Jimmy Davis, Roger "Ram" Ramirez and James Sherman · Written for Billie Holiday · First recorded by Holiday for Decca, New York, October 1944
Lover Man
Lover Man is a 1941 ballad by Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez and James Sherman, written for Billie Holiday. Players like its harmony, chains of ii–V chords that keep shifting key, with a hint of the blues. Holiday's 1944 record entered the Grammy Hall of Fame; Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan and Sonny Rollins also recorded it.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Billie Holiday✓
- 2 Hear it with a bebop band Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie✓
- 3 Hear a saxophone take the lead Charlie Parker Quintet✓
- 4 Hear a singer with a piano trio Sarah Vaughan✓
- 5 Hear two tenor saxophones Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins✓
- 6 Hear it on guitar Joe Pass and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen✓
- 7 Hear a live piano trio stretch out Keith Jarrett Trio✓
- 8 Hear a modern vocal with a small band Dee Dee Bridgewater✓
How the tune works
A chorus runs 32 bars as A, A, B, A. Each A opens with Dm7 and G7 for two bars, then Gm7 and C7 for two, so the first four bars are two ii–V moves in a row. Bars 5 and 6 sit on F7 and B♭7, and bar 7 packs A♭m7, D♭7, Gm7 and C7 into one bar on the way to Fmaj7. The first time through, bar 8 adds Em7♭5 and A7 to turn back to the top. The second time, bar 16 goes to E7♭9, which leads into the bridge. The bridge (bars 17 to 24) begins on A minor and A minor with a major seventh, then runs Am7, D7 and Gmaj7, a ii–V–I in G, before Bm7, Am7 and D7 in bar 20. Bars 21 and 22 come back toward F with Gm, Gm(maj7), Gm7 and C7. Bar 23 is Fmaj7, and bar 24 holds Em7♭5 and A7♭9, which lead into the last A. That A closes on Fmaj7, with a turnaround written above it.
The usual changes in F, the key most players use: 32 bars in four sections, A (bars 1–8), A (9–16), B (17–24) and A (25–32), with each A's endings written out.
Read from the source's chord chart (ballad, 4/4, AABA, 32 bars, common key F), with its two endings written out: the first ending's Fmaj7, Em7♭5 and A7 sits in bar 8 and the second ending's Fmaj7 and E7♭9 sits in bar 16. The source writes Em7♭5 as Eø and Δ7 for maj7. Bar 7 of each A holds four chords, A♭m7, D♭7, Gm7 and C7, and bar 20 holds three: Bm7, Am7 and D7. The source shows Em7♭5 and A7 above the Fmaj7 in the last bar as a turnaround, so bar 32 is written as a three-chord bar. Recordings and other charts differ. JazzStandards.com's analysis of the original sheet, which is in D♭ with five flats, describes the same chains of ii–V cadences and a bridge that ends on the dominant of the opening minor key, but it lists no bar-by-bar chords, so it cannot confirm each chord here. Wikipedia says Sonny Stitt played the song in D♭ and most musicians play it in F. Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with Billie Holiday's 1944 record, then hears the song with a bebop band, a saxophone lead, a trio vocal, two tenors, a guitar duo, a live piano trio and a 2009 vocal. Each step gives you one thing to hear and one thing to try.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Billie Holiday 1944
“Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)”, Decca 78 single, with That Ole Devil Called Love
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Toots Camarata's orchestra adds a string section, a trumpet and saxophones to the rhythm section of piano, guitar, bass and drums. The record runs about three and a quarter minutes.
- Try this
- Play bars 1 to 8 of the chart slowly, two beats to a chord. Smaller version: play bars 1 to 4 only, Dm7 to G7 twice, then Gm7 to C7 twice.
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Step 2 · Hear it with a bebop band Now playing
Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie and His All Stars 1945
Guild 1002 78 single, with Shaw 'Nuff
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- Listen for
- Gillespie's trumpet and Parker's alto saxophone play with the voice, over Al Haig's piano, Curly Russell's bass and Sid Catlett's drums. The record lasts about three and a half minutes.
- Try this
- Play the bridge, bars 17 to 24 of the chart, slowly. Smaller version: play only bars 21 to 24, which run Gm, Gm(maj7), Gm7, C7, Fmaj7, then Em7♭5 and A7♭9.
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Step 3 · Hear a saxophone take the lead Now playing
Charlie Parker Quintet 1946
“Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)”, Dial 1007 78 single, coupled with Howard McGhee's Be-Bop
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- Listen for
- An alto saxophone and a trumpet play with a rhythm section of piano, bass and drums. The record lasts about three and a half minutes.
- Try this
- Play bars 5 to 8 of the chart: F7, B♭7, then A♭m7, D♭7, Gm7 and C7 in one bar, and Fmaj7. Smaller version: play only F7, B♭7 and Fmaj7, a bar each.
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Step 4 · Hear a singer with a piano trio Now playing
Sarah Vaughan 1954
“Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)”, Swingin' Easy
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- Listen for
- Only piano, bass and drums play behind her, with John Malachi, Joe Benjamin and Roy Haynes. The track lasts under three and a half minutes.
- Try this
- Play all 32 bars of the chart once through at a slow tempo, A A B A, and hum the song over them if you know it. Smaller version: play bars 1 to 16 only.
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Step 5 · Hear two tenor saxophones Now playing
Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins 1963
“Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be?)”, Sonny Meets Hawk!
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Two tenor saxophones play over Paul Bley's piano, Bob Cranshaw's bass and Roy McCurdy's drums. The track runs almost nine minutes.
- Try this
- Play the chord tones of bars 1 to 8 of the chart, root, third, fifth and seventh, up and down, two beats to a chord. Smaller version: play only the roots.
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Step 6 · Hear it on guitar Now playing
Joe Pass and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen 1978
Chops
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- Listen for
- Only a guitar and a double bass play, and each bar has three beats. The track lasts about five and a half minutes.
- Try this
- Count a slow three and play the first eight chords of the chart, Dm7, G7, Dm7, G7, Gm7, C7, Gm7 and C7, one chord to a bar. This gives the feel of a three-beat bar; the record's own bar layout may differ.
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Step 7 · Hear a live piano trio stretch out Now playing
Keith Jarrett Trio 1989
“Lover Man (Live)”, Tribute
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- Listen for
- A piano trio of Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette plays live, with no horn or voice. At 13 minutes 14 seconds it is the longest track on this path.
- Try this
- Play the bridge and the last A without a break, bars 17 to 32 of the chart, slowly. Smaller version: play bars 17 to 24 only, then stop.
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Step 8 · Hear a modern vocal with a small band Now playing
Dee Dee Bridgewater 2009
“Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)”, Eleanora Fagan
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- Listen for
- A piano, double bass and drums rhythm section backs the voice, and James Carter is credited on reeds for the album. His instrument on this track is not listed, so decide for yourself which reed you hear.
- Try this
- Play bars 29 to 32 of the chart three times in a row as a loop: F7, B♭7, A♭m7 D♭7 Gm7 C7, then Fmaj7 with Em7♭5 and A7. Smaller version: loop only F7 to B♭7.
More great versions
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J.J. Johnson Sextet with Clifford Brown 1953
Jay Jay Johnson with Clifford Brown
A 1953 Blue Note sextet date that pairs J.J.
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Chet Baker Quartet 1955
Chet In Paris: Everything Happens To Me, The Complete Barclay Recording, Vol. 2
A trumpet quartet version from Chet Baker's Paris Barclay sessions, with Gerard Gustin on piano.
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Ray Bryant 1958
“Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be)”, Alone with the Blues
Ray Bryant plays the song alone at the piano on his first solo piano album, recorded at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack on December 19, 1958.
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Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake 1961
The Newest Sound Around
Jeanne Lee sings it with Ran Blake at the piano on the 1962 album The Newest Sound Around, recorded in New York in late 1961.
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Sarah Vaughan 1963
“Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)”, Sassy Swings the Tivoli
Sarah Vaughan sings the song live with her trio at the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, on an album recorded over four days in July 1963.
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Bill Evans Trio with Stan Getz 1974
But Beautiful
A live version from 1974 with Stan Getz on tenor saxophone in front of the Bill Evans Trio, released in 1996 on But Beautiful.