Fred Rose, music · Walter Hirsch, lyrics · Introduced by vaudeville performer S. L. Stambaugh
'Deed I Do
Fred Rose wrote the music and Walter Hirsch the words for this love song in 1926. Ben Bernie's record helped make it popular, and Ruth Etting's version was a top ten hit in 1927. Singers and instrumentalists have kept playing it since, from Peggy Lee in 1947 to Milt Jackson in 1998.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Peggy Lee's 1947 record, then hears Blossom Dearie with a small band and Ray Charles with Milt Jackson. It goes on to a guitar quartet, Ella Fitzgerald with Count Basie, a live Bill Evans trio, Diana Krall, and Milt Jackson's vibraphone with a big band.
1960sElla Fitzgerald and Count Basie1963 · Big band
Bill Evans Trio1964 · Bebop
1970s
1980s
1990sDiana Krall1995 · Vocal
Milt Jackson with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra1998 · Post-bop
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Hear a 1940s vocal record
Peggy Lee with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra · 1947 · Vocal
Rendezvous with Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee recorded the song in November 1947 with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra. Capitol released it in 1948 on three 78 rpm records, her first solo album, Rendezvous with Peggy Lee.
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Listen for
Peggy Lee's voice leads and an orchestra plays behind her. The record runs 3:02.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four (the ) slowly: in bar 1, and sharing bar 2, in bar 3, in bar 4. If you only play the melody, hold a C under bars 1 and 2 and an F chord under bar 3.
Blossom Dearie recorded the song in September 1956 with guitarist Herb Ellis, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jo Jones. It is the first track on her first album for Verve, released in April 1957.
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Listen for
Dearie sings and plays piano, with guitar, bass and drums behind her. The whole track is just over two minutes, so the tune comes around quickly.
Try it on your instrument
Play 5 to 8 of the : and share bar 5, and share bar 6, then and in bar 7 and Dm7 and G7 in bar 8. Then play bars 1 to 8 again, since the A section comes round twice at the start.
Ray Charles and Milt Jackson recorded the song in New York on September 12, 1957, with tenor saxophonist Billy Mitchell, bassist Oscar Pettiford and drummer Connie Kay. Atlantic issued it on the album Soul Brothers.
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At 5:51 this is the longest track so far on the path. The lineup is vibes, saxophones, piano, bass and drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the over and over with a steady beat, the way a long track like this keeps coming round. Soloing over is a bigger step; a smaller version is to play only the root of each chord on every beat.
Guitarist Tal Farlow recorded the song at WOR Studios in New York on February 17, 1958, with pianist Eddie Costa, bassist Knobby Totah and drummer Jimmy Campbell. It appears on his Verve album This Is Tal Farlow.
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Farlow's guitar carries the tune over piano, bass and drums. The track is about three and a half minutes long.
Try it on your instrument
Learn the : for two , then , , and A7 in bars 3 to 6, in bar 7 and with in bar 8. A smaller version is to play only the root of each : F, F, B, E, A, A, D, then D and G.
Ella Fitzgerald recorded the song with Count Basie and his orchestra in New York on July 15 and 16, 1963, in arrangements by Quincy Jones. Verve released it that September on Ella and Basie!
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Fitzgerald sings with the full Basie band behind her, trumpets, trombones and saxophones included. The track lasts 2:43.
Try it on your instrument
Sing or hum the tune over the of the whole : A, A, B, A. Note where two chords share a bar: and in bar 2, and in bar 5, and in bar 6.
“'Deed I Do (Live at the Trident, version 2)”, The Complete Bill Evans on Verve
The Bill Evans Trio played the song live at The Trident in Sausalito, California, on July 9, 1964, with bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker. Verve first issued it in 1997 in The Complete Bill Evans on Verve.
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Only piano, bass and drums play, and the track runs 6:18, nearly three times the length of Blossom Dearie's. It was recorded in front of a club audience.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 once at a slow tempo: A, A, B, A. Then count how many times the form comes round while you listen to the 6:18 track.
“Deed I Do”, All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio
Diana Krall recorded the song at the Power Station in New York City between October 3 and 8, 1995, with guitarist Russell Malone and bassist Paul Keller. It is on All for You, her 1996 album dedicated to the Nat King Cole Trio.
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Krall sings and plays piano, with a guitar and a bass accompanying her. The track lasts 3:32.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last on its own, then its ending: in 7, then and sharing bar 8. If you can, loop those two bars until the change feels easy.
Milt Jackson with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra · 1998 · Post-bop, Big band
“Deed I Do”, Explosive!
Vibraphonist Milt Jackson recorded the song with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra in Los Angeles on June 9 and 10, 1998. It came out in 1999 on the album Explosive!, with bassist John Clayton Jr. as arranger and conductor.
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Milt Jackson's vibraphone plays with a full big band of trumpets, trombones and saxophones. The track runs 5:23.
Try it on your instrument
Write out the chart on one page, A, A, B, A, and play through it twice. Note where the starts: bar 17, on .
Rose and Hirsch wrote the song in 1926. Vaudeville performer S. L. Stambaugh introduced it, Ben Bernie's record popularized it, and Ruth Etting's version was a top ten hit in 1927.
1940s
Peggy Lee recorded it in November 1947 with Dave Barbour and His Orchestra. Capitol released it in 1948 on her first solo album, Rendezvous with Peggy Lee.
1950s
Blossom Dearie sang it with guitar, bass and drums in 1956. Ray Charles and Milt Jackson played it in 1957, Tal Farlow's quartet in 1958, and Charles sang it with a big band in 1959.
1960s
Ella Fitzgerald sang it with Count Basie's orchestra in 1963, in arrangements by Quincy Jones. The Bill Evans Trio played it live at The Trident, a club in Sausalito, in 1964.
1990s
Diana Krall recorded it in 1995 for an album dedicated to the Nat King Cole Trio. Milt Jackson played it in 1998 with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.
More great versions
2 more, from 1926 to 1959. Tap a cover to play it here.
1920sRuth Etting1926
1930s
1940s
1950sRay Charles1959 · Soul jazz
Ruth Etting
1926
Presenting Ruth Etting
Ruth Etting's version of the song was a top ten hit in 1927. Vaudeville performer S. L. Stambaugh had introduced it, and Ben Bernie's recording had made it popular.
Ray Charles sang the song with a studio big band on The Genius of Ray Charles, recorded in New York on May 6 and June 23, 1959. Quincy Jones arranged it, and Zoot Sims and David "Fathead" Newman played tenor saxophone.
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
C majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
C major → F major → C majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
C
F
C
C
Four sections run A, A, B, A. The opens on in bar 1, with and sharing bar 2, then in bar 3 and in bar 4. and share bar 5, and and share bar 6. Bar 7 is C6 and the first time through and plain C6 the second time. Bar 8 is Dm7 and G7 the first time, which sends the tune back to the top, and Gm7 and C7 the second time, which leads into the . The bridge sits on Fmaj7 for two bars, then , , A7 and A7 fill bars 3 to 6, takes bar 7, and Dm7 with G7 in bar 8 returns to C. The last A repeats the opening, with C6 in bar 7 and Dm7 with G7 in bar 8. The follow the iReal Pro chart; players often vary them.