Ernie Burnett, music · George A. Norton, lyrics · William Frawley said he first sang it in Denver in 1912
My Melancholy Baby
My Melancholy Baby is a 1912 song with music by Ernie Burnett and words by George A. Norton. The tune is easy to follow, and the last eight bring new music. Gene Austin, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk all recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Gene Austin's 1927 hit and Ella Fitzgerald with Teddy Wilson's band, then a Benny Goodman quartet. It moves on to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Rushing with Dave Brubeck, a Bill Evans trio, Thelonious Monk alone at the piano and Chet Baker's quartet.
1920sGene Austin with Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra1927
1930sTeddy Wilson and His Orchestra, vocal by Ella Fitzgerald1936
Benny Goodman Quartet1936
1940s
1950sCharlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie1950 · Bebop
1960sThe Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring Jimmy Rushing1960 · Vocal
Bill Evans Trio1966 · Post-bop
1970sThelonious Monk1971 · Bebop
1980sChet Baker Quartet1986
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Hear the song as a 1927 pop hit
Gene Austin with Nat Shilkret and the Victor Orchestra · 1927
Victor 21015 single
Gene Austin recorded the song for Victor in New York on 14 September 1927, with a small orchestra under Nat Shilkret. Classic Jazz Standards lists it entering the charts in January 1928 and reaching number 3.
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Listen for
One voice carries the whole song, with a small orchestra of violin, cello, saxophone and piano behind him.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight slowly, one per bar (, B♭maj7, , , , , Cm7, G9♯5), and hum the melody over them.
Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra, vocal by Ella Fitzgerald · 1936
Brunswick 7729 single
Ella Fitzgerald sings with Teddy Wilson's band, recorded in New York on 17 March 1936 and issued on Brunswick 7729. Classic Jazz Standards lists it entering the charts in September 1936 and reaching number 6.
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Listen for
Fitzgerald's voice leads, with Wilson's piano in a band of trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, bass and drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the , 9 to 16, one per bar: , Cm7, , , , , Cm7, F7. Then play bars 1 to 8 again to hear how the returns.
Benny Goodman's quartet recorded the song for Victor in New York on 18 November 1936. Teddy Wilson, who led the Fitzgerald session in March, plays piano here, with Lionel Hampton on vibraphone and Gene Krupa on drums.
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Listen for
With only clarinet, piano, vibraphone and drums, you can pick out each instrument across the three-minute record.
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Play the , 25 to 32, one per bar at a medium tempo: , , , , , , , Cm7 F7.
Parker and Gillespie recorded the song in New York on 6 June 1950, with Thelonious Monk at the piano. The master take came out on a Mercury single with Bloomdido and on the album Bird and Diz.
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Listen for
An alto saxophone and a trumpet lead a with Monk on piano, and the whole record runs about three and a half minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 once at a steady medium tempo, one per bar. A harder version, if you improvise: make up a few notes over bars 1 to 4 only.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet featuring Jimmy Rushing · 1960 · Vocal, Cool jazz
Brubeck & Rushing
Jimmy Rushing sings with Dave Brubeck's quartet on the 1960 album Brubeck & Rushing, recorded in New York on 16 February 1960. Paul Desmond plays alto saxophone.
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Listen for
Rushing's voice leads, with Paul Desmond's alto saxophone and Brubeck's piano in the quartet behind him, and the track runs close to four minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Sing or hum the melody slowly and note where each phrase ends. Then play the of 1 to 4 (, B♭maj7, , ) under your singing.
The Bill Evans Trio recorded the song at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on 4 October 1966, with Eddie Gomez on bass and Shelly Manne on drums. It came out on the Verve album A Simple Matter of Conviction.
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Listen for
Evans plays with only a bass and drums, so you can follow each of the three across the five-minute track.
Try it on your instrument
Play 5 to 8 (, , Cm7, G9♯5) as four-note , changing as few notes as you can from one chord to the next.
Ernie Burnett writes the music and George A. Norton the words, and the song is published in 1912. William Frawley said he was the first to sing it in public, in Denver that year.
1920s
Gene Austin records it for Victor in September 1927 with Nat Shilkret's orchestra. Classic Jazz Standards lists it entering the charts in January 1928 and reaching number 3.
1930s
Ella Fitzgerald sings it with Teddy Wilson's band in March 1936, and Benny Goodman's quartet records it that November. Bing Crosby records it for Decca in 1938.
1950s
Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie record it in 1950 with Thelonious Monk on piano. Lennie Tristano plays it with his trio, and Coleman Hawkins plays it in 1957 with Oscar Peterson's group.
1960s
Jimmy Rushing sings it with Dave Brubeck's quartet in 1960, and Bill Evans plays it with his trio in 1966. Lou Donaldson's quintet, with organ and guitar, records it in 1963.
1970s
Thelonious Monk plays it alone at the piano at Chappell Studios in London in November 1971.
1980s
Chet Baker's quartet records it in Monster, Holland, in December 1986, and it comes out on the Timeless album As Time Goes By.
1990s
Holly Cole's trio puts it on Girl Talk, its first full-length album, released on Alert Records in 1990.
More great versions
5 more, from 1938 to 1990. Tap a cover to play it here.
1930sBing Crosby with John Scott Trotter1938
1940s
1950sLennie Tristano Trio1955
Coleman Hawkins1957 · Hard bop
1960sLou Donaldson Quintet1963 · Soul jazz
1970s
1980s
1990sHolly Cole Trio1990 · Vocal
Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
1938
Decca 3542 single
Bing Crosby recorded the song for Decca in Los Angeles on 12 December 1938, with John Scott Trotter's orchestra. Classic Jazz Standards lists it reaching number 14 on the charts.
Coleman Hawkins plays tenor saxophone on this track from The Genius of Coleman Hawkins, with Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Alvin Stoller behind him.
Lou Donaldson recorded this with an organ and guitar at Van Gelder Studio in June 1963. It stayed unreleased until the 1999 Blue Note CD A Man With A Horn.
Holly Cole's trio, with Aaron Davis on piano and David Piltch on bass, put the song on its first full-length album, Girl Talk, released in 1990 on Alert Records.
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
B♭ majorusual key
32 barsA · B · A · C form
B♭ major → C minor → B♭ major → E♭ major → B♭ majorkey centers
A8 bars
B8 bars
A8 bars
C8 bars
B♭
C m
B♭
E♭
B♭
The tune has four sections: A, B, A and C. The , bars 1 to 8, starts on for two bars, then and , and then and twice. The , bars 9 to 16, stays around : Cm7, Cm7, , , , , Cm7, F7. The A section returns in bars 17 to 24 and ends on instead of the second G9♯5. The , bars 25 to 32, begins in with and , then B♭7, G7, Cm7, F7, and Cm7 F7, which leads back to the top. These follow the iReal Pro chart; other lead sheets may spell some differently.