Jerome Kern, music · Johnny Mercer, lyrics · Introduced in the film You Were Never Lovelier, 1942
I'm Old Fashioned
A 1942 song by Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer, written for the film You Were Never Lovelier. The melody stays in a narrow range, and the last section runs longer than the others. Hear it from Fred Astaire in 1942, John Coltrane in 1957 and Keith Jarrett in 1994.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Fred Astaire's 1942 record, then a Los Angeles quartet, John Coltrane's sextet, Dave Brubeck alone at the piano and Chet Baker's quartet. Ella Fitzgerald sings it with an orchestra, Paul Desmond adds a guitar, and Keith Jarrett's live trio closes it at more than ten minutes.
1960sElla Fitzgerald with Nelson Riddle1963 · Vocal
1970sPaul Desmond Quartet1974 · Cool jazz
1980s
1990sKeith Jarrett, Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette1994
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Fred Astaire with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra · 1942
I'm Old Fashioned / Wedding in the Spring
Fred Astaire made the first record of the song in 1942, with John Scott Trotter's orchestra, and Decca issued it on a single. According to JazzStandards.com, it rose to number 23 on the charts.
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Listen for
Astaire sings with John Scott Trotter's orchestra behind him. At 2:26 it is the shortest version on the path, so the song is heard once through with no long solos.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four in F, two beats per : | | Dm7 | Gm7 C7, and hum the tune over them. Smaller version: play only F6 for two beats, Gm7 for two beats, then C7, and back to F6.
Kenny Drew recorded it in Los Angeles in December 1955 with a quartet that had Joe Maini on saxophone. It came out on the Jazz: West label in 1956 on Talkin' & Walkin' with the Kenny Drew Quartet.
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Four players: Joe Maini on saxophone, Kenny Drew on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Lawrence Marable on drums. At five minutes, the record is long enough to go around the tune more than once.
Try it on your instrument
Loop the second eight : | | Dm7 | G7 | | Gm7 | Gm7 | . Smaller version: loop only Dm7 | G7 | Dm7 | G7.
John Coltrane recorded it at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on September 15, 1957, with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. It is on Blue Train, Blue Note BLP 1577.
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Listen for
Three horns, Lee Morgan's trumpet, Curtis Fuller's trombone and Coltrane's tenor saxophone, stand in front of a of Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. At 7:58, the record circles the tune several times.
Try it on your instrument
Play the middle part, 17 to 24: | | Dm7 | | Bm7 | | E7 | Gm7 C7. Smaller version: play only bars 20 to 24, the move away from F and back.
Dave Brubeck recorded it alone at the piano at his home in Oakland, California, on February 8, 1957. It is on his solo album Plays and Plays and Plays, issued on Fantasy.
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Listen for
Dave Brubeck plays alone at home in Oakland, so the melody, the and the beat all come from one piano. The record is 4:59.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last section, the twelve that bring the tune home: | | Dm7 | Gm7 C7 | | | Dm7 | | Am7 Dm7 | Gm7 C7 | F6 Dm7 | Gm7 C7. Smaller version: play only the last four bars.
Chet Baker recorded it for Riverside at Reeves Sound Studios in New York in August 1958, with Kenny Drew, George Morrow and Philly Joe Jones. It is on the album (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen to You, his first Riverside session.
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Listen for
Chet Baker leads a quartet. Kenny Drew, who also plays piano on the Coltrane record, is at the piano, with George Morrow on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The record is 5:04.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight at a ballad pace and hum the tune: | | Dm7 | Gm7 C7 | | Fmaj7 | | . Smaller version: play the first four bars.
Ella Fitzgerald with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra · 1963 · Vocal
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book
Ella Fitzgerald recorded it in January 1963 for her Jerome Kern songbook album on Verve. Norman Granz produced it, and Nelson Riddle arranged and conducted the orchestra.
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Listen for
Ella Fitzgerald sings with Nelson Riddle's orchestra behind her, as Astaire did with Trotter's, about two decades later and on an album of Kern songs. The record is 3:28.
Try it on your instrument
Sing or hum the tune while you play the first eight : | | Dm7 | Gm7 C7 | | Fmaj7 | | . Smaller version: hum only the first four bars.
Paul Desmond recorded it at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, in September 1974, with Ed Bickert, Ron Carter and Connie Kay. CTI issued it in 1975 on Pure Desmond, produced by Creed Taylor.
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Listen for
Paul Desmond plays alto saxophone with Ed Bickert's guitar, Ron Carter's bass and Connie Kay's drums. The record is 4:55.
Try it on your instrument
Play only the root of each for the first eight , one note per chord: F D | G C | F D | G C | B♭ | F | E | A. Then add the tune on top if you can.
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette · 1994
At the Blue Note: The Complete Recordings
Keith Jarrett's trio with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette played it live at the Blue Note in New York on June 3, 1994. ECM issued it in 1995 in the At the Blue Note set.
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Listen for
A live piano trio: Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, recorded at the Blue Note in New York. At 10:37 it is the longest version on the path, so the tune goes around many times.
Try it on your instrument
Loop 13 to 16, | Gm7 | Gm7 | , and play any simple line over it. This takes a little improvising; smaller version: play just those and hold each as long as you like.
Kern and Mercer write the song for the film You Were Never Lovelier. Fred Astaire records it in 1942 with John Scott Trotter's orchestra, and Glenn Miller's band records it in Chicago with singer Skip Nelson.
1950s
Kenny Drew's quartet records it in Los Angeles in 1955. In 1957 John Coltrane's sextet plays it on Blue Train and Dave Brubeck plays it alone at home in Oakland, and Chet Baker records it with Drew in 1958.
1960s
Oscar Peterson's trio plays it with a big band in 1962, Ella Fitzgerald sings it with Nelson Riddle's orchestra on her Jerome Kern album, and Blossom Dearie sings it in 1964.
1970s
Paul Desmond records it in 1974 with Ed Bickert on guitar for the album Pure Desmond. Chet Baker and Jack Sheldon record it in California in 1972, and that session is issued in 2024.
1990s
Cedar Walton plays it alone at Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley in 1992. Keith Jarrett's trio plays a version of more than ten minutes at the Blue Note in New York in 1994.
More great versions
5 more, from 1942 to 1992. Tap a cover to play it here.
1940sGlenn Miller and His Orchestra with Skip Nelson1942
1950s
1960sAhmad Jamal Trio1961 · Post-bop
The Oscar Peterson Trio with Ernie Wilkins' Big Band1962 · Big band
Blossom Dearie1964 · Cool jazz
1970s
1980s
1990sCedar Walton1992
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra with Skip Nelson
1942
Victor single
Glenn Miller's band recorded it with singer Skip Nelson in Chicago on July 16, 1942, the same year as the film.
Oscar Peterson's trio recorded it in New York on June 24, 1962, with a big band conducted by Ernie Wilkins. Verve issued it on Bursting Out with the All-Star Big Band!
Cedar Walton played it alone at the piano at Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley, California, on August 9, 1992. Concord Jazz issued it in 1993 as part of its Maybeck Recital Series.
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 · B · C · A form
F → A → Fkey centers
A8 bars
B8 bars
C8 bars
A12 bars
F
A
F
The iReal Pro chart runs 36 in F, which JazzStandards.com (quoting Alec Wilder) divides as 8, 8, 8 and 12. The first section is | | Dm7 | Gm7 C7 | | Fmaj7 | | . The second is Dm7 | | Dm7 | G7 | Gm7 | Gm7 | Gm7 | C7. The third opens like the first, then heads for : in bar 20, Bm7, , E7 , and Gm7 C7 back to F in bar 24. The last section runs twelve bars: the opening four again, then | | Dm7 | | Am7 Dm7 | Gm7 C7 | F6 Dm7 | Gm7 C7.