Fancy Our Meeting" w. Douglas Furber m. Joseph Meyer & Philip Charig
• "Forgetting You" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "From Monday On" w. Bing Crosby m. Harry Barris
• "A Garden In The Rain" w. James Dyrenforth m. Carroll Gibbons
• "A Gay Caballero" w.m. Frank Crumit & Lou Klein
• "Get Out And Get Under The Moon" w. Charles Tobias & William Jerome m. Larry Shay
• "De Glory Road" w. Clement Wood m. Jacques Wolfe
• "Golden Gate" by Rose & Dreyer
• "Henry's Made A Lady Out Of Lizzie" w.m. Walter O'Keefe
• "Honey" w. Seymour Simons & Haven Gillespie m. Richard A. Whiting
• "Hooray For Captain Spaulding" w. Bert Kalmar m. Harry Ruby
• "How About Me?" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "How Long Has This Been Going On?" w. Ira Gershwin m. George Gershwin
• "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" w. Dorothy Fields m. Jimmy McHugh
• "I Kiss Your Hand, Madame" w. (Eng) Sam M. Lewis & Joe Young (Ger) Fritz Rotter m. Ralph Erwin
• "I Wanna Be Loved By You" w. Bert Kalmar m. Harry Ruby & Herbert Stothart
• "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You" w. Billy Rose m. Fred Fisher
• "If I Had You" w.m. Ted Shapiro, Jimmy Campbell & Reg Connelly
• "If You Want The Rainbow" w. Mort Dixon & Billy Rose m. Oscar Levant
• "I'll Get By" w. Roy Turk m. Fred E. Ahlert
• "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas" w.m. Phil Baxter
• "I'm On The Crest Of A Wave" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "Is There Anything Wrong In That?" w.m. Michael H. Cleary & Herb Magidson
• "It Goes Like This (That Funny Melody)" w. Irving Caesar m. Cliff Friend
• "It's Tight Like That" Thomas A. Dorsey, Hudson "Tampa Red " Whittaker
• "Jeannine, I Dream Of Lilac Time" w. L. Wolfe Gilbert m. Nathaniel Shilkret
• "Jimmy, The Well-Dressed Man" w.m. Jimmy Durante
• "Let's Do It" w.m. Cole Porter
• "Let's Misbehave" w.m. Cole Porter
• "Life Upon The Wicked Stage" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Louisiana" w. Andy Razaf & Bob Schafer m. J. C. Johnson
• "Lovable" Holmes, Simons, Whiting
• "Love Me Or Leave Me" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "Lover, Come Back To Me" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romburg
• "Ma Belle" w. Clifford Grey m. Rudolf Friml
• "Mack The Knife" w. (Eng) Marc Blitzstein (Ger) Bertolt Brecht m. Kurt Weill
• "Make Believe" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "Makin' Whoopee" w. Gus Kahn m. Walter Donaldson
• "Malaguena" m. Ernesto Lecuona
• "March Of The Musketeers" w. P. G. Wodehouse & Clifford Grey m. Rudolf Friml
• "Marie" w.m. Irving Berlin
• "Memories of France" by Al Dubin
• "My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now" w. Irving Caesar m. Cliff Friend
• "My Lucky Star" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "Nagasaki" w. Mort Dixon m. Harry Warren
• "One Kiss" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" m. Clarence "Pine Top" Smith
• "A Precious Little Thing Called Love" w.m. Lou Davis & J. Fred Coots
• " 'Round Evening" w. Herb Steiner & J. Fred Coots m. George Whiting
• "She's Funny That Way" w. Richard A. Whiting m. Neil Moret
• "Short'nin' Bread" adapt. w.m. Jacques Wolfe
• "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romberg
• "The Song Of The Prune" Frank Crumit, De Costa
• "Sonny Boy" w.m. Al Jolsen, B.G. DeSylva, Lew Brown & Ray Henderson
• "St James Infirmary" w.m. Joe Primrose
• "Stack O'Lee" trad arr. Cliff Edwards
• "Stouthearted Men" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Sigmund Romburg
• "Sugar (That Sugar Baby Of Mine)" w.m. Marceo Pinkard & Sidney D. Mitchell
• "Sweet Lorraine" w. Mitchell Parish m. Cliff Burwell
• "Sweet Sue" w. Will J. Harris m. Victor Young
• "Sweetheart Of All My Dreams" w.m. Art Fitch, Kay Fitch & Bert Lowe
• "Sweethearts On Parade" w. Charles Newman m. Carmen Lombardo
• "'Tain't So, Honey, 'Tain't So" w.m. Willard Robison
• "That's My Weakness Now" w.m. Bud Green & Sam H. Stept
• "There Ain't No Sweet Man (That's Worth The Salt Of My Tears)" w.m. Fred Fisher
• "There's A Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" w.m. Dave Dreyer, Billy Rose & Al Jolson
• "Together" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "West End Blues" w.m. Joseph Oliver & Clarence Williams
• "When You're Smiling" w.m. Mark Fisher, Joe Goodwin & Larry Shay
• "Willow Tree" w. Andy Razaf m. Thomas Waller from the musical Keep Shufflin'
• "World Weary" w.m. Noel Coward
• "You Are Love" w. Oscar Hammerstein II m. Jerome Kern
• "You Took Advantage Of Me" w. Lorenz Hart m. Richard Rodgers
• "You Wouldn't Fool Me" w. B. G. De Sylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson
• "You're The Cream In My Coffee" w. B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown m. Ray Henderson

Top hits on record

• "Because My Baby Don't Mean Maybe Now" by Ruth Etting
• "Diga Diga Doo" by Duke Ellington & His Cotton Club Orchestra
• "Is There Anything Wrong In That?" by Helen Kane
• "I Wanna Be Loved By You" by Helen Kane
• "Jazz Holiday" by Ted Lewis & His Jazz Band
• "(Goodbye, Broadway) Hello, Montreal!" by Ted Lewis & His Jazz Band
• "Let's Misbehave" by Irving Aaronson & His Commanders
• "Let's Misbehave" by Helen Kane
• "Little Orphan Annie" by the Coon Sanders Nighhawks
• "Mississippi Mud" by Paul Whiteman's Orchestra
• "Makin' Whoopie" by Eddie Cantor
• "My Man" by Fanny Brice
• "That's My Weakness Now" by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra featuring Bing Crosby

Other important recordings

• "The Mooche" by Duke Ellington
• "Muggles" by Louis Armstrong
• "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" by Pinetop Smith
• "West End Blues" by Louis Armstrong

Classical music

• Aaron Avshalomov - Four Biblical Tableaux
• Granville Bantock - Pagan Symphony
• Roberto Gerhard - Wind Quintet
• Karl Amadeus Hartmann - Jazz Toccata and Fugue
• Dmitri Kabalevsky - Piano Concerto No. 1; String Quartet No. 1
• Wilhelm Kienzl - Quartet for Strings no 3 in E major
• Uuno Klami - Karelian Rhapsody
• Roger Sessions - The Black Maskers Orchestral Suite
• Leo Sowerby - Symphony No. 2

Opera

• Cyril Scott - The Alchemist

Musical theater

• Angela Broadway production
• Casanova Berlin production
• Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) Berlin production
• Funny Face London production
• Here's Howe Broadway production
• Hold Everything Broadway production
• Keep Shufflin' Broadway production opened at Daly's Theatre on February 27 and ran for 104 performances
• The New Moon (Sigmund Romberg) - Broadway production
• Oh, Lady! Lady!! Broadway production
• Show Boat (Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II) - London production
• Sunny Days Broadway production opened at the Imperial Theatre on February 8 and ran for 101 performances. It re-opened at the Century Theatre on October 1 for a further run of 32 performances.
• Whoopee Broadway production

Musical film

• Rose-Marie

Births

• January 29 - Bengt Hambraeus
• January 30 - Ruth Brown
• January 31 - Chuck Willis
• February 26 - Fats Domino
• March 31 - Lefty Frizzell
• April 1 - Jane Powell
• April 2 - Serge Gainsbourg
• April 3 - Don Gibson
• April 5 - Tony Williams, The Platters
• April 21 - Hillous Butrum country musician
• April 23 - Shirley Temple, US actress, dancer and singer
• April 29 - Carl Gardner , The Coasters
• May 4 - Maynard Ferguson
• May 12 - Burt Bacharach, US songwriter
• May 23 - Rosemary Clooney, US singer and actress
• May 27 - Thea Musgrave, composer
• June 12 - Vic Damone, US singer
• June 12 - Richard M. Sherman, US songwriter
• July 1 - Bobby Day, US singer, songwriter
• August 10 - Jimmy Dean
• August 10 - Eddie Fisher
• September 15 - Cannonball Adderly
• September 28 - Tuli Kupferberg , The Fugs
• October 9 - Einojuhani Rautavaara
• November 10 - Ennio Morricone
• November 10 - Anne Shelton , British singer
• December 30 - Bo Diddley

Deaths

• February 16 - Eddie Foy, vaudeville star
• June 19 - Nora Bayes
• August 12 - Leos Janacek, composer