George Gershwin, music · Ira Gershwin, lyrics · Introduced by Fred Astaire in the film A Damsel in Distress, 1937
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Nice Work If You Can Get It is a 1937 Gershwin song that Fred Astaire introduced in a film. The tune began in 1930 as a nine-bar phrase before the Gershwins built it into a full song. Billie Holiday, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald all recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Fred Astaire's 1937 record and Billie Holiday's with Teddy Wilson's orchestra. It then follows two piano trios from 1947, a guitar and tenor sax quintet with Stan Getz, Astaire's 1952 return with jazz players, Getz with Bob Brookmeyer, and a 2002 saxophone and piano duo.
Fred Astaire with Ray Noble & His Orchestra · 1937 · Vocal
Nice Work If You Can Get It / Things Are Looking Up
Fred Astaire introduced the song in the 1937 film A Damsel in Distress and recorded it with Ray Noble's orchestra in Los Angeles on October 17, 1937. According to JazzStandards.com, the record reached number one on the charts in 1938.
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Astaire sings with an orchestra behind him, and the record lasts 2:40. Every later version on this page takes this same tune and does something different with it.
Try it on your instrument
Play the slowly, two beats per : , , , , , D7, Am7 , C7. Hum the melody over it. Smaller version: play only the last four bars.
Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra (vocal Billie Holiday) · 1937 · Swing
Nice Work If You Can Get It / Things Are Looking Up
Billie Holiday recorded the song with Teddy Wilson's orchestra in New York on November 1, 1937, for Brunswick. According to JazzStandards.com, the record reached number 20 on the charts that year.
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Holiday sings, and a small band of trumpet, clarinet, tenor sax, piano, guitar, bass and drums plays around her. The record runs 3:07, almost half a minute longer than Astaire's.
Try it on your instrument
Play 5 to 8 of the , two beats per : , , Am7 , . Sing the melody over them. Smaller version: play only Am7 then D7, and sing the same bars.
Bud Powell recorded the song with Curly Russell and Max Roach in New York on January 10, 1947. Roost put it out on a single, paired with another side from the same session, and on the 1951 LP The Bud Powell Trio.
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This one is all instruments. Powell's piano carries the tune, with bass and drums behind him, and the whole record takes 2:20.
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Play the first four of the with the melody in your right hand and one note per in your left: , , , . Smaller version: play only the chords, two beats each.
Thelonious Monk recorded the song for Blue Note with Gene Ramey and Art Blakey in New York on October 24, 1947. Blue Note issued it in 1951 as the other side of April in Paris.
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Monk, Ramey and Blakey play as a trio for 3:01. Compare it with Bud Powell's trio, recorded nine months earlier: same tune, same lineup of instruments, a different player.
Try it on your instrument
Play the 's first four slowly, then repeat them with a different rhythm of your own: , , , . Smaller version: play only the first two bars.
Guitarist Johnny Smith led this quintet, with Stan Getz on tenor sax, in New York on November 9, 1952. Roost issued the track on the LP Johnny Smith Quintet Vol. 2.
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Listen for the guitar and the tenor sax, the two lead instruments in the lineup, with piano, bass and drums behind them. The record is 2:26, shorter than Astaire's first one.
Try it on your instrument
Play the slowly, one per bar: , , Em7, , , , , . Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
Fred Astaire recorded the song again in Los Angeles in December 1952, this time with Oscar Peterson, Flip Phillips, Charlie Shavers and other jazz players. Norman Granz produced the set The Astaire Story, where the track opens the second disc.
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The singer from the first record, now with a jazz group, in 2:08, about half a minute shorter than the 1937 version. Compare his voice with the 1937 record.
Try it on your instrument
Play the final slowly, two beats per : , , , , , D7, B7♯5 E7, Am7 , , C7. Smaller version: play only the last three bars.
Stan Getz and Bob Brookmeyer recorded the song in San Francisco on September 12 or 13, 1961, for the Verve album Recorded Fall 1961. The track runs 5:58, more than twice as long as the 1930s records.
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Two horns lead, Getz on tenor sax and Brookmeyer on valve trombone, with piano, bass and drums behind them. At 5:58 this is the longest record on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Playing solos over these takes more practice than playing the melody. A smaller version: play through the whole form once, one note per chord (the root) in the left hand, while the record plays.
Archie Shepp and Mal Waldron recorded the song as a duo at La Muse En Circuit in Paris on February 7 and 8, 2002. It is on their album Left Alone Revisited, released by Enja.
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Only two musicians play: Shepp on saxophone and Waldron on piano, for 4:27. After the singers and bands, this is the smallest group on the path.
Try it on your instrument
Try a duet: one person plays the of the ( , , , , , D7, Am7 , C7) while the other plays or hums the melody. Smaller version: play the first four only.
The song comes from the 1937 film A Damsel in Distress, where Fred Astaire introduced it. He recorded it with Ray Noble's orchestra in October, and Billie Holiday sang it with Teddy Wilson's orchestra in November.
1940s
Two piano trios record it in 1947. Bud Powell's, with Curly Russell and Max Roach, comes in January, and Thelonious Monk's, with Gene Ramey and Art Blakey, follows in October.
1950s
Fred Astaire records it again in 1952 with Oscar Peterson on piano and other jazz players. Frank Sinatra sings it for Capitol in November 1956 on the album A Swingin' Affair!.
1960s
Stan Getz and Bob Brookmeyer record it in San Francisco in September 1961, in a version that lasts nearly six minutes.
1990s
Jessica Williams plays it as a solo piano piece in a live recital at Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley on February 16, 1992.
2000s
Archie Shepp and Mal Waldron record it as a saxophone and piano duo in Paris in February 2002, for the album Left Alone Revisited.
More great versions
6 more, from 1953 to 1992. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sTeddy Wilson Trio1953
Frank Sinatra1956 · Swing
Mel Tormé1956 · Big band
Ella Fitzgerald1959 · Vocal
Oscar Peterson Trio1959 · Swing
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990sJessica Williams1992
Teddy Wilson Trio
1953
Clef MGC-156
Teddy Wilson, the pianist on the 1937 Billie Holiday record, recorded the song again as a trio in New York on September 4, 1953, with Arvell Shaw on bass and J.C. Heard on drums.
Frank Sinatra recorded the song with Nelson Riddle conducting at Capitol Studio A in Hollywood between November 15 and 28, 1956. Capitol released it on A Swingin' Affair! on May 6, 1957.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book
Ella Fitzgerald recorded the song for her Gershwin Song Book set, made at Capitol Studio A in Hollywood in 1959 with Nelson Riddle's orchestra. Verve released the set in December 1959.
Oscar Peterson Plays the George Gershwin Song Book
Oscar Peterson recorded the song with Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums for the Verve album Oscar Peterson Plays the George Gershwin Song Book, in Chicago in 1959.
Jessica Williams played the song solo at Maybeck Recital Hall in Berkeley on February 16, 1992. The recital came out as The Maybeck Recital Series, Vol. 21 on Concord Jazz.
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
G majorusual key
34 barsA · A · B · A form
G major → E minor → G majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A10 bars
G
E m
G
The , 1 to 8, is , , , , , D7, Am7 , C7, with two in nearly every bar. It plays twice, bars 1 to 16, with G6 B7♯5 closing the second pass. The , bars 17 to 24, starts on Em7, moves to C7 and back to Em7, then , , , Am7 and , which leads back to G. The last A section runs 10 bars, bars 25 to 34: B7♯5 E7, A7♯5 D7, G7 C7, A7 A♯°7, Bm7 Em7, Am7 D7, B7♯5 E7, Am7 D7sus, G6, C7. These follow the iReal Pro chart; other lead sheets may spell some chords differently.