George Gershwin, music · Ira Gershwin, lyrics · Introduced by Kenny Baker in the film The Goldwyn Follies, 1938
Love Walked In
Love Walked In is a 1937 song by George Gershwin, with words by Ira Gershwin. Kenny Baker sang it in the 1938 film The Goldwyn Follies, and Sammy Kaye's record reached number one. Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Sonny Clark and Grant Green recorded it between 1938 and 1961.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Kenny Baker's 1938 record and Louis Armstrong's band less than a month later, then moves to Dave Brubeck's octet in 1950, Oscar Peterson's trio in 1952 and Chet Baker with strings in 1953. It continues with Sarah Vaughan and Sonny Clark in 1957 and ends with Grant Green's guitar trio in 1961.
Kenny Baker sang the song in the film The Goldwyn Follies and recorded it for Decca with Harry Sosnik's orchestra on April 22, 1938. According to Ira Gershwin, quoted on JazzStandards.com, his brother George picked it because it suited Baker's voice.
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One male voice carries the song over an orchestra, and the record lasts 2:42. 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: , , , , E♭maj7, Cm7, F7, B♭7. Hum the melody over it. Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
Armstrong's orchestra recorded it for Decca in New York on May 18, 1938, less than four weeks after Kenny Baker's record. Decca issued it on a single with Something Tells Me on the other side.
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A ten-piece band built around Louis Armstrong's trumpet plays the song in 2:29. Hear it next to Kenny Baker's record from less than a month earlier.
Try it on your instrument
Now learn the , 9 to 16: , , , , , , Gm7 C7, . Smaller version: play only B♭m7, E♭7 and A♭maj7, the first three bars.
Dave Brubeck's octet recorded it in San Francisco in July 1950, with Paul Desmond on alto saxophone and Cal Tjader on drums. Fantasy issued it on a single with The Way You Look Tonight on the other side.
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Eight players, among them trumpet, trombone, clarinet and three saxophones, fit the song into 2:37. Compare this small band with Armstrong's ten players.
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Learn the last eight , the , which starts like the and then goes its own way: , , , , , , , Fm7 B♭7. Smaller version: play only the first three bars, then stop.
Oscar Peterson recorded it in Los Angeles in early December 1952, with Barney Kessel on guitar and Ray Brown on bass. The trio cut a long run of Gershwin songs at that session, and Mercury and Clef spread them over several albums.
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Listen for
Three players, on piano, guitar and bass, take the song in 3:07. Compare the sound of three instruments with the eight players of the Brubeck octet before it.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 in the order A, B, A, C with the record, using the from the earlier steps. Keeping your place takes practice, so a smaller version is to play only the and sit out the rest.
Chet Baker recorded it in Los Angeles on December 30, 1953, with nine string players, Zoot Sims on tenor saxophone and Russ Freeman on piano. Columbia released it in 1954 on Chet Baker & Strings.
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Chet Baker's trumpet and Zoot Sims's tenor saxophone share the record, which lasts 2:57, with six violins, two violas and a cello. Compare the sound of a string section with the horn sections on the earlier records.
Try it on your instrument
Play the opening, , , , , and hum the melody over it. Then play it again more quietly, as if you were accompanying a trumpet. Smaller version: play only E♭maj7 and Cm7.
Sarah Vaughan recorded her Gershwin album for Mercury on March 20 and 21, 1957, with Hal Mooney arranging and his orchestra behind her. Mercury released the album in 1958.
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Sarah Vaughan sings with an orchestra behind her, and the record lasts 3:09, 27 seconds longer than Kenny Baker's.
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The B and start with the same three , , and , and then go different ways. Play 9 to 12 (B♭m7, E♭7, A♭maj7, ) and then bars 25 to 28 (B♭m7, E♭7, A♭maj7, ) and hear where they split. Smaller version: play only B♭m7, E♭7 and A♭maj7.
Sonny Clark recorded it at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Hackensack on July 21, 1957, for Blue Note. Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller and Hank Mobley play on other tracks of Dial S for Sonny, and this one is a trio.
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Piano, bass and drums play the song for 5:51, more than twice as long as the 1938 records. The song is 32 , so a record this long takes the around more than once.
Try it on your instrument
Loop the four times, humming the melody once and then a line of your own over it. Making up a line is a bigger step, so a smaller version is to hum the melody every time.
Grant Green recorded it with Wilbur Ware on bass and Al Harewood on drums at Rudy Van Gelder's studio on August 29, 1961, in a session of standards. Blue Note first issued it on a Japanese LP, Remembering, in 1980.
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Grant Green's guitar leads a trio with bass and drums, and the record lasts 6:35, the longest on the path. Hear how a guitar leads on its own here, where it was one of three players on Oscar Peterson's record.
Try it on your instrument
Play the root of each in the as a bass line: E♭, C, F, B♭, E♭, C, F, B♭. Smaller version: play only the first four notes.
Ira Gershwin writes the words in 1937 for the film The Goldwyn Follies, where Kenny Baker sings the song. Baker records it for Decca in April 1938, and Louis Armstrong's orchestra follows in May.
1950s
Dave Brubeck's octet records it in July 1950. In 1957 Sarah Vaughan sings it on her Gershwin album in March, and Sonny Clark plays it as a trio in July.
1960s
Kai Winding leads his trombones through it on Impulse! in 1960, and Grant Green cuts it in 1961, though Blue Note first issues it in 1980. Sonny Rollins plays it in the Netherlands in 1967.
1970s
Ray Brown records it in June 1977 with Cedar Walton on piano and Elvin Jones on drums. Contemporary releases the album, Something for Lester, in 1978.
More great versions
5 more, from 1950 to 1977. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sArtie Shaw1950
Sonny Stitt1955 · Bebop
Ella Fitzgerald1959 · Vocal
1960sKai Winding1960 · Cool jazz
1970sRay Brown1977 · Bebop
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra
1950
Decca 24869
Artie Shaw's band recorded it at Decca's New York studio on January 6, 1950, with Al Cohn and Zoot Sims among the saxophone players. Decca issued it that February as catalog number 24869.
Sonny Stitt Plays Arrangements from the Pen of Quincy Jones
Sonny Stitt plays alto saxophone on this track from the album he made in New York in autumn 1955 with arrangements and conducting by Quincy Jones. Roost released the album in 1956.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book
Ella Fitzgerald recorded the Gershwin Song Book with Nelson Riddle's arrangements in sessions across January, March and July 1959, and Verve released the set that December. Love Walked In is on the third disc.
Kai Winding made The Incredible Kai Winding Trombones for Impulse! at sessions between November 17 and December 13, 1960, with Creed Taylor producing. Love Walked In is one of its tracks.
Ray Brown recorded it with pianist Cedar Walton and drummer Elvin Jones at Contemporary's Los Angeles studio in June 1977. Contemporary released it in 1978 on Something for Lester.
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 · B · A · C form
E♭ major → A♭ major → F minor → E♭ major → A♭ major → E♭ majorkey centers
A8 bars
B8 bars
A8 bars
C8 bars
E♭
A♭
F m
E♭
E♭
A♭
E♭
The tune stays close to , with visits to in the B and . The , 1 to 8, runs , , , , E♭maj7, Cm7, F7, B♭7. The , bars 9 to 16, opens in A♭ major with , and , then moves through and (), , Gm7 C7 and F7 B♭7, which lead back to E♭. The A section returns in bars 17 to 24. The C section, bars 25 to 32, starts like B with B♭m7, E♭7 and A♭maj7, then runs , Gm7 C7, Fm7 B♭7, and a closing Fm7 B♭7 that leads back to the top. These follow iReal Pro's chart; other lead sheets may spell some differently.