Jimmy Van Heusen, music · Johnny Burke, lyrics · Introduced by Dorothy Lamour in And the Angels Sing, 1944
It Could Happen to You is a 1943 song by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. The 32 stay in and use climbing, tense-sounding and short falling turns. Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Sonny Clark, Chet Baker and Keith Jarrett all recorded it.
Start with a 1943 vocal, then hear a solo piano, a quintet, a solo tenor sax, a sextet, a vocal quartet, a live trumpet quartet and a long piano trio. Each step plays the same 32 in a different setting.
8 recordings, 1943 to 1996 · Play all 8 on YouTube ↗
Step 1 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard
Jo Stafford with Paul Weston and His Orchestra · 1943 · Big band, Easy listening
Capitol Collectors Series
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Play the first eight of (, , , , E♭maj7, , , ) at a slow pace, one chord per bar, while you hum the tune.
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Bud Powell · 1951 · Bebop
Un Poco Loco / It Could Happen to You
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Play the with your left hand, one per (, , , , , , Fm7, B♭7). A smaller version is to play only the roots.
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The Miles Davis Quintet · 1956 · Hard bop
Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
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Play the (, , , , Fm7, B♭7, E♭maj7 , Fm7 B♭7), putting two chords in the that have two names.
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Sonny Rollins · 1957 · Hard bop
The Sound of Sonny
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Play the melody with no under it, then play it again and add only the root of each chord on beat one of each .
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Sonny Clark · 1957 · Hard bop
Dial "S" for Sonny
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Play one of with only the root and seventh of each chord: A, B, A, C, 32 . Use , , , , E♭maj7, , , for each A.
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Chet Baker · 1958 · Vocal
Chet Baker Sings: It Could Happen to You
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Sing or play the melody and stop on the last of each section: at the end of the first A, at the end of the .
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Kenny Dorham · 1961 · Hard bop
Inta Somethin'
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Play the two-chord slowly: to in bar 12, and to in bar 27. Then play the full with those bars in place.
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Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette · 1996 · Contemporary jazz
Tokyo '96
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Loop the first four (, , , ) with the melody in your right hand. Then play the loop again with a different voicing each time.
5 more, from 1954 to 2024. Tap a cover to play it here.
1954 · Vocal
Something Cool
June Christy sings the song on her 1954 Capitol album Something Cool, in a take under two minutes.
1955 · Bebop, Cool jazz
Ellis in Wonderland
Herb Ellis plays guitar on this track from his 1956 debut album Ellis in Wonderland, which was recorded in Hollywood between December 1955 and January 1956.
1958 · Post-bop, Cool jazz
“It Could Happen to You (Live at the Spotlite Club)”, Portfolio of Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal's trio plays this live at the Spotlite Club in Washington, DC in September 1958, with Israel Crosby on bass and Vernel Fournier on drums.
1959
“It Could Happen to You (Live)”, Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series, Vol. 40
Sonny Rollins plays this with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Pete La Roca at Radio Studio Zurich on March 5, 1959. The trio has tenor sax, bass and drums and no piano.
2024 · Contemporary jazz
Bewitched: The Goddess Edition
Laufey sings the song on Bewitched: The Goddess Edition, in a take of 2:08.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Each starts on and moves up through , and before it returns to E♭maj7. , and close the phrase and lead to Fm7 at the start of the next section. The opens with Fm7 and , resolves to E♭maj7, and then uses to reach , followed by , Fm7 and B♭7. The opens the same way, with Fm7 and B♭7 to E♭maj7 , then Gm7♭5 C7♭9, Fm7 and B♭7, and ends with an E♭maj7 Cm7 and a last Fm7 B♭7. The tune stays in throughout, and the in the B and C sections are short moves that return to it. These names follow the iReal Pro chart.
Chart from iReal Pro's Jazz 1460 playlist, contributed by its users.