Matty Malneck and Frank Signorelli, music · Gus Kahn, lyrics · Introduced by Mildred Bailey, 1932
I'll Never Be the Same
It began as an instrumental called Little Buttercup by Matty Malneck and Frank Signorelli. Gus Kahn added a sad lyric about lost love, and Mildred Bailey introduced it in 1932. Hear it from Billie Holiday in 1937, Art Tatum's trio in 1955 and Lee Morgan in 1967.
Listen in this order
The path starts with a record from the song's first year, then Billie Holiday with a small band in 1937. Next come a piano, vibraphone and drums trio, then Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald in 1957. It ends with a tenor sax ballad, a seven-minute trumpet quartet and a sax and piano duet.
Ella Fitzgerald with Frank DeVol's Orchestra1957 · Bebop
1960sColeman Hawkins1961 · Bebop
Lee Morgan1967 · Hard bop
1970sStan Getz and Jimmy Rowles1975 · Post-bop
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Hear the song in its first year
Adelaide Hall with Art Tatum · 1932
Echoes
Adelaide Hall recorded it in New York on August 5, 1932. Art Tatum and Francis Carter are the pianists, and Charlie Teagarden plays trumpet.
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Listen for
Adelaide Hall's voice leads, with two pianists and Charlie Teagarden's trumpet behind her. The record runs just over three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Hum the melody while you play the first eight as , one or two chords to a bar: , D♭7 C7, , , D♭7 C7, D♭7 C7, Fmaj7, D♭7 (the iReal Pro chart, in F). Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
Billie Holiday with Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra · 1937
Brunswick 78 rpm single
Teddy Wilson's band recorded it in New York on June 1, 1937, with Billie Holiday singing, and Brunswick issued it on 7926. According to JazzStandards.com, the song had been introduced by Mildred Bailey in 1932.
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Listen for
Billie Holiday sings it, with Lester Young's tenor sax playing behind her voice. Teddy Wilson takes a piano solo.
Try it on your instrument
Hum the melody while you play 9 to 16 as : , Cm7 , Cm7 F7, , , Dm7 G7, , . Smaller version: play only bars 9 to 12 and stop on B♭maj7.
Norman Granz recorded the trio on August 1, 1955, at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles for his Clef label. The track runs about six and a half minutes.
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Listen for
It is all instruments: Art Tatum's piano, Lionel Hampton's vibraphone and Buddy Rich's drums play the tune themselves, and the track lasts over six minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last eight of the tune over and over until they feel smooth: , , , , , D♭7 C7, D7, Gm7 C7. Smaller version: loop only bars 29 to 32 (D♭7 C7, D♭7 C7, F6 D7, Gm7 C7).
Louis Armstrong recorded it with Oscar Peterson's quartet in Chicago on October 14, 1957, during the session that made Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson. Verve issued the album as MGV-8322.
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Listen for
Louis Armstrong is out front, with Oscar Peterson's piano, Herb Ellis's guitar, Ray Brown's bass and Louis Bellson's drums behind him. The track is about three and a half minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole tune through once as , slowly, then once more with the melody on top. Smaller version: play only the first 16 . Soloing over the chords takes more practice, so leave it for later.
Ella Fitzgerald with Frank DeVol's Orchestra · 1957 · Bebop, Vocal
Hello, Love
Ella Fitzgerald recorded it in Hollywood on October 28, 1957, with Frank DeVol arranging and conducting the studio orchestra. It later became a bonus track on the 1991 CD of Like Someone in Love.
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Listen for
Ella Fitzgerald sings with a studio orchestra that Frank DeVol arranged and conducted. Listen to how the orchestra frames her voice.
Try it on your instrument
Hum or sing the second half of the tune ( 17 to 32) while you play its . Smaller version: bars 17 to 20 only: , D♭7 C7, , D♭7.
Coleman Hawkins recorded it on February 28, 1961, at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. It opens his Moodsville album The Hawk Relaxes.
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Listen for
Coleman Hawkins plays the melody on tenor sax, with Ronnell Bright's piano, Kenny Burrell's guitar, Ron Carter's bass and Andrew Cyrille's drums behind him. The track runs over six minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody one phrase at a time, with a simple under each phrase. Smaller version: the first eight only. Taking a solo over the chords is harder; try it only if you already improvise.
Lee Morgan recorded it at the Van Gelder studio on April 28, 1967, as the last of five titles logged for that session. Blue Note first issued it on the album Sonic Boom in 1979.
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Listen for
Lee Morgan's trumpet leads a quartet of piano, bass and drums. David Newman, the saxophonist on the other four titles from the session, is not on this one.
Try it on your instrument
Find the place where the tune moves to B♭ in 9 to 12 ( , Cm7 , Cm7 F7, ) and again in bars 21 to 24. Play those , then hum the melody over them. Smaller version: just Cm7 F7 into B♭maj7.
Stan Getz recorded it in New York in October 1975 with pianist Jimmy Rowles, and it opens The Peacocks, which Columbia issued in 1977.
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Listen for
Only two players share this track: Stan Getz on tenor sax and Jimmy Rowles on piano. It runs about four minutes.
Try it on your instrument
With a friend, or a backing track, play the melody on one instrument while the other plays only the of 1 to 8, then swap parts. Smaller version: play the chords alone for bars 1 to 8 and hum the tune.
Gus Kahn adds words to an instrumental by Matty Malneck and Frank Signorelli, and Mildred Bailey introduces the song in 1932. Adelaide Hall and Billie Holiday record it in 1932 and 1937.
1940s
Mildred Bailey, who introduced the song, sings it again with Paul Barron's Orchestra on a Hindsight album titled for 1944.
1950s
Art Tatum records it in 1955 in a trio with a vibraphone player and a drummer. In October 1957 Louis Armstrong with a piano quartet, and Ella Fitzgerald with an orchestra, both record it for Verve.
1960s
Coleman Hawkins opens his 1961 album The Hawk Relaxes with it. Lee Morgan records it with a quartet in 1967, and Blue Note issues it on Sonic Boom in 1979.
1970s
Stan Getz records it as a duo with a pianist in 1975, and Columbia issues it on The Peacocks in 1977. Lionel Hampton and Buddy Rich record it in New York in October 1977.
2000s
Diana Krall puts it on a 2004 Verve single, paired with Temptation.
More great versions
4 more, from 1932 to 2004. Tap a cover to play it here.
1930sGuy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians1932 · Vocal
1940sMildred Bailey with Paul Barron's Orchestra1944
Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians recorded the song in 1932, and their version rose to number eight that year. The linked track is from a 1989 compilation.
Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton recorded it in New York on October 19, 1977, for the album Lionel Hampton Presents Buddy Rich on Who's Who in Jazz. It runs 3:33.
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 · B form
F major → B♭ major → F major → B♭ major → G minor → F majorkey centers
A16 bars
B16 bars
F
B♭
F
B♭
G m
F
The tune is 32 in two 16-bar halves, A and B, and the two halves open alike. The follow the iReal Pro chart, in F. A, bars 1 to 8: , D♭7 C7, , , D♭7 C7, D♭7 C7, Fmaj7, D♭7. Bars 9 to 12 turn to B♭ with , Cm7 , Cm7 F7, , and bars 13 to 16 come home with Dm7 , Dm7 G7, Gm7, C7. B, bars 17 to 24: D♭7 C7, D♭7 C7, Fmaj7, Dm7 D♭7, Cm7 F7, Cm7 F7, B♭maj7, B♭maj7. Bars 25 to 28 move into with Gm7, , , D7. Bars 29 to 32 return to F: D♭7 C7, D♭7 C7, D7, Gm7 C7. JazzStandards.com describes the original melody as written in E♭, so printed sheet music may sit a step lower than this chart.