Harold Arlen, music · Ted Koehler, lyrics · Sung by Ruth Etting in The Nine-Fifteen Revue, 1930
Get Happy
Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler wrote it in 1929, and Ruth Etting sang it in a 1930 Broadway revue. Musicians often play it at a bright, fast tempo, and singers find its words tricky, says JazzStandards.com. Hear it in Judy Garland's 1950 film Summer Stock and on records by Art Tatum and Brad Mehldau.
Listen in this order
The path starts with a 1930 dance-band record, then hears Art Tatum alone at the piano and a 1945 session with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Next come Judy Garland's film version, a sextet with Clifford Brown, an organ trio live in 1956, Ella Fitzgerald with Billy May's orchestra, and a nearly ten-minute trio track from Brad Mehldau.
1960sElla Fitzgerald with Billy May1960 · Big band
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000sBrad Mehldau Trio2002 · Contemporary jazz
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Hear a dance-band version from 1930
Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra · 1930
OKeh 78 rpm single
Frankie Trumbauer's orchestra recorded it in New York in May 1930, a few months after the song's stage debut. The band included violinist Joe Venuti and guitarist Eddie Lang, and OKeh issued the record as 41431.
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A full band plays the song when it was new, with Joe Venuti on violin and Eddie Lang on guitar among the horns. Trumbauer also sings.
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Play the first four of the as , two chords per bar: , , , Gm7 C7. Smaller version: play only the first chord of each bar, F6, Gm7, Am7, Gm7.
Hear Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie on the song
Red Norvo and His Selected Sextet · 1945
Comet 78 rpm single
Red Norvo led this sextet at WOR Studios in New York on June 6, 1945, with Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet and Charlie Parker on alto saxophone. Comet issued this take as T-7.
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Gillespie's trumpet, Parker's alto saxophone and Flip Phillips on tenor saxophone share the with Norvo's vibraphone. Teddy Wilson plays piano behind them.
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Play the 's first four on a loop: , , , . Smaller version: play only the first of each bar, Cm7, B♭m7, Am7, Gm7.
Judy Garland sings it in Summer Stock, her last film for MGM, which opened on August 31, 1950. The number was filmed in March 1950, after her main work on the picture had ended in early February.
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Garland sings with a full film-studio orchestra, not a jazz group. The track runs under three minutes.
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Play the 's last four as : , , , F6 . Smaller version: play only F6, B♭6, F6, F6.
J.J. Johnson led this sextet at WOR Studios in New York on June 22, 1953, with Clifford Brown on trumpet and Jimmy Heath on tenor saxophone. John Lewis, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke, the Modern Jazz Quartet's , played piano, bass and drums.
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Trumpet, trombone and tenor saxophone play together at the front. Johnson, Heath and Brown each then take a solo.
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Play the second 's first four as in B♭: , , , Cm7 F7. Smaller version: play only B♭6, Cm7, Dm7, Cm7.
The Incredible Jimmy Smith at Club "Baby Grand" Wilmington, Delaware, Volume 2
Jimmy Smith recorded it live on August 4, 1956, in the night's third set at Club Baby Grand in Wilmington, Delaware. Blue Note issued it in 1957 on the second volume of the club recordings.
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Smith plays organ with a guitar and drums, and the track runs more than seven minutes. Near the end he plays a solo flourish on his own.
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Play the 's pattern as : , , , . Soloing over it needs more skill; the smaller version is to play only the first chord of each bar, Cm7, B♭m7, Am7 and Gm7.
Ella Fitzgerald with Billy May and His Orchestra · 1960 · Big band
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Song Book
Ella Fitzgerald sang it with Billy May's orchestra in August 1960 for her Harold Arlen songbook, produced by Norman Granz. Verve released the set in 1961.
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The track opens with a slow , then settles into a relaxed medium tempo behind Ella's voice. Billy May wrote the band arrangement.
Try it on your instrument
Play the 's first four as slow : , , , . Smaller version: play only the first chord of each bar, Cm7, B♭m7, Am7, Gm7.
Brad Mehldau's trio opens its 2004 album Anything Goes with this track. The group recorded the album at Avatar Studios in New York on October 8 and 9, 2002, and the track runs nearly ten minutes.
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A trio of piano, bass and drums takes the song to nearly ten minutes, the longest version on this path.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole as once through: , , , , then the same four again. Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler write it in 1929, soon after signing with the Piantadosi company. It is the first song they compose together.
1930s
Ruth Etting sings it in The Nine-Fifteen Revue, which opens in February 1930 and runs only seven performances. Frankie Trumbauer's orchestra records it that May with Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang.
1940s
Art Tatum plays it alone for Decca in Los Angeles in 1940. In 1945, Red Norvo leads a sextet with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker through it.
1950s
Judy Garland sings it in the 1950 film Summer Stock, and Bud Powell's trio records it that year. J.J. Johnson's sextet with Clifford Brown, Jimmy Smith's organ trio and Sonny Rollins's trio all follow before the decade ends.
1960s
Ella Fitzgerald sings it with Billy May's orchestra in 1960 for her Harold Arlen songbook, which Verve releases in 1961.
1970s
Tommy Flanagan's trio, with George Mraz and Connie Kay, records it in 1978 for an album of Arlen songs.
2000s
Brad Mehldau's trio records it in October 2002, and it opens his 2004 album Anything Goes. The track runs nearly ten minutes.
More great versions
6 more, from 1950 to 1978. Tap a cover to play it here.
Bud Powell recorded it in New York in February 1950 with Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. According to JazzStandards.com, this trio version demonstrated the bright tempo often tied to the song afterward.
Kenny Burrell recorded it with Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers, Kenny Clarke and conga player Candido at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on May 29, 1956. Blue Note first issued it in 1957 on Kenny Burrell (Vol. 2).
Sonny Rollins played it in the evening set at the Village Vanguard in New York on November 3, 1957, in a trio of tenor saxophone, bass and drums with Wilbur Ware and Elvin Jones. The long take runs close to nine minutes.
Mal Waldron recorded it with Addison Farmer on bass and Kenny Dennis on drums at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on September 26, 1958. It appears on the Mal/4 Trio album, issued in 1959 on New Jazz.
Milt Jackson on vibraphone and Coleman Hawkins on tenor saxophone recorded it with a of Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Burrell, Eddie Jones and Connie Kay in New York on September 12, 1958.
Tommy Flanagan recorded it with George Mraz on bass and Connie Kay on drums in New York on September 30 and October 2, 1978. It is track 7 on his album of Harold Arlen songs.
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 · A · B · A form
F major · B♭ major · A♭ major · G majorkeys it moves between
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
F
B♭
A♭
G
F
B♭
A♭
G
F
The first runs eight in : , , , Gm7 C7, F6 , , C7, F6 . It ends on F7, which leads into the second A, played in : B♭6 Gm7, F7, Dm7 , Cm7 F7, B♭6 , , F7, B♭6. The , bars 17 to 24, plays one four-bar pattern twice: Cm7 F7, , Am7 D7, Gm7 C7. Each pair of points at the next one down, toward B♭, A♭, G and then F, so the second pass lands back in F for the last A. The last A repeats the first and ends on F6 C7. According to JazzStandards.com, Arlen's original is in with the second A in , one step lower than this chart. These chords follow the iReal Pro chart; other lead sheets may spell some chords differently.