Alec Wilder, music and lyrics · First recorded by Cab Calloway in Chicago, 1942
I'll Be Around
Alec Wilder wrote the words and the music, and the song appeared in 1942. Wilder said the title came to him in a Baltimore taxi, and the tune took about twenty minutes. Hear it from Cab Calloway, the Mills Brothers, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, the Three Sounds and Marian McPartland.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the two records Calloway and the Mills Brothers made within weeks of each other in 1942, then hears Sinatra's quiet 1955 version and Billie Holiday with strings. It ends with two piano trios, a saxophone quartet and a live solo piano performance.
Cab Calloway's band made the first recording of the song in Chicago on February 2, 1942, with the Cabaliers singing alongside Calloway. OKeh issued it as the other side of Virginia, Georgia and Caroline.
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Calloway sings with the Cabaliers, and the full band plays behind them, with Danny Barker on guitar and Cozy Cole on drums. The track runs 3:05.
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Play the first four as , two to a bar: , , , F/A . A smaller version: play only the first chord of each bar, C, E, G, F, and hum the tune over it.
The Mills Brothers recorded it for Decca on February 18, 1942, with Paper Doll on the other side. According to Wikipedia, it became the first hit version, reaching No. 17 on the Billboard pop chart in 1943.
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The Mills Brothers sing it as a vocal group, and the record runs 3:00. Compare how they carry the tune with Calloway's band version.
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Play 5 to 8 as : , , , Dm7 G7. A smaller version: play the first chord of each bar, C, D, C, A♭, and hum the tune.
Sinatra recorded it at KHJ Studios in Hollywood on February 8, 1955, with an arrangement by Nelson Riddle. Capitol issued it on the album In the Wee Small Hours that April. According to Wikipedia, it was one of the first four songs recorded for the album, and those four used only a small .
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Sinatra sings over a small group of piano, guitar, bass, drums and a celesta. The celesta plays a circling pattern under his voice. The track runs about three minutes.
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Play the first four of the middle section as : , , D♭7/A♭ Gm7 C7, . A smaller version: play only the first chord's root in each bar, D♭, C, D♭, F, and hum the tune.
Billie Holiday with Ray Ellis and His Orchestra · 1958 · Big band
Lady in Satin
Billie Holiday recorded it in New York City on February 18 or 19, 1958, with Ray Ellis conducting his orchestra, for the Columbia album Lady in Satin.
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Holiday sings with Ray Ellis's orchestra of strings, harp, woodwinds, trumpet and trombones, with a of soprano voices. Mal Waldron plays piano. The track runs 3:25.
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Play both endings of the first section: then the first time, and C6 Dm7 then C/E the second time. A smaller version: play only the first of each : C, A♭ and C, E♭.
Billy Taylor recorded it with Earl May and Percy Brice at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on July 30, 1954. Prestige put it on the album Cross Section.
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Billy Taylor plays piano with Earl May on bass and Percy Brice on drums. The track runs 2:50, the shortest on the path.
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Play the first eight with both hands: , , , F/A , then Cmaj7 , Dm7 G7, , Dm7 G7. A smaller version: left hand plays the first 's root in each bar, C, E, G, F, C, D, C, A♭, and the right hand plays the tune.
The Three Sounds recorded it at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on March 7, 1962, for Blue Note. The group made two takes, and the shorter take 3 came out on the album Out of This World.
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Gene Harris leads on piano with Andrew Simpkins on bass and Bill Dowdy on drums. The track runs 3:40, 50 seconds longer than Billy Taylor's trio.
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Play one of 32 with one per bar, the first chord of each. The first eight bars are , , , F/A, Cmaj7, , , , and the middle eight are , , D♭7/A♭, , , Dm7, Cmaj7, Dm7. A smaller version: play only the middle eight.
Clifford Jordan recorded it with Tommy Flanagan, Bill Lee and Grady Tate in New York City on February 9, 1978. The album The Adventurer came out on Muse.
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Jordan's saxophone leads a quartet with Tommy Flanagan on piano, Bill Lee on bass and Grady Tate on drums. At 5:56, it is the longest version on the path.
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Play the first eight as while the track plays: , , , F/A , then Cmaj7 , Dm7 G7, , Dm7 G7. Soloing over needs more experience; a smaller version is to play only the first chord's root of each bar as long notes under the band.
Marian McPartland played it alone at the piano at Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley, California, on January 20, 1991, in a live recording for Concord Jazz.
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McPartland plays alone at the piano in a live recording, so every part of the tune comes from her two hands. The track runs 4:02.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody with the right hand and one low note per with the left, using the first 's root: C, E, G, F, C, D, C, A♭ for the first eight bars. Adding full chords in the left hand is the larger version.
Alec Wilder writes the song in 1942. Cab Calloway records it first, in Chicago on February 2, and the Mills Brothers record it for Decca on February 18.
1950s
Billy Taylor's trio records it in 1954, and Frank Sinatra sings it with a small group on In the Wee Small Hours in 1955. Billie Holiday sings it with strings and a in 1958.
1960s
The Three Sounds, a piano trio, record it at Van Gelder Studio in March 1962, and Blue Note issues it on Out of This World.
1970s
Clifford Jordan leads a quartet with Tommy Flanagan on piano in New York in February 1978. The album is The Adventurer, on Muse.
1990s
Marian McPartland plays it alone at Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley in January 1991. Carol Sloane sings it with a piano trio on The Songs Sinatra Sang in 1996.
More great versions
2 more, from 1957 to 1996. Tap a cover to play it here.
Helen Merrill recorded it in New York City on February 21, 1957, with Hal Mooney's arrangement and a small group with Buddy Weed on piano and Romeo Penque on oboe.
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
C majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
C major → F major → C majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
C
F
C
The iReal Pro chart runs 32 in as , eight bars each, with two in most bars. Each A opens with , , and F/A (the last A uses in the fourth bar), then Cmaj7 , Dm7 G7, and Dm7 G7. After the repeated A, the chart has a second ending, C6 Dm7 and C/E, that leads into the middle. The starts in with , , D♭7/A♭ Gm7 C7 and Fmaj7. It returns to C major with Dm7, Dm7 G7, Cmaj7 Am7 and Dm7 G7, and the last A closes the .