Irving Berlin, music and lyrics · Introduced on the radio in 1932
How Deep Is the Ocean? is a 1932 song for which Irving Berlin wrote both the music and the words. The opens in and moves through falling that lead to C minor and . Bing Crosby recorded it in 1932, and Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Stan Getz recorded it in 1947 and 1952.
The path opens with three singers: Crosby in 1932, Holiday in 1954 and Fitzgerald in 1958. It then moves to instrumentals by Parker, Davis, Getz, Criss and the Bill Evans Trio, each of which plays the same changes in a different setting.
8 recordings, 1932 to 1961 · Play all 8 on YouTube ↗
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Bing Crosby · 1932
Brunswick 78 rpm single
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Play the first four of the from the iReal chart: , , Cm7, .
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Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra · 1954 · Swing
Billie Holiday
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Play the first four of the from the iReal chart: for two bars, then for two bars. The moves up a fourth to the A♭7 in bar 11.
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Ella Fitzgerald · 1958 · Big band, Swing
“How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky)”, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book
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Play 5 to 8 of the from the iReal chart: , , Gm7 , . The roots of the last three bars step down G, G♭, F before the B♭7.
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Charlie Parker (Original Charlie Parker Quintet with J.J. Johnson) · 1947 · Bebop
How Deep Is The Ocean / Crazeology
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Play the first four of the from the iReal chart: , , , . The A♭m7 D♭7 pair leads back to E♭maj7 in bar 29.
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Miles Davis · 1952 · Bebop
“How Deep Is the Ocean”, Miles Davis Volume 1
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Play 5 to 8 of the from the iReal chart: , B7, , then . The B7 drops a half step to B♭7, and the Dm7♭5 G7♭9 leads back to .
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Stan Getz Quintet · 1952 · Bebop
“How Deep Is the Ocean”, The Artistry of Stan Getz
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Play 1 to 5 of the chart: , , Cm7, , . Name the each points to: the G7♭9 resolves to Cm7 and the D7♭9 resolves to Gm7.
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Sonny Criss Quartet · 1956
“How Deep Is the Ocean”, Go Man!
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Write the form and mark which sections share the same . In the iReal chart the first and third sections are identical, and the last eight are new.
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Bill Evans Trio · 1961 · Post-bop, Modal jazz
Explorations
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Play 5 to 8 of the from the iReal chart: , , , . The G7♭9 in the last bar leads back to Cm7 at the start of the next .
6 more, from 1956 to 1997. Tap a cover to play it here.
1956 · Cool jazz
“How Deep Is the Ocean”, Clarinescapade
Jaspar recorded the song in Paris on November 12, 1956, with Tommy Flanagan on piano and Elvin Jones on drums.
1956 · Hard bop
“How Deep Is The Ocean”, Tenor Conclave
Four tenor saxophonists play the song on one 1956 Prestige session with Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor. The track runs about fifteen minutes.
1962 · Hard bop
“How Deep Is The Ocean?”, The Cup Bearers
Mitchell recorded the song in New York in August 1962 with Junior Cook on tenor saxophone. It runs about six and a half minutes.
1992 · Bebop, Swing
“How Deep Is The Ocean?”, Meditation: Solo Guitar
Pass plays the song alone on guitar at Yoshi's in Oakland in early 1992. The recording came out on Pablo in 2002.
1997 · Contemporary jazz, Vocal
“How Deep Is the Ocean (How High Is the Sky)”, Love Scenes
Krall sings and plays piano on the song for her 1997 album Love Scenes, recorded at Avatar in New York City.
1997
“How Deep Is the Ocean”, RichLee!
Konitz on alto and Perry on tenor saxophone play the song for almost twelve minutes with Harold Danko, Jay Anderson and Billy Drummond.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
The is 32 in form. The opens on , then leads to Cm7 in bar 3 and leads to in bar 5. Bars 6 to 8 play Am7♭5 D7♭9, Gm7 and , which returns the tune to the top of the next section. The plays for two bars, for two bars and for two bars, then B♭7 and Dm7♭5 G7♭9, which leads back to Cm7 for the second A. The runs , , Fm7, , E♭maj7 , Cm7 , Fm7 B♭7 and G7♭9. The and the in the B section are counted as part of , so the page lists one area. These follow the iReal Pro chart.
Chart from iReal Pro's Jazz 1460 playlist, contributed by its users.