Richard Rodgers, music · Lorenz Hart, lyrics · Introduced by Gloria Grafton in the musical Jumbo, 1935
Little Girl Blue
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote it for the 1935 Broadway musical Jumbo, where Gloria Grafton introduced it. Singers, pianists, saxophonists and guitarists have recorded it, and Nina Simone named her first album after it. Hear it from Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Janis Joplin and the Keith Jarrett Trio.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Frank Sinatra's 1953 record, then swaps the singer for a saxophone and a piano trio before Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone sing it again. Janis Joplin turns it into a rock song, and a trumpet and piano duet and a live piano trio close the path.
Sinatra recorded it at Capitol Studios in Hollywood in the sessions of November 5 and 6, 1953, for Songs for Young Lovers, his first album for Capitol. Nelson Riddle conducted and George Siravo wrote the arrangement.
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Listen for
Sinatra sings with an orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle, and the whole track lasts under three minutes. It is the shortest recording on the path, so the song comes across at its most compact.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody in F with the of the first four of the : and , and , F6, then and . Sing or hum along with the record to hear where each phrase lands.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded it in New York in August 1955 for Jazz: Red, Hot and Cool, which Columbia released that year with George Avakian as producer. The album was recorded in a New York club, and this track runs 10:40.
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Paul Desmond's alto saxophone leads the quartet, with Brubeck's piano, Bob Bates on bass and Joe Dodge on drums behind him. At 10:40 it runs more than three times as long as Sinatra's record.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody in F once, then play the twelve of an as only: , , F6, , , , F6 Dm7, Gm7 , , Gm7 C7, F6, F6. Soloing over them is harder; a smaller version is to play only the root of each chord on beats one and three while the record plays.
Red Garland recorded it on August 17, 1956, at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, with Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums. It is on A Garland of Red, his first record as a leader, which Prestige released in early January 1957.
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Garland's piano leads the trio, with Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums. At about five minutes it is roughly half the length of the Brubeck track.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last eight of the as : , , , , , C7, F6, F6. If the chords are new, play only their roots first, then add the full chords.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book
Fitzgerald sang it for her two-record Rodgers and Hart Song Book, recorded in August 1956 and produced by Norman Granz for Verve. Buddy Bregman arranged the music and conducted the studio orchestra.
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Fitzgerald sings with Buddy Bregman's studio orchestra behind her. Compare her four minutes with Sinatra's three.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody in F and loop the last four of the as : , , , F6. Sing or hum over them and listen for where the record breathes at the end of each phrase.
Nina Simone recorded it in New York in late 1957 with Jimmy Bond on bass and Tootie Heath on drums, and the song gave its name to her first album. Bethlehem Records held the record back until February 1959.
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Simone sings and plays the piano herself, with only a bass and drums beside her. Notice how much of the sound is her piano.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first six of the as with your left hand while your right hand plays the melody: , , F6, , , . If two hands is too much, play the chords alone and hum the melody.
Janis Joplin recorded it in New York in June 1969 for her first solo album, with the Kozmic Blues Band and producer Gabriel Mekler. Columbia released the album on September 11, 1969, and her version rearranges the words.
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Listen for
Joplin sings with her band behind her, and the voice carries the whole track. She changes the order of the words, so follow the record with a lyric sheet in hand and see where she moves them.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four of the as : , C7, , Fmaj7. Hold the last two bars while you hum the melody.
Chet Baker and Paul Bley recorded it as a duet at Sound Track Studio in Copenhagen on February 27, 1985, for the album Diane on SteepleChase. The 10:24 take linked here is the one on the 1986 CD, which carries a long version of the track.
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Only two players are on this track, Chet Baker on trumpet and Paul Bley on piano. It runs 10:24, the second longest on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody on one instrument and the of the on another, or with both hands at one piano: , C7, , Fmaj7, , , , C7. With no bass in the record, use your left hand for the bass notes.
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette played it live at the Konserthus in Oslo on October 7, 1989. ECM released the concert as Standards in Norway in April 1995.
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This is a live concert by a trio of piano, bass and drums, recorded in Oslo. The track runs 6:43, between Garland's five minutes and Baker and Bley's ten.
Try it on your instrument
Loop the 's last four as : , , , F6. Making up a new melody over them is soloing and takes practice; a smaller version is to play the chords and hum the written melody over the top.
Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart write it for the 1935 Broadway musical Jumbo, where Gloria Grafton introduces it.
1950s
Frank Sinatra records it in 1953 for his first Capitol album. Ella Fitzgerald sings it on her 1956 Rodgers and Hart set, and Nina Simone records it in late 1957 for her first album.
1960s
Gene Ammons plays it on tenor saxophone in 1961 and Grant Green on guitar in 1962, though neither take is issued for years. Janis Joplin sings it on her first solo album in 1969.
1980s
Chet Baker and Paul Bley play it as a trumpet and piano duet in Copenhagen in 1985. Keith Jarrett's trio plays it live in Oslo in 1989.
More great versions
7 more, from 1956 to 1969. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sCannonball Adderley Octet1956
Coleman Hawkins1956 · Bebop
Hank Mobley Quartet1956 · Hard bop
Sarah Vaughan1958
1960sGene Ammons Quartet1961
Grant Green Quartet1962 · Soul jazz
Phineas Newborn Jr. Trio1969 · Swing
Cannonball Adderley Octet
1956
Jazz Masters 31
Cannonball Adderley recorded it at Capitol Studios in New York on June 8, 1956, with trumpets, trombones, saxophones and a . It was left off the album from that session and appears on Jazz Masters 31, released in 1994.
Hank Mobley recorded it with a quartet at Van Gelder Studio on July 20, 1956, in the session behind Mobley's Message. The linked take comes from Messages, a 1976 Prestige release of that session.
Sarah Vaughan Sings Broadway: Great Songs from Hit Shows
Sarah Vaughan sang it on her 1958 Mercury album Sarah Vaughan Sings Broadway, arranged by Hal Mooney. The link goes to a later compilation of the same track.
Gene Ammons recorded it with a quartet at Van Gelder Studio on January 26, 1961, in the session behind Nice An' Cool. Prestige did not issue this take until 1977, on The Gene Ammons Story: Gentle Jug.
Phineas Newborn Jr. recorded it with Ray Brown on bass and Elvin Jones on drums in Los Angeles on February 12 and 13, 1969. Contemporary released it on Harlem Blues in 1975.
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 · A · B form
F majorkey centers
A12 bars
A12 bars
B12 bars
F
Three sections make 36 bars: A, A again, then a contrasting B. The iReal Pro chart also writes out a 16-bar before them. Each A opens , , F6, then leads to in bar 5 and in bar 6. Bar 7 returns to F6 Dm7, then Gm7 and follow, and Gm7 C7 and two bars of F6 close the section. B opens with C7 and Gm7 C7, rests on for two bars, then moves through , , D7 and C7 before F6 Dm7, Gm7 C7 and F6 bring it home. The verse opens Gm7, , Fmaj7, Fmaj7, repeats with Gm7 C7 and two bars of Fmaj7, then goes Em7, A7, , , Dm7, , Gm7 and C7. These follow the iReal Pro chart.