Richard Rodgers, music · Lorenz Hart, lyrics · Introduced by Mitzi Green in Babes in Arms (1937)
My Funny Valentine
My Funny Valentine is a Rodgers and Hart ballad from the 1937 Broadway musical Babes in Arms. Players love its falling chord line and the move to E♭ major in the bridge. Chet Baker made it his signature song, and Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra and Gerry Mulligan recorded it too.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Chet Baker✓
- 2 Hear another singer Frank Sinatra✓
- 3 Hear the tune without a piano Gerry Mulligan Quartet✓
- 4 Hear two chord players Bill Evans and Jim Hall✓
- 5 Hear two horns solo over the form Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson✓
- 6 Hear the form stretched Miles Davis Quintet✓
- 7 Hear a trio take its time Keith Jarrett Trio✓
- 8 Hear it today Emmet Cohen with Ron Carter and George Coleman✓
How the tune works
The tune runs 36 bars in four parts. A is eight bars in C minor. The first four bars hang on one minor chord while a line steps down through Cm, Cm(maj7), Cm7 and Cm6. Then A♭maj7, Fm7, Dm7♭5 and G7♭9 lead back to the top. A² repeats those chords until bar 15, where Fm7 and B♭7 point toward E♭ major. B opens in E♭ major with E♭maj7 alternating with Fm7 and Gm7, and a G7♭9 in bar 21 turns the music back toward C minor. The bridge ends with Cm7, B♭m7 and A7, then A♭maj7 and a Dm7♭5 G7♭9 pair. C runs twelve bars. It opens like A, repeats the Dm7♭5 G7♭9 pair, then Cm7, B7, B♭m7 and E♭7 step down to A♭maj7. The last four bars are a tag: A♭maj7, Fm7 B♭7 and E♭6 settle into E♭ major, and a final Dm7♭5 G7♭9 returns to the top of the chorus.
The changes as written in the iReal Pro chart shown on AllSolos, in C minor, checked bar by bar against the Weimar Jazz Database transcription of J.J. Johnson's solo with Stan Getz (1957). The 36 bars run A 8, A² 8, B 8 and C 12; the last four bars of C are a tag that leads back to the top.
Bars 2 to 4 follow the Weimar transcription (Cm(maj7), Cm7, Cm6). The AllSolos chart writes bar 1 as Cm6, bars 2 to 4 as Dm7♭5 G7♭9, Cm7 and F7, and lists Cm(maj7)/B, Cm7/B♭ and Cm6/A in parentheses for those bars; bars 25 to 28 read the same way. AllSolos has Fm7♭5 in bar 15 where Weimar has Fm7, adds a B7 between Cm7 and B♭m7 in bar 22, and has Fm7 where Weimar has Fm9 in bar 34. This chart keeps the Weimar chords in those bars. Fake books differ in places.
Source: AllSolos: My Funny Valentine (iReal Pro chart in C minor)
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with two sung versions, then moves through a quartet with no piano, a piano and guitar duo and a 1957 horn set. It ends with a long 1964 Miles Davis quintet performance, a live Keith Jarrett trio and a 2025 session with two players from that Miles band. Each step gives you one thing to hear and one thing to try.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Chet Baker 1954
Chet Baker Sings
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Baker sings the tune with piano, bass and drums behind him. Follow the voice line by line and notice where each line ends.
- Try this
- Play the first eight bars as one chord per bar (Cm, Cm(maj7), Cm7, Cm6, A♭maj7, Fm7, Dm7♭5, G7♭9) while you hum the tune.
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Step 2 · Hear another singer Now playing
Frank Sinatra 1953
Songs for Young Lovers
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Compare how Sinatra shapes each line with how Baker does. Sinatra's track runs 2:30.
- Try this
- Sing or hum the first eight bars with Sinatra, then again with Baker. Mark one place where the two shape a line differently.
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Step 3 · Hear the tune without a piano Now playing
Gerry Mulligan Quartet (Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan) 1953
Timeless
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The quartet has no piano, so the bass and the two horns shape the harmony. Listen for what the bass plays under each chord.
- Try this
- Play the melody with only the root of each chord underneath, so the harmony stays open the way it does with no piano. Smaller version: play just the first A section.
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Step 4 · Hear two chord players Now playing
Bill Evans and Jim Hall 1962
Undercurrent
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- Listen for
- Piano and guitar are the only two players, with no bass or drums. Every chord change comes from one of them.
- Try this
- Play the first eight bars with a friend: one person plays the melody, the other plays one chord per bar. Swap parts. Alone, play the melody with your left hand on the chord roots.
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Step 5 · Hear two horns solo over the form Now playing
Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson 1957
Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson at the Opera House
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- J.J. Johnson's trombone solo runs from about 0:58 to 3:13 and Getz's tenor solo from 3:13 to 6:32. Count the 36-bar choruses with the chart.
- Try this
- Move the chart to F minor, the key of this take, and play the chord roots through one chorus of Johnson's solo. Smaller version: follow only the bridge.
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Step 6 · Hear the form stretched Now playing
Miles Davis Quintet 1964
My Funny Valentine
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The track runs 15 minutes. The band is trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums, and the chart helps you keep your place.
- Try this
- Follow the chart through the first chorus and write down the time where the bridge starts. Smaller version: count the first eight bars along with the track.
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Step 7 · Hear a trio take its time Now playing
Keith Jarrett Trio 1986
Still Live
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- Listen for
- Piano, bass and drums are the only players. The track runs 10:51, so use the chart to follow the trio from chorus to chorus.
- Try this
- Play the opening four chords (Cm, Cm(maj7), Cm7, Cm6) one per bar, then play them again with a different voicing. Smaller version: play them once, slowly.
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Step 8 · Hear it today Now playing
Emmet Cohen with Ron Carter and George Coleman 2025
Universal Truth
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Bassist Ron Carter and tenor saxophonist George Coleman also play on the 1964 Miles Davis track. Compare how the song sounds with them 61 years later.
- Try this
- Play the bridge chords (E♭maj7, Fm7, Gm7, Fm7) a few times, then listen for where the bridge starts in this track.
More great versions
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Ella Fitzgerald 1956
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Song Book
Ella Fitzgerald's version from the 1956 Verve Rodgers and Hart Song Book, arranged and conducted by Buddy Bregman.
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Miles Davis Quintet 1956
Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
Davis plays the song as a ballad with Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones.
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Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson 1957
Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson at the Opera House
The second Getz and Johnson set, recorded six days after the Chicago one, with Louis Bellson on drums.
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Miles Davis Sextet 1958
Jazz at the Plaza Vol. 1
A ballad played live with Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb.
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Bill Evans Trio 1968
Some Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest
A studio trio take with Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette that Resonance issued in 2016 as The Lost Session from the Black Forest.
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Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker 1974
Carnegie Hall Concert
Baker and Mulligan, who recorded as a quartet in 1952 and 1953, play the song again at Carnegie Hall in 1974 with a larger band that includes Bob James, John Scofield and Ron Carter.
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Jacky Terrasson 1994
Jacky Terrasson
Jacky Terrasson plays the song in a piano trio on his 1994 Blue Note album.