Ralph Rainger, music · Leo Robin, lyrics · Introduced in the film Rose of the Rancho
If I Should Lose You
Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin wrote it for the film Rose of the Rancho. Charlie Parker recorded it with strings in 1949, and jazz players and singers took it up from there. You can hear it from Hank Mobley's quartet, Keith Jarrett's trio and Dinah Washington with an orchestra.
Listen in this order
The path opens with Charlie Parker's 1949 ballad with strings, then moves through a piano trio, Hank Mobley's swinging quartet, an organ trio, a guitar group and a singer. It ends with Keith Jarrett's 1983 trio and a 2010 duet for two pianos.
1940sCharlie Parker with Jimmy Carroll's orchestra1949 · Bebop
1950sAl Haig Trio1954 · Bebop
1960sHank Mobley1960 · Hard bop
Jimmy Smith1960 · Hard bop
The Montgomery Brothers1961 · Hard bop
Dinah Washington1961 · Soul & R&B
1970s
1980sKeith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette1983 · Post-bop
1990s
2000s
2010sChick Corea and Stefano Bollani2010 · Contemporary jazz
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Learn the song
Charlie Parker with Jimmy Carroll's orchestra · 1949 · Bebop
Charlie Parker with Strings
Charlie Parker recorded it with a string orchestra at Reeves Sound Studios in New York on November 30, 1949. According to JazzStandards.com, his version brought the song to jazz players and singers.
ballad
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Listen for
Parker's alto saxophone plays in front of a small string section, an oboe and a harp. Piano, bass and drums play underneath, and the whole track runs 2:46.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight slowly: , , Gm7, , , Fm7 B♭7, E♭maj7, E♭maj7. Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
Pianist Al Haig recorded it with bassist Bill Crow and drummer Lee Abrams in New York in March 1954. Counterpoint issued it on Jazz Will-O'-the-Wisp in 1957.
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Three players: Al Haig's piano leads, with a bass and drums playing behind it. The track runs 3:31.
Try it on your instrument
Loop the four that start at bar 5, , , E♭maj7, E♭maj7, a few times, then play to start the tune again.
Hank Mobley recorded it at Rudy Van Gelder's studio on February 7, 1960, with Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Art Blakey. It closes his album Soul Station.
swing
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Listen for
Tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums play it with a swinging beat, and the track runs 5:11. Compare that steady beat with the string ballad from 1949.
Try it on your instrument
Play the with a steady swing feel: , , , , , , Cm7, Am7♭5 D7♭9. Soloing over it takes more practice, so the smaller version is to play only the first note of each , one per .
Jimmy Smith recorded it with guitarist Quentin Warren and drummer Donald Bailey at Van Gelder Studio on January 4, 1960, the day of the Crazy! Baby session. It first came out on the 1989 CD of that album.
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Listen for
Jimmy Smith's organ leads, with a guitar and drums behind it. The track runs 6:31.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last eight : , , , , Cm7, F7, , . They come only once, after the second A, and they finish the tune.
Guitarist Wes Montgomery recorded it with his brothers Buddy and Monk and drummer Bobby Thomas at Plaza Sound Studios in New York on January 3, 1961. It is on the album Groove Yard.
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Wes Montgomery's guitar leads, with Buddy Montgomery on piano, Monk Montgomery on bass and Bobby Thomas on drums. The track runs 5:49.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole 32 with one per bar, taking the first chord of any bar that has two. Then add the second chord in the bars that have two.
Dinah Washington recorded it in New York on August 15, 1961, with an orchestra conducted by Quincy Jones. Mercury issued it on the album Tears and Laughter in 1962.
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Listen for
A singer with an orchestra conducted by Quincy Jones. The track runs 2:46, one of the shortest on this path.
Try it on your instrument
Hum or sing the melody while you play the of the last eight : , , , , Cm7, F7, , . Smaller version: play the chords alone and hum only the last two bars.
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette · 1983 · Post-bop
Standards, Vol. 2
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette recorded it at the Power Station in New York in January 1983. ECM released it on Standards, Vol. 2 in April 1985.
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Listen for
The trio takes about eight and a half minutes, the longest track on this path. Listen for how piano, bass and drums share the space across that time.
Try it on your instrument
Play the 32 once through at an easy pace, one per bar, and notice where the first comes back at bar 17.
Pianists Chick Corea and Stefano Bollani played it live at the Umbria Jazz Winter festival in Orvieto, Italy, on December 30, 2010. ECM issued the concert as Orvieto in 2011.
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Listen for
Two pianos play the song live. Listen for how the two players share the tune and where one stays out of the other's way.
Try it on your instrument
Split the tune with a friend: one person plays the melody and the other plays the , then swap. Smaller version: play the chords alone for the first eight .
Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin wrote the song for the film Rose of the Rancho. According to JazzStandards.com, Richard Himber's orchestra with singer Stuart Allen recorded it in 1936 and reached number 15 on the charts.
1940s
Charlie Parker plays it with a string orchestra at Reeves Sound Studios in New York in November 1949. According to JazzStandards.com, his record brought the song to jazz players and singers.
1950s
Al Haig's piano trio plays it in 1954, and Sonny Stitt records it on alto saxophone with Hank Jones on piano in December 1955. Peggy Lee sings it in 1957 with Frank Sinatra conducting.
1960s
Hank Mobley's quartet records it for Soul Station in February 1960. The Montgomery Brothers follow in January 1961, and Dinah Washington sings it that August with an orchestra.
1970s
Oscar Peterson plays it alone at the piano in Villingen, West Germany, in November 1970. It appears on his album Tracks.
1980s
Keith Jarrett's trio records it at the Power Station in New York in January 1983, in a track of more than eight minutes. Frank Sinatra sings it on L.A. Is My Lady in 1984.
2010s
Chick Corea and Stefano Bollani play it as a two-piano duet at the Umbria Jazz Winter festival in Orvieto, Italy, on December 30, 2010. ECM issued the concert in 2011.
More great versions
2 more, from 1964 to 1970. Tap a cover to play it here.
Oscar Peterson played it alone at the piano in Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer's private studio in Villingen, West Germany, on November 10, 1970. It is on his album Tracks.
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
G minorusual key
32 barsA · B · A · C form
G minor · E♭ major · B♭ majorkeys it moves between
A8 bars
B8 bars
A8 bars
C8 bars
G m
E♭
B♭
G m
G m
E♭
B♭
G m
The tune runs A, B, A, C, eight each. The , bars 1 to 8, goes , , Gm7, , , Fm7 B♭7, E♭maj7, E♭maj7. The , bars 9 to 16, goes , , , Am7♭5 D7♭9, Gm7, , Cm7, Am7♭5 D7♭9. The second A, bars 17 to 24, repeats the first. The last section, bars 25 to 32, goes Cm7, F7, , , Cm7, F7, , Am7♭5 D7♭9, and the last bar leads back to the top. These follow the iReal Pro chart, which sits in . JazzStandards.com gives the original as , so other lead sheets may be written a step higher.