Sigmund Romberg, music · Oscar Hammerstein II, lyrics · Introduced by Evelyn Herbert in The New Moon, New York, 1928
Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote this song for the 1928 Broadway operetta The New Moon. The sit in a bright major and the moves to a darker, minor one. Artie Shaw made it a hit in 1939, and singers and horn players have kept recording it since.
Start with a 1939 big-band hit and a 1944 vocal, then hear a piano trio, a vocal with a large jam session group, a quintet, two tenor saxophones, an alto saxophone quartet and a recent vocal. Each step plays the same form in a different setting.
8 recordings, 1939 to 2007 · Play all 8 on YouTube ↗
Step 1 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra · 1939
Single, Bluebird B-10126
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Play the first eight of an from the chart while the record runs: , E♭6, , , , Cm7, , .
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Billie Holiday and the Eddie Heywood Trio · 1944
Single, Commodore 559
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Sing or hum the melody while you play the first eight of the chart: , E♭6, , , , Cm7, , .
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Kenny Drew Trio · 1953
“Lover Come Back to Me”, New Faces – New Sounds: Introducing the Kenny Drew Trio
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Play the first four of the from the chart and hold each for its full bar: , Cm7, , Cm7. The third bar has two chords, so split it.
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Dinah Washington with Clifford Brown and Max Roach · 1954 · Bebop, Vocal
“Lover Come Back to Me”, Dinah Jams
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Play the last eight of the from the chart: , Cm7, , Cm7, , F7, , . Then play for the first bar of the next A.
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John Coltrane · 1958 · Hard bop, Post-bop
“Lover Come Back to Me”, Black Pearls
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Play the roots of the first eight of the chart in time with the record: E♭, E♭, D, G, C, C, F, F♯. If you already solo over changes, play a over those bars instead.
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Al Cohn and Zoot Sims · 1959
“Lover Come Back to Me”, Jazz Alive! A Night at the Half Note
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Play the second half of the from the chart on piano or guitar: , , , , E♭6/G, , Cm7, B♭7.
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Art Pepper · 1978
Art Pepper Today
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Play the at the end of the first from the chart and hold the last : , , .
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Cassandra Wilson · 2007 · Contemporary jazz, Vocal
“Lover Come Back to Me”, Loverly
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Play the first eight of the from the chart and sing or hum the melody over them: , Cm7, , Cm7, Dm7♭5, G7♭9, , G7♭9.
3 more, from 1950 to 1958. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950
Single, Mercury 8921
Oscar Peterson recorded this piano and bass duet with Ray Brown in New York in March 1950.
1955 · Big band
Sweet and Hot
Ella Fitzgerald sings this at a fast tempo on her 1955 album Sweet and Hot, and the track runs about two minutes.
1958 · Hard bop
“Lover Come Back to Me”, Off to the Races
Donald Byrd recorded this with a sextet that includes Jackie McLean and Pepper Adams on 21 December 1958, and Blue Note issued it on Off to the Races.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
The tune has four sections in order. Each begins with , E♭6, and , moves through , Cm7, and , and then , Cm7, F7 and lead to a bar of E♭6 and E♭6/G. A three-bar ending closes each A with , Cm7 and B♭7. The first A's ending returns to the top, and the second A's ending, A♭6 A°7, E♭6/B♭, Dm7♭5 G7♭9, leads into the . The bridge is 16 bars and starts in with Cm7, Cm7, Dm7♭5 G7♭9 and Cm7, then Dm7♭5, G7♭9, and G7♭9, then Cm7, Cm7, Dm7♭5 G7♭9 and Cm7. The last four bars, F7, F7, Fm7 and B♭7, turn back to . The final A plays its first 13 bars and then takes a third ending: A♭6 A°7, E♭6 Cm7 and Fm7 B♭7. The iReal Pro chart marks a D.C. after the bridge, so each A counts as 16 bars once its ending is added, and the full tune runs 64 bars. The scaffold's count of 51 bars missed the repeats. JazzStandards.com gives the form as A A B A, with a major A and a minor B, and states no bar count, so the 16-bar sections follow the iReal Pro chart. JazzStandards.com gives the original as , and the iReal Pro chart is in E♭.
Chart from iReal Pro's Jazz 1460 playlist, contributed by its users.