George Gershwin, music · Buddy DeSylva and Ballard MacDonald, lyrics · Introduced by Winnie Lightner in George White's Scandals of 1924
Somebody Loves Me
George Gershwin wrote it for George White's Scandals of 1924, with words by Buddy DeSylva and Ballard MacDonald. Its melody stays almost entirely within one scale, so players have room to try new under it. Paul Whiteman's 1924 record went to number one, and Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald all recorded it.
Listen in this order
The path runs from a 1924 vocal and a 1930 big-band arrangement through Lester Young's trio, Bud Powell's piano trio, a Paris session with Dizzy Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald's 1959 vocal. It ends with a live Zoot Sims quartet from 1961 and Don Byron's 2004 tribute to the Young trio.
Marion Harris recorded the song for Brunswick in New York on September 24, 1924, a few months after Winnie Lightner introduced it in George White's Scandals of 1924. Brunswick issued it as record 2735.
Singers
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Listen for
Marion Harris sings the song with an orchestra behind her. The record runs 3:01, one side of a ten-inch disc.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight of the chart: , , Fmaj7, , Fmaj7, , , Gm7 C7. Smaller version: play only the first of each bar, F, G, F, B♭, F, D♭, F, G, and hum the tune over them.
Fletcher Henderson's orchestra recorded it in New York on October 3, 1930, in an early arrangement by Benny Carter. Columbia issued it as record 2329-D.
Big band
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Listen for
Listen for the trumpet solo by Bobby Stark and the vocal by trombonist Jimmy Harrison. The record runs 3:01.
Try it on your instrument
Play 11 to 16 of the chart: , , , , Am7, . This is where the second heads toward . Smaller version: play only the first of each bar, F, B, A, F, A, D.
Lester Young Trio (Lester Young, Nat King Cole, Buddy Rich) · 1946
The Lester Young Trio
Lester Young recorded it with Nat King Cole on piano and Buddy Rich on drums in Los Angeles in March or April 1946. The Mercury LP The Lester Young Trio carried it in 1951, with Cole credited as Aye Guy because he was under contract to another label.
Tenor saxophone
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Listen for
A tenor saxophone, a piano and drums play as a trio. The record runs 3:54.
Try it on your instrument
Play the from the chart, 17 to 24: , , Gm7, , , Dm7 G7, Gm7, . Smaller version: play only bars 17 to 20, one per bar: Gm, Gm7, Gm7, Em7♭5.
Bud Powell recorded it in New York on January 10, 1947, with Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums. Roost issued it on the single 509 and later on the LP The Bud Powell Trio.
Piano
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Listen for
Bud Powell's piano leads, with Curly Russell's bass and Max Roach's drums behind him. The record runs 2:56.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last , 25 to 32, and compare it with bars 1 to 8: , , Fmaj7, , , Gm7 C7, , Gm7 C7. Smaller version: play only the first of each bar, F, G, F, B♭, A, G, F, G.
Dizzy Gillespie recorded it with a seven-piece group at the Schola Cantorum in Paris on April 11, 1952. Vogue issued it on the single V 5136, and Blue Note put it on the LP Horn of Plenty in 1953.
Tenor saxophone
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Listen for
Gillespie's trumpet leads a group with trombone, alto and tenor saxophones, piano, bass and drums. The record runs 3:32.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 of the chart once and count the sections as you go: A in bars 1 to 8, A in 9 to 16, the in 17 to 24, A in 25 to 32. Soloing over takes more experience, so a smaller version is to play the melody for the two and rest through the bridge.
Ella Fitzgerald recorded it at Capitol Studios in Hollywood on January 7, 1959, with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. It opens her 1959 album Get Happy!
Singers
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Listen for
Ella Fitzgerald sings with an orchestra of trumpets and trombones and a of piano, guitar, bass and drums. The record runs 2:38.
Try it on your instrument
Play 15 and 16 of the chart, and , then the first bar of the , . Smaller version: play the roots A, D, G and listen for how the D pulls toward G.
Zoot Sims recorded it live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London during a run from November 13 to 15, 1961, with pianist Stan Tracey, bassist Kenny Napper and drummer Jackie Dougan. It appears on the album Cookin'!
Tenor saxophone
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Listen for
Zoot Sims leads a quartet of tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums in front of a club audience. The track runs 6:55.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody once through the chart, then keep going and play only the first of each for two more . Soloing over takes more experience than that, so this is the smaller version.
Don Byron recorded it for Ivey-Divey at Allaire Studios in Shokan, New York, on May 23 or 24, 2004, with Jason Moran on piano and Jack DeJohnette on drums. The album is a tribute to the Lester Young, Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich trio, which also recorded this song.
Piano
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Listen for
Byron leads, with Jason Moran's piano and Jack DeJohnette's drums and no bass player. The album closes with a second, different take of the song (6:32); this link is the first take, 7:16.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight of the chart twice, first as written and then with a looser feel, changing where in the bar each lands. Smaller version: play bars 1 to 4 only: , , Fmaj7, .
George Gershwin writes the music for George White's Scandals of 1924, and Winnie Lightner introduces the song there. Paul Whiteman's record reaches number one that year, and Marion Harris records it for Brunswick in September.
1930s
Fletcher Henderson's band records it in October 1930 in an arrangement by Benny Carter, with a trumpet solo and a trombonist singing the vocal.
1940s
Lester Young's 1946 trio with Nat King Cole on piano records it with no bass player. Bud Powell's piano trio records it in New York in January 1947.
1950s
Dizzy Gillespie records it in Paris in April 1952. Dinah Washington sings it with an orchestra in December 1956, and Ella Fitzgerald records it in January 1959.
1960s
Zoot Sims plays it live at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London in November 1961, with Stan Tracey on piano.
2000s
Don Byron records it in 2004 on Ivey-Divey, a tribute to the Lester Young trio, with Jason Moran on piano and Jack DeJohnette on drums. The album closes with a second, different take.
More great versions
6 more, from 1951 to 1958. Tap a cover to play it here.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded it in San Francisco in August 1951, with Paul Desmond on alto saxophone, Fred Dutton on bass and Herb Barman on drums. Fantasy issued it on the single 517 and on the 1952 LP Dave Brubeck Quartet.
Nat King Cole played it at the piano in Los Angeles on July 18, 1952, with guitar, bass, drums and bongos behind him. It came out that year on the Capitol LP Penthouse Serenade.
Oscar Peterson recorded it in Los Angeles in early December 1952, with Barney Kessel on guitar and Ray Brown on bass. It was released in 1953 on the album Oscar Peterson Plays George Gershwin.
Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, both on tenor saxophone, recorded it for RCA Victor at Webster Hall in New York in January 1956, with Hank Jones on piano, Milt Hinton on bass and Osie Johnson on drums. It came out in 1957 on the album From A To... Z.
Dinah Washington recorded it in New York on December 4, 1956, with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones. It came out in 1957 on the EmArcy album The Swingin' Miss D.
Sonny Clark recorded it with Paul Chambers on bass and Wesley Landers on drums at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on December 7, 1958. It first came out in 1979 on the Japanese Blue Note LP Blues in the Night.
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 minor → G minor → D minor → F majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
F
A m
G m
D m
F
The chart in iReal Pro is in and runs 32 . The first A starts , , Fmaj7, , then Fmaj7, , , Gm7 C7. The second A repeats its first three bars, then heads for with , , , Am7 and . The sits in ( , Gm7 , Gm7), touches through and , and ends Gm7, C7 on the way back. The last A matches the first except for Am7 in bar 5 and Gm7 C7 in bar 6. JazzStandards.com gives as the original , with the in major and the in minor.