Don Redman, music · Andy Razaf, lyrics · First recorded by McKinney's Cotton Pickers, 1929
Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You
Don Redman wrote the music and Andy Razaf the words, and McKinney's Cotton Pickers recorded it in 1929. It is only sixteen long, with a slow, bluesy swing that leaves room for a singer or a soloist. Nat King Cole's 1943 trio record brought it back, and Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Diana Krall recorded it later.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the 1929 original and Chu Berry's 1941 revival, then the Nat King Cole Trio's hit. Billie Holiday and the Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong duet follow, then two instrumental versions by Art Blakey's band and Kenny Burrell, and Diana Krall's tribute to Cole closes it.
1960sArt Blakey and the Jazz Messengers1961 · Hard bop
Kenny Burrell1963 · Soul jazz
1970s
1980s
1990sDiana Krall1995 · Vocal
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Hear the original
McKinney's Cotton Pickers · 1929
“Gee, Ain't I Good to You”, Gee, Ain't I Good to You
McKinney's Cotton Pickers recorded the song for Victor in New York on November 5, 1929. Don Redman, the band's musical director, wrote it and sings the vocal. According to JazzStandards.com, nobody recorded it again until Chu Berry in 1941.
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Listen for
Listen to Redman's vocal, which is soft and close to spoken, the style he used with this band. Then compare it with the fuller singing on the versions that follow.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four of the chart slowly, two to a bar: , C7, , G7. Hum the tune over them, then play it again from the top.
Chu Berry and His Jazz Ensemble (with Hot Lips Page) · 1941
“Gee, Ain't I Good to You”, On the Sunny Side of the Street / Gee, Ain't I Good to You
Chu Berry's group recorded the song on August 28, 1941, for Milt Gabler's Commodore label in New York, with Hot Lips Page on trumpet and vocal. According to JazzStandards.com, it was the first recording of the song since 1929. The linked track is labelled as an alternate take from the same session, which may differ from the one issued on the 78.
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Listen for
Page plays the tune on trumpet, then sings it, and Berry follows with a tenor saxophone solo. The pace is a relaxed stroll.
Try it on your instrument
Play the on its own: , , A♭6 A°7, . Listen for how it lifts away from the opening and leads back to it.
The King Cole Trio recorded the song at its first Capitol session, on November 30, 1943, and Capitol released it in 1944. According to JazzStandards.com, Cole's version brought the song back into vogue.
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Listen for
Cole's vocal comes first, and Oscar Moore plays a guitar solo. Only three players are on the record: piano, guitar and bass.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 16 at a slow tempo, two to a bar, with just a chord instrument and a bass line, the way the trio plays. Put the melody on top.
Holiday recorded the song at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles on January 9, 1957, with a band that included Ben Webster and Harry Edison. Verve released it that year on her album Body and Soul.
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Listen for
Holiday sings, and the band takes turns in the spotlight: Rowles on piano, Kessel on guitar, Webster on tenor saxophone and Edison on trumpet. At more than five minutes, the track gives each of them room.
Try it on your instrument
Play only , , and , one per , under the first . Then add the , C7 and in between.
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong · 1957 · Swing, Vocal
“Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You?”, Ella and Louis Again
Fitzgerald and Armstrong recorded the song at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on July 23, 1957, with Oscar Peterson's group and drummer Louie Bellson. Verve released it that October on Ella and Louis Again, their second album together.
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Listen for
Fitzgerald and Armstrong share the song, and Armstrong also plays trumpet. Peterson's piano, Ellis's guitar, Brown's bass and Bellson's drums stay behind the two voices.
Try it on your instrument
Try it with a partner: one of you plays the melody and the other plays the . Swap roles for the second time through.
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers · 1961 · Hard bop
Art Blakey! Jazz Messengers!
The Jazz Messengers recorded it on June 14, 1961, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, with a band that included Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller and Wayne Shorter. It was not on the original Impulse! LP, and the earliest release found is a 1996 CD.
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Listen for
Shorter plays the tune on tenor saxophone over a slow groove. Then the beat doubles up for solos by Shorter and Fuller, and eases back for Morgan on trumpet and Timmons on piano.
Try it on your instrument
Play one slow , then a second chorus in a double-time feel, with the moving at the same speed and your playing twice as busy. Soloing over the chords takes more skill; the smaller version is to play the melody in the faster feel.
Burrell recorded it on January 8, 1963, at Van Gelder Studio, during the Midnight Blue session. He plays it with only bass and drums, and Blue Note released the album that May.
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Listen for
Burrell plays the tune and the solo on guitar with only bass and drums behind him.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first with short, spaced-out and a bass note on each chord's root: C, A♭, G, C, F, B♭, E♭, G. Keep the melody on top.
All for You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio
Krall recorded it in October 1995 at Power Station in New York for All for You, an album she made as a tribute to the Nat King Cole Trio. Her trio has piano, guitar and bass, the same make-up as Cole's.
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Listen for
Krall sings and plays piano, with guitar and bass only, the same line-up as Cole's 1943 trio. Compare Russell Malone's guitar with Oscar Moore's on the earlier record.
Try it on your instrument
Play the tune twice in a row: the first time with the melody, the second as a quiet accompaniment, so you hear the same 16 both ways.
Don Redman writes the song with lyrics by Andy Razaf. McKinney's Cotton Pickers record it for Victor in New York in November 1929, with Redman singing.
1940s
Chu Berry and Hot Lips Page record it in August 1941. The King Cole Trio's version of November 1943 follows, and Capitol releases it in 1944.
1950s
Billie Holiday sings it in January 1957 with Ben Webster and Harry Edison. In July 1957 Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong record it with Oscar Peterson's group, and Sonny Clark's trio records it in 1958.
1960s
Stanley Turrentine plays it with the Three Sounds in December 1960. Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers record it in June 1961, and Kenny Burrell's guitar trio in January 1963.
1980s
Shirley Horn plays piano and sings it with her trio in July 1981.
1990s
Diana Krall's trio records it in October 1995 on All for You, a tribute to the Nat King Cole Trio.
2010s
John Scofield's quartet records it for A Moment's Peace, released on EmArcy in May 2011.
More great versions
6 more, from 1958 to 2011. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sSonny Clark Trio1958 · Hard bop
1960sStanley Turrentine with the Three Sounds1960 · Cool jazz
Etta Jones1962 · Vocal
Joe Williams with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra1966 · Big band
“Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You (alternate take)”, Blues in the Night
Clark's trio recorded two takes at Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack on November 16, 1958. Blue Note put one on a 1959 single; this is the other take, first issued in Japan in 1979.
Presenting Joe Williams and Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, The Jazz Orchestra
Joe Williams, who often recorded the song with Count Basie, sang it in September 1966 with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band in New York for Solid State.
“Gee Baby Ain't I Good to You”, Violets for Your Furs
Shirley Horn sang and played piano on it in July 1981 with bassist Charles Ables and drummer Billy Hart, for her SteepleChase album Violets for Your Furs.
John Scofield recorded it with Larry Goldings, Scott Colley and Brian Blade at Sear Sound in New York, and EmArcy released it in May 2011 on A Moment's Peace.
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
16 barsA · A · B · A form
E♭ → A♭ → E♭key centers
A4 bars
A4 bars
B4 bars
A4 bars
E♭
A♭
E♭
The chart in iReal Pro has 16 in , laid out A, A, B, A with four bars each, at a slow swing. Each A runs , C7, , G7, so it starts away from home on C7 and steps back to E♭. The second A ends on E♭6 instead, which sets up the move to A♭. B stays in A♭ for three bars ( , E♭7, A♭6 A°7) and finishes on G7, which leads into the last A. That A ends on E♭6 A♭7 G7 so the tune can turn around for the next .