A refined syncopated piece by the English master of the 'novelty piano' style, Billy Mayerl. It blends sophisticated jazz-inflected harmonies with a lyrical, flowing structure.
At Henle 4 this is an intermediate piece that expects secure technique and real attention to phrasing. The main demands: rubato that must breathe naturally without losing the pulse; chord voicing — bringing out one note inside a handful of others; and continuous sixteenth-note figuration that must ripple, not chatter.
Achieving the correct 'swing' feel while maintaining the smooth, elegant lines of the melody requires subtle rubato.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
A level or two down with the same spirit — ideal if this piece is still out of reach.
Where this piece's skills lead: slightly harder works making similar technical demands.
Crazy Days is rated Henle level 4 of 9 — intermediate repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 5–6. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 6.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 4 — meaning you can already play level 3–4 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of Crazy Days lasts about 3.5 minutes.
Crazy Days is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.
Pieces at a comparable difficulty and character include Christmas Medley by Billy Joseph Mayerl, Canaries' Serenade by Billy Joseph Mayerl, Waltz No. 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.