Cole Porter, music and lyrics · Introduced by Wilbur Evans in the Broadway show Mexican Hayride
I Love You
I Love You is a 1944 song by Cole Porter, who wrote both the music and the words. Players like its wide-ranging melody and the moment the music suddenly lifts into a brighter . Bing Crosby had a hit with it in 1944, and jazz trios and horn players have played it since.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Bing Crosby's 1944 hit, then hears the song in a piano trio, a saxophone trio, a big-band vocal, a trumpet and tenor quintet and a tenor quartet. It ends with a long trio record from 1980.
Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra · 1944
“I Love You (1944 Single Version)”, Decca single
Bing Crosby recorded it with John Scott Trotter's orchestra on February 11, 1944, the year Cole Porter wrote the song for the show Mexican Hayride. According to JazzStandards.com, his record stayed on the charts for 18 weeks and held first place for five.
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Listen for
Crosby sings the whole song with an orchestra behind him, and the record is under three minutes long. Near the end of the first half the music lifts into a brighter before it settles back.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody along with the record, then try the of the first four , one chord per bar: | | | Fmaj7. The record may be in another , so move the chords to match.
Oscar Peterson recorded it in Los Angeles in early December 1952 with Barney Kessel and Ray Brown. Mercury issued it in 1953 on Oscar Peterson Plays Cole Porter.
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Listen for
Piano, guitar and bass play the song with no drums. The record is just over three minutes long.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight as a loop, one chord per bar, and add the melody on top: | | | Fmaj7 | | | Fmaj7 | Fmaj7. Keep a steady four beats, since this trio has no drums.
Bill Evans recorded it in New York in September 1956, when he was known mostly to insiders and to listeners who had heard him with George Russell and Tony Scott. According to JazzStandards.com, this was his first recording of the song.
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Evans plays piano with Teddy Kotick on bass and Paul Motian on drums. The record is just under four minutes long.
Try it on your instrument
Play the middle section, 17 to 24, as : | | | Fmaj7 | | | Gm7 | C7. Then play the melody over them.
Coltrane recorded it with Earl May and Arthur Taylor at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on August 16, 1957. According to JazzStandards.com, historian Chris Tyle says this trio version did more than any earlier performance to make the song a jazz standard.
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Listen for
Tenor saxophone, bass and drums play the song with no piano or guitar. The record runs about five and a half minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play only the bass note of each for the first eight (G, C, F, F, G, C, F, F) and play the melody on top, the way the saxophone works with no piano underneath.
O'Day recorded it in Los Angeles in April 1959, with Billy May arranging and conducting, for a Verve album of Cole Porter songs. JazzStandards.com lists it among the recordings for getting started with the tune.
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Listen for
Billy May's orchestra backs O'Day, and the whole record lasts about two minutes. It is the shortest record on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Hum the melody along with the record. The tune covers a wide range, so try it in whatever suits your voice.
Art Farmer's quintet recorded it in New York in September 1958 for United Artists. Pianist Bill Evans, who had recorded the song with his own trio two years earlier, plays on it.
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Listen for
Art Farmer's trumpet and Benny Golson's tenor saxophone are the two horns. The pianist is Bill Evans, two years after the trio record earlier on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Play 12 to 16 as : | | Bm7 E7 | Amaj7 | Amaj7. This is where the tune leaves for , so listen for the lift on the record.
Hampton Hawes recorded it in Los Angeles on March 17, 1958, with Harold Land, Scott LaFaro and Frank Butler. Contemporary issued it in 1961 on For Real!.
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Listen for
A quartet of tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums plays it in about four minutes. Listen for Scott LaFaro on bass.
Try it on your instrument
Play the closing eight , bars 25 to 32, as : | | | | | | | F6. They end differently from the first section.
Tommy Flanagan recorded it in New York on February 4, 1980, with Red Mitchell and Elvin Jones. Enja issued it on Super-Session.
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Listen for
Flanagan plays piano in a trio with Red Mitchell on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. The record runs just over seven minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 once, one per bar, with the melody on top. Soloing over the chords needs more practice, so the smaller version is to play the melody twice with the chords steady underneath.
Cole Porter writes the song for the 1944 show Mexican Hayride, and Wilbur Evans sings it on stage. Bing Crosby records it in February 1944, and his record spends 18 weeks on the charts, five of them in first place.
1950s
Bill Evans's trio records it in 1956, and in 1957 John Coltrane plays it with a trio of tenor saxophone, bass and drums. In 1959 Anita O'Day sings it with Billy May's orchestra.
1960s
Herbie Mann's flute and the Bill Evans Trio record it in December 1961, and the record comes out in 1964. Milt Jackson's sextet records it in August 1964 for the album Jazz 'N' Samba.
1980s
In February 1980 Tommy Flanagan records it with Red Mitchell and Elvin Jones. In May Tal Farlow and Lenny Breau play it as a guitar duet at a club in Rumson, New Jersey.
1990s
Eliane Elias records it in 1999 with bass player Marc Johnson and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Blue Note releases it in 2000 on the album Everything I Love.
More great versions
5 more, from 1954 to 1999. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sChet Baker Quintet with Strings1954 · Bebop
Sonny Criss Quintet1956 · Bebop
1960sHerbie Mann with the Bill Evans Trio1961 · Cool jazz
Chet Baker recorded it in Los Angeles on February 20, 1954, with a string section and a behind his trumpet. Columbia issued it on Chet Baker & Strings.
Sonny Criss recorded it in Los Angeles on October 3, 1956, with vibraphone and piano in his quintet. Imperial issued it on Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter.
Two guitarists, Tal Farlow and Lenny Breau, play it as a duet live at a New Jersey club on May 21, 1980. Guitarchives released the set in 1997 as Chance Meeting.
Eliane Elias recorded it in New York in 1999 with Marc Johnson on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Blue Note released it on Everything I Love in February 2000.
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 → A major → F majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars
A8 bars
F
A
F
The tune runs 32 in four sections of eight bars, , and starts in . Section A opens with , and held for two bars, then , and Fmaj7 held for two bars. The second A starts the same way. In bar 12 and lead into , and the stay in through bar 16 before they come back to F major. Section B opens with Gm7, C7 and Fmaj7 held for two bars, then , , Gm7 and C7. The last A begins with Gm7♭5, C7♭9 and Fmaj7, then Am7♭5 with D7♭9, and C7, and ends on for two bars. These chords follow the iReal Pro chart. JazzStandards.com gives the form as A A B A, the original as F major, and the shift to A major in bars 13 to 16.