George Gershwin, music · Ira Gershwin, lyrics · Cut from Funny Face, then sung in Rosalie, 1928
How Long Has This Been Going On?
The Gershwins wrote it in 1927 for a first-kiss scene, and it moved from Funny Face to Rosalie. Its slow, lyrical tune and surprising give singers and soloists room to stretch out. Hear it with Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman in 1941, Ella Fitzgerald in 1950 and Sarah Vaughan in 1978.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman's big-band record, then hears Ella Fitzgerald and June Christy sing it with a single piano. It moves on to Tommy Flanagan's piano trio, Chet Baker, Joe Pass on solo guitar, Sarah Vaughan with Oscar Peterson, and Brad Mehldau's live trio.
1950sElla Fitzgerald with Ellis Larkins1950 · Stage & screen
June Christy and Stan Kenton1955 · Vocal
Tommy Flanagan1957 · Hard bop
Chet Baker1958 · Vocal
1960s
1970sJoe Pass1975 · Gypsy jazz
Sarah Vaughan1978 · Bebop
1980s
1990s
2000sBrad Mehldau Trio2000
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Learn the song
Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman and His Orchestra · 1941
Clarinet a la King / How Long Has This Been Going On?
Peggy Lee sings it with Benny Goodman's orchestra on November 13, 1941, and OKeh issues the record in 1942 on a 78 with Clarinet a la King. According to JazzStandards.com, the song did not catch on with the public until this record.
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Listen for
Peggy Lee carries the tune with the full band behind her. Follow the four sections: the opening music comes twice, a middle part sounds different, and then the opening returns.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody over the of the first eight : , , C7 , , , C7 F7, , Fmaj7. Smaller version: play only bars 1 to 4 and stop.
“How Long Has This Been Going On”, Ella Sings Gershwin
Ella Fitzgerald sings it with only Ellis Larkins at the piano, from a September 1950 New York session for Decca that produced the album Ella Sings Gershwin.
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Listen for
Only Ellis Larkins's piano supports Ella Fitzgerald, so every word and note of the tune stands out. Notice the middle section, which sounds different from the other three.
Try it on your instrument
Sing or hum the melody while you play one per at a keyboard, as a lone accompanist would. Smaller version: do the first eight bars only.
Stan Kenton usually led a big band and was rarely heard in small settings. A duet session in May 1955 paired him at the piano with June Christy, who had sung in his band, and Capitol issued it as Duet.
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Listen for
A big-band leader plays piano alone behind June Christy. Listen for how much space one piano leaves around the voice, compared with Ella Fitzgerald and Ellis Larkins.
Try it on your instrument
Play this with a partner: one person plays the melody, the other plays the of 1 to 4 (, , C7 , ). Smaller version: play the four bars alone, one chord per bar.
Flanagan plays it as a trio with Doug Watkins and Louis Hayes on April 18, 1957, at Van Gelder Studio. John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell and Idrees Sulieman join him on the other tracks of the session, which Prestige issued in 1959 on New Jazz as The Cats.
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Listen for
Here the piano leads: Flanagan plays, with Doug Watkins on bass and Louis Hayes on drums. The track runs almost six minutes, so the four sections come around more than once.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight with the melody in your right hand and one bass note per in your left. Smaller version: loop bars 5 to 8 ( , , , Fmaj7) until you hear where the tune settles on F.
Baker recorded it in August 1958 at Reeves Sound Studios in New York with Kenny Drew, Sam Jones and Danny Richmond. The album, Chet Baker Sings: It Could Happen to You, was his first session for Riverside Records, according to his YouTube channel.
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Listen for
Chet Baker sings it, with piano, bass and drums behind him. Listen to how a trumpeter's singing voice sits against a plain .
Try it on your instrument
Sing the melody in F, accompanying yourself with the of the first eight and nothing else. Smaller version: sing only bars 5 to 8.
“How Long Has This Been Going On (Live)”, At the Montreux Jazz Festival 1975
Joe Pass plays it live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, in concerts on July 17 and 18, 1975. Norman Granz's Pablo label issued the recording, and the album credits only Pass, on guitar.
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Listen for
Joe Pass plays alone, so one guitar has to carry the tune and the together. Listen for the melody staying on top while the chords move underneath it.
Try it on your instrument
Try the first eight solo: melody on the high notes, below, no accompaniment. If both at once is too much, play the chords alone for bars 1 to 4, then the melody alone for the same four bars.
Sarah Vaughan recorded it on April 25, 1978, for Norman Granz's Pablo label with Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Ray Brown and Louie Bellson. The album took its title from the song.
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Listen for
Sarah Vaughan sings with piano, guitar, bass and drums behind her. At almost six minutes, listen for how the tune stretches out and where the players take over from her.
Try it on your instrument
Learn the ( for three , B♭maj7 , for three bars, Am7 ) and sing or play the melody over them. Smaller version: do only the first four bars of the bridge.
“How Long Has This Been Going On (Live)”, Progression: Art of the Trio, Vol. 5
Brad Mehldau's trio recorded it live at the Village Vanguard in New York between September 22 and 24, 2000. It closes the two-disc album Progression: Art of the Trio, Vol. 5, issued by Warner Bros. in 2001.
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Listen for
A piano trio plays it live in a New York club for almost eleven minutes, the longest version on this path. Count how many times you can pick out the opening tune coming back.
Try it on your instrument
This one asks for more than melody and basic , because the trio improvises over . Smaller version: play the melody and chords of the first eight , then listen again and find those same bars in the trio's playing.
The Gershwins write it in 1927 for a first-kiss scene in the show that becomes Funny Face, and it is cut before that show opens. It is then sung in Rosalie, which opens in January 1928.
1930s
In 1939 Lee Wiley records a set of Gershwin songs for Liberty Music Shop with a small group that Eddie Condon assembled, with Bud Freeman on tenor saxophone and Joe Bushkin at the piano.
1940s
Peggy Lee sings it with Benny Goodman's orchestra in November 1941. According to JazzStandards.com, the song did not catch on with the public until that record.
1950s
Ella Fitzgerald sings it with only Ellis Larkins at the piano in 1950. Tommy Flanagan plays it with a piano trio in 1957, and Chet Baker sings it in 1958.
1970s
Joe Pass plays it alone on guitar at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1975. In April 1978 Sarah Vaughan records it for Pablo with Oscar Peterson at the piano.
2000s
Brad Mehldau's trio plays it live at the Village Vanguard in September 2000, a track of nearly eleven minutes on a 2001 album.
More great versions
6 more, from 1939 to 1959. Tap a cover to play it here.
1930sLee Wiley1939
1940s
1950sFrank Rosolino Quintet1957 · Cool jazz
Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson1957 · Vocal
Sarah Vaughan with Hal Mooney1957 · Vocal
Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio1957 · Bebop
Ella Fitzgerald1959 · Vocal
Lee Wiley
1939
Sings the Songs of George & Ira Gershwin & Cole Porter
Lee Wiley recorded a set of Gershwin songs in 1939 for Liberty Music Shop with a small group that Eddie Condon assembled, with Bud Freeman on tenor saxophone and Joe Bushkin on piano and celeste.
“Ballad Medley: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered / I Don't Know Why I Just Do / How Long Has This Been Going On / I Can't Get Started / Polka Dots and Moonbeams”, Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio
Getz plays it as the third of five ballads in a single ten-minute medley with the Oscar Peterson Trio, recorded at Capitol Tower in Los Angeles on October 10, 1957.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book
Nine years after her version with Ellis Larkins, Ella Fitzgerald recorded it again for her Gershwin Song Book, with arrangements by Nelson Riddle, in sessions at Capitol Studio A in Hollywood in 1959.
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 minor → F majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
F
B♭
A m
F
Thirty-two in four sections of eight, , in F. Each A opens on , then , C7 and . Bar 5 arrives home on , bar 6 is C7 F7, and bar 7 is . Bar 8 is Fmaj7 the first time, F7 the second time to lead into the , and F6 the last time. The bridge moves to B♭: B♭maj7 E♭7 for three bars, then B♭maj7 . It turns to for three bars and ends on Am7 , which sets up the last A. These follow the iReal Pro chart; other lead sheets may spell some chords differently.