Victor Schertzinger, music · Johnny Mercer, lyrics · Sung by Dorothy Lamour in the film The Fleet's In, 1942
I Remember You
I Remember You is a 1941 song by Victor Schertzinger and Johnny Mercer, from the film The Fleet's In. Its shift to a new every few , which gives jazz soloists plenty to work with. Hear it from Charlie Parker, Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Ifield, whose 1962 record topped the British chart.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Jimmy Dorsey's 1941 record with singer Bob Eberly, then hears Ella Fitzgerald sing it as a ballad. It moves through Charlie Parker's quartet, Horace Silver's piano trio and Dave Brubeck's live set, and ends with Chet Baker's trumpet quartet, Cannonball Adderley's alto saxophone quartet and Grant Green's guitar trio.
Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra (vocal by Bob Eberly) · 1941
Decca single 4132
Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra recorded the song for Decca on December 10, 1941, with Bob Eberly singing. Dorsey's band also plays in the film The Fleet's In, where Dorothy Lamour sings it; according to JazzStandards.com, this record reached number 9 in 1942.
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Bob Eberly sings the song with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra behind him. Learn the tune and the mood here, because every later version on this page starts from it.
Try it on your instrument
Hum the tune along with the record, then play the of the first eight from the chart: , , Fmaj7, , , , , .
Ella Fitzgerald with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra · 1964 · Vocal
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book
Ella Fitzgerald recorded it in Los Angeles in October 1964 with Nelson Riddle's orchestra. It comes from the last of her Song Book albums, this one given to the songs of Johnny Mercer, who wrote the words.
ballad
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Ella Fitzgerald sings it as a ballad with Nelson Riddle's orchestra behind her. The slow pace leaves room to hear every phrase of the tune.
Try it on your instrument
Hum the tune along with Ella, then play the first eight of the chart at half your usual speed, holding each : , , Fmaj7, , , , , .
Charlie Parker recorded it in New York on July 28, 1953, with Al Haig, Percy Heath and Max Roach. The session also produced Now's the Time and Confirmation, and Clef issued this take on a single with Chi-Chi.
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Charlie Parker's alto saxophone leads, with piano, bass and drums behind him. The whole record lasts just over three minutes, so listen for how much one soloist fits into it.
Try it on your instrument
Soloing over these takes practice. A smaller version is to play the first eight of the chart, chords only, at a brisk tempo, so your hands learn how quickly the two-chord bars come by.
Horace Silver recorded it with Percy Heath and Art Blakey at WOR Studios in New York on November 23, 1953. The same session also recorded Opus de Funk and Day In, Day Out.
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With no horn in front, Horace Silver's piano carries the tune while Percy Heath's bass and Art Blakey's drums keep time. You can follow each player's part on its own.
Try it on your instrument
Play the tune with the chart's , then try it with only a single bass note under each chord, as Heath's bass would, and keep a steady beat.
Recorded live at the College of the Pacific in Stockton on December 14, 1953, this nine-minute version gives Paul Desmond and Dave Brubeck room for long solos. According to JazzStandards.com, the whole album is made of standards.
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Paul Desmond's alto saxophone and Dave Brubeck's piano each take a solo, with bass and drums keeping time behind them. At over nine minutes, it is the longest version on this path.
Try it on your instrument
Count the form while the solos play: each trip around the tune is 36 , in sections of 8, 8, 8 and 12. Counting whole is hard at first, so start with the first eight bars of one solo.
Chet Baker recorded it in Los Angeles on March 7, 1955, with Russ Freeman, Carson Smith and Bob Neel, for his album Chet Baker Sings and Plays. According to JazzStandards.com, it was his first recording of the song.
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Compare this with Ella Fitzgerald's ballad: the pace is faster and the groove swings more. Chet Baker's quartet is trumpet, piano, bass and drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the tune twice with the same , once slowly like Ella and once at a faster swing like Baker, and notice how the feel changes.
Cannonball Adderley recorded it with Wynton Kelly, Percy Heath and Albert Heath at Reeves Sound Studios in New York on May 12, 1959. It appeared on his Riverside album Cannonball Takes Charge the same year.
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Cannonball Adderley leads on alto saxophone, with Wynton Kelly on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Albert Heath on drums. At nearly seven minutes, the players have room to stretch out.
Try it on your instrument
Pick one section of the chart and loop it for a minute, playing only the . If you play a solo instrument, add a few long notes from the tune over it.
Grant Green recorded it with Wilbur Ware on bass and Al Harewood on drums at Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs on August 29, 1961. Blue Note first issued it in 1980 on the Japanese LP Remembering.
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Grant Green's guitar carries both the tune and the solo, with only Wilbur Ware's bass and Al Harewood's drums behind him. With so few players, you can hear the guitar and lines clearly.
Try it on your instrument
Play the tune on a guitar or keyboard with one hand, and play only the root note of each with the other, like a trio with only bass and drums.
Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra plays in the 1942 film The Fleet's In, where the song is introduced. Dorsey records it with singer Bob Eberly in December 1941.
1950s
Charlie Parker's quartet and Dave Brubeck's live quartet both record it in 1953, and Chet Baker's trumpet quartet follows in 1955.
1960s
Frank Ifield's yodeling pop version, recorded in May 1962, spends seven weeks at number one on the UK singles chart. Ella Fitzgerald sings it for her 1964 Johnny Mercer Song Book.
More great versions
5 more, from 1959 to 1962. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sJackie McLean Quartet1959 · Hard bop
1960sDoug Watkins Quintet featuring Yusef Lateef1960 · Hard bop
Jackie McLean recorded it with a quartet at Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs on October 20, 1959, for his Blue Note album Swing, Swang, Swingin'.
Bassist Doug Watkins led this session at Van Gelder's studio on May 17, 1960, and plays cello on the album, with Yusef Lateef as the featured horn player.
Gene Ammons led a quartet at Van Gelder's studio on January 26, 1961, for the Moodsville album Nice an' Cool. The linked track comes from the later compilation The Gene Ammons Story: Gentle Jug.
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
36 barsA · A · B · A form
F major · B♭ major · D major · C majorkeys it moves between
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A12 bars
F
B♭
F
B♭
F
B♭
D
C
F
F
B♭
F
The iReal Pro chart runs 36 : 8, 8, 8 and 12. The first A opens with , , Fmaj7 and , which leads to . It then steps downward through , and , one bar each, and returns to F. The second A starts the same way and closes with B♭m7 E♭7, Fmaj7 and Cm7 F7, which leads into the . The bridge begins on B♭maj7, moves to for , , Em7 A7 and Dmaj7, then to for and , and comes home with Gm7 C7. The last A repeats the first six bars, then runs Am7 D7, , Am7 D7 and Gm7 C7, and ends on with a Gm7 C7 tag. JazzStandards.com gives as the original and says the key centers shift about every four bars. These follow the iReal Pro chart.