Cole Porter, music and lyrics · Introduced by Don Ameche in Silk Stockings
All of You
Cole Porter wrote the words and music for the 1955 Broadway musical Silk Stockings. It runs 32 in four eight-bar parts, with the opening part returning before the closing one. Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett's trio all recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Ella Fitzgerald singing the song in 1956, then goes back to 1955 for Ahmad Jamal's trio and the Modern Jazz Quartet. It moves through Miles Davis's quintet and Sarah Vaughan live, and ends with Bill Evans, Miles Davis in concert and Keith Jarrett's trio.
Ella Fitzgerald recorded it in Hollywood in February 1956, with an orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman. It is on her Cole Porter Song Book, the first of her Song Book albums and the first release on Verve.
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Ella Fitzgerald sings with an orchestra, and a piano, a guitar, a bass and drums are among the players listed for this track. The track lasts only 1:44.
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Play the first four of the : , , , . Smaller version: play only the first two bars, A♭m6 then E♭maj7.
Ahmad Jamal's trio recorded it in Chicago on May 23, 1955, for an album first issued that year on Parrot. The trio used piano, guitar and bass, a lineup modeled on Nat King Cole's trio.
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Ahmad Jamal's piano is joined by Ray Crawford's guitar and Israel Crosby's bass. The three play together for 3:15.
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Play the last eight , bars 25 to 32: , , , , , , , E♭6. Smaller version: play only bars 29 to 32, Fm7, B♭7, E♭6, E♭6.
The Modern Jazz Quartet recorded it at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on July 2, 1955. It came out that year on their album Concorde, Prestige PR 7005.
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Listen for Milt Jackson's vibraphone alongside John Lewis's piano, with Percy Heath's bass and Connie Kay's drums underneath. The track runs 4:28.
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Play the , 9 to 16: , , , , , , Fm7, B♭7. Smaller version: play only bars 9 to 12.
Miles Davis's quintet recorded it at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York on September 10, 1956, with John Coltrane on tenor saxophone. It came out in 1957 on 'Round About Midnight, Columbia CL 949.
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Miles Davis's trumpet and John Coltrane's tenor saxophone play over Red Garland's piano, Paul Chambers's bass and Philly Joe Jones's drums. The track lasts 7:08.
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Play 17 to 24, then bars 1 to 8, and compare the endings. Bars 23 and 24 are and , where bars 7 and 8 are and . Smaller version: play only bars 5 to 8 and then bars 21 to 24.
Sarah Vaughan recorded it live at The London House in Chicago on March 7, 1958. It was issued in 1959 on After Hours at the London House, Mercury MG-20383.
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Sarah Vaughan sings with Ronnell Bright's piano, Richard Davis's bass and Roy Haynes's drums, recorded live in Chicago. The track lasts 4:15.
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Play 13 and 14: , then . The bass notes step down E♭, D, D♭, C; play them alone first, then add the .
“All of You (take 2)”, Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Bill Evans's trio played it in the first evening set at the Village Vanguard in New York on June 25, 1961. Take 2 came out that year on Riverside RLP 376, Sunday at the Village Vanguard.
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Bill Evans's piano, Scott LaFaro's bass and Paul Motian's drums play together for 8:19, more than twice as long as Ahmad Jamal's trio in 1955.
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Play all 32 once, in the left hand and the melody in the right. Smaller version: play only bars 1 to 8 and repeat them.
Miles Davis's quintet played it in the first set of a concert at Philharmonic Hall in New York's Lincoln Center on February 12, 1964. It came out in 1965 on Miles Davis in Concert: My Funny Valentine, Columbia CL 2306.
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Miles Davis plays with George Coleman's tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock's piano, Ron Carter's bass and Tony Williams's drums. At 14:55 it is the longest track on this path.
Try it on your instrument
Loop the last eight , bars 25 to 32: , , , , , , , E♭6. Soloing over them takes more experience; the smaller version is to loop only bars 27 to 30: Gm7, C7, Fm7, B♭7.
Cole Porter writes it in 1954 for Silk Stockings, and Don Ameche sings it in the 1955 Broadway show. Ahmad Jamal's trio and the Modern Jazz Quartet record it in 1955, and Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis's quintet follow in 1956.
1960s
Bill Evans's trio records it live at the Village Vanguard in 1961. McCoy Tyner's trio plays it at Newport in 1963, and Miles Davis's quintet stretches it to nearly fifteen minutes at Lincoln Center in 1964.
1980s
Keith Jarrett's trio plays it live in Oslo and in Cologne in October 1989. Those two takes come out on ECM albums in 1995 and 1990.
2010s
Avishai Cohen and pianist Nitai Hershkovits play it as a bass and piano duo on Duende in 2012. Harry Connick, Jr. sings it on his 2019 Cole Porter album, True Love.
More great versions
7 more, from 1955 to 2019. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sDon Ameche and Hildegard Neff, with Herbert Greene conducting the Silk Stockings Orchestra1955
Helen Merrill with the Bobby Jaspar Quintet1958 · Cool jazz
Anita O'Day with Billy May1959 · Bebop
1960sMcCoy Tyner Trio1963 · Post-bop
1970s
1980sKeith Jarrett Trio1989 · Contemporary jazz
1990s
2000s
2010sAvishai Cohen with Nitai Hershkovits2012 · Contemporary jazz
Harry Connick, Jr.2019
Don Ameche and Hildegard Neff, with Herbert Greene conducting the Silk Stockings Orchestra
1955
“It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All / All of You”, Silk Stockings
Don Ameche introduced the song in the 1955 Broadway musical Silk Stockings. The cast album joins it to It's a Chemical Reaction, That's All in one 4:05 track.
Helen Merrill recorded it in New York on February 21, 1958, with a quintet that included Bill Evans on piano. It is on her album The Nearness of You, EmArcy MG-36134.
Keith Jarrett's trio played it in Oslo on October 7, 1989, eight days before its Cologne version. This one came out in 1995 as the opening track of Standards in Norway, ECM 1542.
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
E♭ majorusual key
32 barsA · B · A · C form
E♭ majorkey centers
A8 bars
B8 bars
A8 bars
C8 bars
E♭
The tune is 32 in the order A, B, A, C and stays in . Each section is 8 bars. Bars 1 to 8 play , , and , twice. The , bars 9 to 16, plays , , , B♭7, E♭maj7 , , Fm7 and B♭7. The third section, bars 17 to 24, repeats the opening, but bars 23 and 24 change to and C7. The last section, bars 25 to 32, plays , , Gm7, C7, Fm7, B♭7, and E♭6. The iReal Pro chart marks an optional B♭ pedal in the . The single area is approximate: the tune visits related but never settles in another key. These follow the iReal Pro chart; other lead sheets may spell some chords differently.