Walter Jurmann and Bronisław Kaper, music · Gus Kahn, lyrics · Introduced by Ivie Anderson in the film A Day at the Races, 1937
All God's Chillun Got Rhythm
Ivie Anderson sang this 1937 song in the Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races. Miles Davis's "Little Willie Leaps" is built on the of this song. Ivie Anderson, Judy Garland, Bud Powell, Clifford Brown, Stan Getz and Mel Tormé all recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Ivie Anderson and the Ellington band in 1937, then follows Judy Garland and Bud Powell's trio. It moves through Sonny Stitt, Clifford Brown and Max Roach, and Stan Getz, and ends with Mel Tormé and George Shearing in 1982 and Barry Harris playing alone in 1990.
1930sIvie Anderson with Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra1937
Judy Garland1937
1940sBud Powell Trio1949 · Bebop
Sonny Stitt Quartet1949 · Bebop
1950sClifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet1954 · Hard bop
Stan Getz1957 · Bebop
1960s
1970s
1980sGeorge Shearing and Mel Tormé1982 · Bebop
1990sBarry Harris1990 · Bebop
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Ivie Anderson with Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (issued as Ivie Anderson and Her Boys from Dixie) · 1937
All God's Chillun Got Rhythm
According to JazzStandards.com, Ivie Anderson introduced the song in the 1937 Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races. Duke Ellington's orchestra recorded it with her in New York on June 8, 1937, and the vocal side was issued on Variety as by Ivie Anderson and Her Boys from Dixie.
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Ivie Anderson sings with the whole Ellington band behind her, and alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges takes a solo. The record lasts 2:22.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four of the slowly, two to a bar: , , , Gm7 C7. Hum the melody over them. Smaller version: play only the first chord of each bar.
“All God's Chillun Got Rhythm (Single Version)”, All God's Chillun Got Rhythm / Everybody Sing
Judy Garland recorded the song for Decca in Los Angeles on August 30, 1937, along with Everybody Sing. The Complete Decca Masters (Plus) collects it as the single version.
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Garland carries the whole song herself while an orchestra plays behind her. The record lasts 3:04.
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Sing the tune over the : , , , Gm7 C7, Fmaj7 Dm7, Gm7 C7, , . Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
Bud Powell recorded this in New York in February 1949 with Ray Brown on bass and Max Roach on drums. It came out on a Mercury single and on the 10-inch LP Piano Solos in 1950.
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Powell plays piano with only bass and drums, and the whole record lasts 3:02. Listen to how closely the drums and bass follow the piano.
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Play the : , , , , , , , C7. Smaller version: play only the roots of 9 to 12: B, E, A, D, G, C, F.
Sonny Stitt recorded this in New York on December 11, 1949, with Bud Powell on piano, Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. Prestige first put it out as a single in 1950 under the title All God's Children Got Rhythm.
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Stitt plays tenor saxophone, with Bud Powell on piano behind him and the rest of the . The record lasts 2:58, so each solo is brief.
Try it on your instrument
Play the closing : , , , D7, Gm7, C7, , F6. Smaller version: play only the last four , Gm7, C7, F6, F6, to hear the tune come home.
Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet · 1954 · Hard bop
The Best of Max Roach and Clifford Brown in Concert!
The Clifford Brown and Max Roach quintet played this live at the California Club in Los Angeles in April 1954. Gene Norman released the concert on his Gene Norman Presents label.
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Brown plays trumpet and Teddy Edwards plays tenor saxophone, with Max Roach's drums behind them. This live take runs 6:11, about twice as long as the 1949 records.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last two of the , then , and land on where the returns. Loop them until the move feels easy.
Stan Getz recorded this at the Capitol Tower in Los Angeles on August 2, 1957, with Lou Levy, Leroy Vinnegar and Stan Levey. Verve issued it on the album Award Winner.
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Getz plays tenor saxophone with a piano, bass and drums . At 7:43 it is more than twice the length of the 1949 records, so he has room to build his solo.
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Play the two that end the , and , and listen to how D7♭9 pulls toward the next section. Then play them leading into the 's .
George Shearing and Mel Tormé · 1982 · Bebop, Vocal
An Evening with George Shearing and Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé and George Shearing recorded this live in San Francisco on April 15, 1982. It opens An Evening with George Shearing and Mel Tormé, the first of six albums they made together for Concord.
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Mel Tormé sings and George Shearing plays piano, with a live audience in the room. The track lasts 3:37.
Try it on your instrument
Play the with in your left hand and the melody in your right, slowly: , , , Gm7 C7, Fmaj7 Dm7, Gm7 C7, , . Smaller version: play four and hum the rest.
Barry Harris played this alone at Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley, California, on March 12, 1990. It is on Volume Twelve of Concord's Maybeck series of solo piano recitals.
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Harris plays alone, so one piano carries the tune, the and the beat. The track lasts 4:38.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole slowly with in your left hand and the tune in your right: , , , Gm7 C7, Fmaj7 Dm7, Gm7 C7, , . Smaller version: play the first four .
Ivie Anderson sings the song in the Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races. Duke Ellington's orchestra records it with her in June 1937, and Bunny Berigan's band and Judy Garland record it before the year is out.
1940s
Red Rodney's Be-Boppers record it in January 1947. Bud Powell's trio plays it in 1949, and Sonny Stitt's quartet, with Powell on piano, records it in December.
1950s
Al Haig's trio records it in New York in March 1954, and Clifford Brown and Max Roach's quintet plays it live in Los Angeles that April. Stan Getz records a version of nearly eight minutes in Los Angeles in 1957.
1980s
George Shearing and Mel Tormé record it live in San Francisco in April 1982. It opens the first of their six albums together for Concord.
1990s
Barry Harris plays it solo at Maybeck Recital Hall in March 1990. Kenny Barron's trio and Hal Galper also record it that year, and Tony Bennett sings it in 1998.
More great versions
7 more, from 1937 to 1998. Tap a cover to play it here.
1930sBunny Berigan1937
1940sRed Rodney's Be-Boppers1947
1950sAl Haig Trio1954 · Bebop
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990sHal Galper1990 · Post-bop
Kenny Barron1990 · Bebop
Melvin Rhyne Quartet1993 · Soul jazz
Tony Bennett1998
Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra
1937
All God's Chillun Got Rhythm
Bunny Berigan's band recorded it for Victor in New York on June 18, 1937, in an arrangement by Joe Lippman with a vocal by Ruth Bradley.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
F majorusual key
32 barsA · B · A · C form
F major · A minor · D minor · G minorkeys it moves between
A8 bars
B8 bars
A8 bars
C8 bars
F
A m
F
D m
F
F
A m
F
G m
F
The , 1 to 8, is , , , Gm7 C7, Fmaj7 Dm7, Gm7 C7, , . The , bars 9 to 16, runs , Am7 D7, Gm7 C7, Fmaj7, then , Dm7, , C7, so each pair of steps down toward F before the tune turns to and back. The A section returns in bars 17 to 24. The , bars 25 to 32, starts like the B section, then plays D7, Gm7, C7 and ends on . These follow the iReal Pro chart; other lead sheets may spell some chords differently.