Jazz Changes

Vernon Duke, music · Ira Gershwin, lyrics · From the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936

I Can't Get Started

Vernon Duke and Ira Gershwin wrote this ballad for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936. Bunny Berigan made it his theme song, and later players treated it as a feature for one soloist. You will hear it from trumpeters, tenor players, pianists and singers in every decade since.

C major · 32 bars · A A B A form · how it works

Listen in this order

The path starts with Berigan's trumpet record and Billie Holiday's sung version, then moves through a bebop sextet, a tenor ballad, a piano-free quartet, a trumpet quartet, a tenor trio and a piano trio. Each step is a different line-up playing the same 32 bars.

8 recordings, 1937 to 1963 · Play all 8 on YouTube ↗

  1. Bunny Berigan1937 · Swing
  2. Billie Holiday1938 · Vocal
  3. Dizzy Gillespie Sextet1945
  4. Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio1952 · Cool jazz
  5. Gerry Mulligan Quartet1953
  6. Chet Baker and Crew1956
  7. Sonny Rollins Trio1957 · Hard bop
  8. Bud Powell Trio1963 · Bebop

Step 1 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard

Learn the song

Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra · 1937 · Swing

I Can't Get Started / The Prisoner's Song

Listen for
Listen for the unaccompanied trumpet introduction before the tune starts, then for Berigan singing one chorus himself before he returns to the trumpet.
Try this
Play the melody slowly in C with its chords, and count the 32 bars as four groups of eight (A, A, bridge, A).
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

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Hear the song sung

Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra · 1938 · Vocal

The Very Thought of You / I Can't Get Started

Listen for
Listen for Holiday's voice up front and for Lester Young's tenor saxophone in the small band.
Try this
Play the A section at a slow tempo and shape each phrase to follow the words, the way a singer would.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

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Hear three horns share the tune

Dizzy Gillespie Sextet · 1945

I Can't Get Started / Good Bait?

Listen for
Listen for the trumpet, trombone and tenor saxophone as three separate voices over the piano, bass and drums.
Try this
Play the melody on your instrument, then pick out the root of each chord by ear for the first eight bars. If that is too much, tap the beat and count eight bars.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

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Hear a tenor ballad

Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio · 1952 · Cool jazz

“I Can't Get Started With You”, The President Plays with the Oscar Peterson Trio

Listen for
Listen for the tenor saxophone first, then pick out the guitar and the piano.
Try this
Play the A section of the melody at a slow ballad tempo and let each phrase finish before the next one starts.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

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Hear a band without a piano

Gerry Mulligan Quartet (with Chet Baker) · 1953

Pacific Jazz EP4-21

Listen for
Listen for Baker's trumpet and Mulligan's baritone saxophone over the bass and drums alone. No piano or guitar supplies the chords.
Try this
Play the melody while a friend plays only one bass note per chord change, with no chord voicings, to hear how open the sound is.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

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Hear a short trumpet take

Chet Baker and Crew · 1956

Solo Flight

Listen for
The take runs 3:10, shorter than most versions on this path. Follow the A, A, bridge, A pattern to count how many choruses fit.
Try this
Play the melody on trumpet or any single-note instrument, one chorus only, and stop where the bridge ends to check your place.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

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Hear a tenor saxophone with bass and drums only

Sonny Rollins Trio · 1957 · Hard bop, Bebop

A Night at the Village Vanguard

Listen for
Listen for how the bass supplies the chord roots while the tenor saxophone carries the harmony, with no piano or guitar.
Try this
Play the root of each chord at the piano under the recording, one note per change. If that is too fast, tap the beat with the drums for the first 16 bars.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

Step 8 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard

Hear a piano trio take

Bud Powell Trio · 1963 · Bebop

Bud Powell in Paris

Listen for
Listen for Powell's piano out front while the bass and drums keep time. The take runs 5:40, longer than any other step.
Try this
Play the melody with your right hand and the root of each chord with your left hand, at the slowest tempo you can keep steady.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

More great versions

3 more, from 1952 to 1978. Tap a cover to play it here.

  1. Oscar Peterson Trio1952
  2. Frank Sinatra1959 · Vocal
  3. Tommy Flanagan and Kenny Barron1978 · Bebop

How the tune works

C majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
C major → D major → C majorkey centers

Each A section stays in C major. In bars 3 and 4 the chords step down by half steps, a pair at a time, before the section turns back toward C. The eight-bar bridge opens in D major for four bars, then moves back to C major for the last four. The final A section returns home and ends on a turnaround, so the form can repeat.

Play the changes

C major
Open in iReal Pro ↗
A10 bars
Cmaj7Am7
Dm7G7
Bm7E7B♭m7E♭7
Am7D7A♭m7D♭7
Cmaj7Am7
Dm7G7
1.E7A7
D7G7
2.C6B♭7
C6
B8 bars
Em7A7
Em7A7
Dmaj7Em7A7
Dmaj7
Dm7G7
Dm7G7
Em7E♭°7
Dm7G7sus
A8 bars
Cmaj7Am7
Dm7G7
Bm7E7B♭m7E♭7
Am7D7A♭m7D♭7
Cmaj7A7♯5
Dm7G7
C6A7
D7G7

Chart from iReal Pro's Jazz 1460 playlist, contributed by its users.