George Gershwin, music · Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn, lyrics · Introduced by Ruby Keeler in the Ziegfeld show Show Girl, 1929
Liza
Liza is a 1929 song by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn. Ruby Keeler sang it in the Ziegfeld show Show Girl, and Al Jolson took it into the charts. Fletcher Henderson, Art Tatum, Benny Goodman, Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock with Chick Corea all recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Al Jolson's 1929 record, then follows Fletcher Henderson's band and Art Tatum's solo piano in 1934, and Benny Goodman's quartet in 1937. It continues with Jolson again in 1947 and Sonny Stitt's saxophone in 1951, and ends with Thelonious Monk's quartet in 1964 and Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea's two pianos in 1978.
“Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)”, Brunswick 4402
Al Jolson sang a of Liza from the audience at the Boston opening of Show Girl in June 1929, and recorded it for Brunswick the next month. According to JazzStandards.com, his record rose to number nine on the charts.
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Listen for
One voice carries the whole record, which lasts 2:52. Learn the tune here, because every later version on this page starts from it.
Try it on your instrument
Play the slowly, one per bar except where two are shown: , , , , , , Fm7 , E♭6. Hum the melody over it. Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
Fletcher Henderson's band recorded Liza for Decca on September 25, 1934. According to JazzStandards.com, it is a swing-era version for students to hear, and it features a Benny Carter saxophone solo.
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Listen for
A full dance band plays the tune, and a saxophone steps out for a solo. Compare the weight of the whole band with the single voice on the 1929 record.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last four of the , , , , , slowly. These four bars end every A section. Smaller version: play just the first and last .
“Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) (take D)”, Decca 1373
Art Tatum recorded Liza alone at the piano for Decca on October 9, 1934. Decca issued it as record 1373; the take linked here is take D.
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Listen for
One pianist and no band: Tatum plays the tune and everything around it himself. The take lasts 3:04.
Try it on your instrument
Play the , the contrasting middle part, with the left hand on single roots: , , Cm7, , , , , . Smaller version: play only the first four bars, one chord per bar.
“Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)”, Victor 25660
Benny Goodman's quartet recorded Liza for Victor on August 2, 1937, with Goodman on clarinet, Teddy Wilson on piano, Lionel Hampton on vibraphone and Gene Krupa on drums. JazzStandards.com lists it among the recordings that help students get acquainted with the song.
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Listen for
Only four players, so you can pick each one out: clarinet, piano, vibraphone and drums. The record lasts 3:23.
Try it on your instrument
Play the once as written, then again with the lowest note of each chord on beat one and the rest of the chord on beats two and four. Chords: , , , , , , Fm7 , E♭6. Smaller version: use one chord per .
“Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)”, Decca single
Al Jolson recorded Liza a second time on June 11, 1947, with Morris Stoloff conducting. According to JazzStandards.com, the Boston night was reprised in the 1946 film The Jolson Story.
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Listen for
Jolson sings it again eighteen years later. This record runs 2:13 against 2:52 for the 1929 one, so compare how much each version fits into its time.
Try it on your instrument
Play the at a slow pace, then again at a quicker one, to feel how the same sit at each speed: , , , , , , Fm7 , E♭6. Smaller version: play only the last four bars.
“Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)”, Kaleidoscope
Sonny Stitt recorded Liza on alto saxophone in New York on January 31, 1951, with a piano, bass and drums . Prestige gathered it on the 1957 compilation Kaleidoscope.
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Listen for
Stitt's alto saxophone plays the tune over piano, bass and drums, and the whole track is 2:46. Listen for how the keeps the beat moving under him.
Try it on your instrument
Loop the while you hum or play the melody: , , Cm7, , , , , . Soloing over these chords is a bigger step than playing the melody, so the smaller version is to play the chords and hum along.
Thelonious Monk's quartet recorded Liza in New York on October 6, 1964, with Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums. Columbia issued it on the album Monk. in 1965.
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Listen for
A tenor saxophone joins Monk's piano, bass and drums, so there are four players where his 1956 version had three. This take runs 4:36; the 1956 trio's runs 3:12.
Try it on your instrument
Count the form as , eight bars each, along with the first of the recording. Smaller version: count only the first .
“Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) (live)”, An Evening with Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea: In Concert
Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea played Liza on two acoustic pianos during their February 1978 concerts. Columbia released the live double album in November 1978.
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Listen for
Two pianists and nothing else, for a little over nine minutes. Follow how the two pianos share the tune between them.
Try it on your instrument
Play the with the left hand on the lowest note of each chord on beats one and three and the full chord on beats two and four. Chords: , , , , , , Fm7 , E♭6. Smaller version: one chord per and hum the melody.
Ruby Keeler introduces the song in the 1929 Ziegfeld show Show Girl. In Boston her husband Al Jolson stands up in the third row and sings a to her, and he records it that July.
1930s
Fletcher Henderson's band records it on September 25, 1934, and Art Tatum plays it as a piano solo two weeks later. The Benny Goodman Quartet, with Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton and Gene Krupa, records it in 1937.
1940s
Al Jolson records the song again on June 11, 1947, with Morris Stoloff conducting. The 1946 film The Jolson Story had reprised his Boston surprise.
1950s
Sonny Stitt plays it on alto saxophone in January 1951. Thelonious Monk's trio opens The Unique Thelonious Monk with it in 1956, and Chris Connor sings it on her 1957 Atlantic Gershwin album.
1960s
Thelonious Monk comes back to it in October 1964, with Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone. The quartet's take runs 4:36, against 3:12 for his 1956 trio version.
1970s
Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea play it on two acoustic pianos during their February 1978 concerts. Columbia releases the live double album that November.
More great versions
2 more, from 1956 to 1957. Tap a cover to play it here.
“Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)”, The Unique Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk recorded Liza as a trio with Oscar Pettiford on bass and Art Blakey on drums at the Van Gelder studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. It opens side one of The Unique Thelonious Monk, released on Riverside in August 1956.
Chris Connor Sings the George Gershwin Almanac of Song
Chris Connor sang Liza on her 1957 Atlantic album Chris Connor Sings the George Gershwin Almanac of Song. The album uses different musicians from track to track, and the sources opened do not say who plays on this one.
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
E♭ majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
E♭ major → C minor → A♭ major → E♭ majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
E♭
C m
A♭
E♭
The tune stays in except for the . The , 1 to 8, runs , , , , , , Fm7 , E♭6. The B section, bars 9 to 16, opens in with , A♭maj7, Cm7 and B♭m7 E♭7. It then slides into with A♭6, , Fm7 and B♭7, which lead back into the last A section. The iReal Pro chart repeats the A section with a first ending of E♭6 and a second ending of E♭6 . These follow iReal Pro's chart; other lead sheets may spell some differently.