Arthur Johnston, music · Sam Coslow, lyrics · Introduced by Mae West in the film Belle of the Nineties, 1934
My Old Flame
My Old Flame is a 1934 film song that Mae West sang with Duke Ellington's orchestra. The middle section moves to a new , then the music finds its way home. Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Dinah Washington and Keith Jarrett with Charlie Haden all recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Duke Ellington's 1934 record and Billie Holiday's 1944 singing, then follows Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan with Chet Baker and Dinah Washington through the 1940s and 1950s. It ends with Kenny Dorham, the Duke Jordan Trio and a 2007 duet by Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden.
1930sDuke Ellington and His Orchestra with Ivie Anderson1934
1940sBillie Holiday and Eddie Heywood1944
Charlie Parker1947
1950sGerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker1953 · Cool jazz
Dinah Washington1955 · Vocal
Kenny Dorham1957 · Bebop
1960s
1970sDuke Jordan Trio1973 · Bebop
1980s
1990s
2000sKeith Jarrett / Charlie Haden2007 · Contemporary jazz
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Start with the 1934 band record
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra with Ivie Anderson · 1934
Victor 24651
Duke Ellington's orchestra played behind Mae West in the film Belle of the Nineties, then recorded its own Victor version in Hollywood on May 9, 1934, with Ivie Anderson singing. According to JazzStandards.com, the film version is much shorter.
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Ivie Anderson sings with the whole Ellington band behind her. At 3:21 it is a short record, the length of a single song.
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Play the first four of the slowly: , then and , then , then and . Hum the melody over them.
Billie Holiday and Eddie Heywood and His Orchestra · 1944
Commodore 585
Billie Holiday recorded this in New York on March 25, 1944, with Eddie Heywood's orchestra. Commodore issued it paired with I'm Yours, as Commodore 585.
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Holiday sings with seven players behind her: trumpet, trombone, alto sax, piano, guitar, bass and drums. The track runs 3:05.
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Play all eight of the : , , , , Fmaj7 B♭m7 E♭7, , Gm7, . Then sing the melody over them.
Charlie Parker's quintet, with Miles Davis on trumpet, recorded this at WOR Studios in New York on November 4, 1947. Dial issued it in 1950 as Dial 1058, paired with Bird Feathers.
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Parker leads on alto sax, and Miles Davis on trumpet takes a solo of his own. Piano, bass and drums stay behind them for the 3:09 track.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody of the from memory, then play it again with only the roots under it: F, then A and D, then G, then B♭ and E♭. Improvising over the chords takes more skill; a smaller version is to play one long note per that fits each chord.
Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker · 1953 · Cool jazz
Gerry Mulligan Quartet Volume 2
Gerry Mulligan's quartet with Chet Baker recorded the album behind this track at Radio Recorders in Hollywood in April 1953, for Pacific Jazz. According to JazzStandards.com, the group had no piano.
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Chet Baker's trumpet and Gerry Mulligan's baritone sax carry the tune over just bass and drums. With no piano, each horn stands clear against the rhythm.
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Play only the roots of the as a bass line, F, then A and D, then G, then B♭ and E♭, and hum the melody over it. The quartet has no chord instrument, so this is close to its setup.
Dinah Washington recorded the album For Those in Love in March 1955, with arrangements by Quincy Jones, and EmArcy released it that June. Barry Galbraith played guitar.
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Dinah Washington sings with a small band, and Barry Galbraith's guitar answers her voice. The track runs 3:08.
Try it on your instrument
Learn the , 17 to 24: , , , , B♭m7 E♭7, Fm7, , C7. Play it slowly, then hum the melody over it.
Kenny Dorham recorded Jazz Contrasts for Riverside at Reeves Sound Studios in New York in May 1957, with Sonny Rollins on tenor sax. The session lineup also includes a harp, played by Betty Glamman.
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Kenny Dorham's trumpet and Sonny Rollins's tenor sax lead this 5:26 track, much longer than the earlier records.
Try it on your instrument
Play the roots of the as a bass line: A♭ and F, B♭ and E♭, G♭ and F, B♭, B♭ and E♭, then G, C and F, then D and G, then G and C. Hum the melody over the top.
Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow wrote the song for the 1934 film Belle of the Nineties, where Mae West sang it with Duke Ellington's orchestra. Ellington's band recorded it for Victor that May with Ivie Anderson.
1940s
Billie Holiday records it in New York in March 1944 for Commodore, with Eddie Heywood's orchestra. Charlie Parker's quintet, with Miles Davis on trumpet, records it for Dial in November 1947.
1950s
Gerry Mulligan's quartet with Chet Baker records it in April 1953, and Dinah Washington sings it on For Those in Love in 1955. Kenny Dorham plays it with Sonny Rollins in 1957.
1970s
The Duke Jordan Trio records it in Copenhagen in December 1973 for SteepleChase, with Mads Vinding on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums. The track runs 8:45.
1980s
Stan Getz plays it with his quartet at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco in May 1981, with Lou Levy on piano.
1990s
Sonny Rollins records it for his album Old Flames in 1993, with a brass choir added to his quintet.
2000s
Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden record it as a piano and bass duet at Cavelight Studio in Oxford, New Jersey, in March 2007. ECM releases it in 2014 on Last Dance.
More great versions
2 more, from 1956 to 1957. Tap a cover to play it here.
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
F majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
F major → A♭ major → F majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
F
A♭
F
The chart is in , from iReal Pro. The first , 1 to 8, runs , , , , Fmaj7 B♭m7 E♭7, , then Gm7 and . The second A section, bars 9 to 16, repeats it, but its last two bars are Gm7 C7 and Fmaj7 B♭m7 E♭7, which lead into the . The bridge, bars 17 to 24, opens in with A♭maj7 , B♭m7 E♭7, and , then B♭m7 E♭7, C7 Fm7 and bring it back to F, ending on Gm7 C7. The last A section, bars 25 to 32, matches the first except for its ending, Gm7 C7 and . According to JazzStandards.com, the song was written in with a false change of to in the bridge, which is A♭ major in F.