Victor Young, music · Will J. Harris, lyrics · Published 1928, not from a Broadway show or film
Sweet Sue, Just You
Victor Young wrote the music and Will J. Harris the words for this 1928 popular song. Its change slowly, which makes it a friendly tune for players learning to improvise. Boys Town used it in 1938, and Some Like It Hot used it in 1959.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Jimmie Noone's 1928 record and Fats Waller's vocal from 1935. It then moves through Benny Goodman's quartet, Dicky Wells with Django Reinhardt in Paris, and Sidney Bechet with Muggsy Spanier. It ends with Miles Davis in 1956, Hampton Hawes in 1958 and a Gypsy jazz trio recorded in 2012.
Recorded in Chicago on May 16, 1928, with Earl Hines on piano, three weeks after Ben Pollack's band recorded the song. It came out the same year on Vocalion 1184.
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Listen for
A small band with two reeds up front and Earl Hines on piano. Follow the piano through the record.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody slowly and add the first eight of underneath: , , Am7, D7, , Am7 D7, G6, . If two chords share a bar, play only the first.
Dicky Wells and His Orchestra (with Django Reinhardt) · 1937
“Sweet Sue”, Sweet Sue / Hangin' Around Boudon
Recorded in Paris on July 7, 1937. Trombonist Dicky Wells, in France with Teddy Hill's band, made the session with guitarist Django Reinhardt.
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Listen for
Dicky Wells's trombone and Django Reinhardt's guitar, with bass and drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody twice. If you can improvise, try one over the using the notes of the scale; the smaller version is to play just the root of each , one per , in time.
Sidney Bechet and cornetist Muggsy Spanier recorded it with guitarist Carmen Mastren and bassist Wellman Braud on April 6, 1940. It came out that year on Hot Record Society 2003.
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Listen for
Sidney Bechet's reed and Muggsy Spanier's cornet lead, with guitar and bass underneath.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody while a friend or a loop plays only one per on guitar. Keep your part simple and listen to how the bass and guitar sit under the two horns.
Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York on September 10, 1956. It first came out on Leonard Bernstein's album What Is Jazz?, and the session's other takes include a false start with Bernstein and Davis talking.
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Listen for
Miles Davis on trumpet and John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, with Red Garland on piano. Notice how the moves compared with the 1930s records.
Try it on your instrument
Play the , 17 to 24, one per bar: , , , , , , , Bm7♭5 E7♭9. If that is too much, play only the first chord of each bar.
Recorded at Contemporary's Los Angeles studio on January 27, 1958, with Barney Kessel on guitar. It appears on Hawes's album Four!.
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Listen for
Hampton Hawes on piano and Barney Kessel on guitar, with Red Mitchell on bass and Shelly Manne on drums. At 5:36 it is the longest record on this path.
Try it on your instrument
Play the song through twice as : the melody the first time, then only the the second time. If you can improvise, play along over the and keep to the notes of .
Recorded in Texas in July 2012 and released in May 2013 on Gold Strike Records. The trio plays fiddle, guitar and bass in the Gypsy jazz style of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.
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Listen for
A trio of fiddle, guitar and bass playing acoustic instruments, in the style of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.
Try it on your instrument
Strum the of the first eight with four steady downstrokes to each bar. Then play the melody over them on any instrument.
Victor Young and Will J. Harris publish the song in 1928, and dance bands record it that spring, Ben Pollack's among them. Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra records it in Chicago on May 16, with Earl Hines on piano.
1930s
Fats Waller sings it with his small band in 1935, and Benny Goodman's quartet records it in 1936. Dicky Wells leads a Paris session in 1937 with Django Reinhardt on guitar.
1940s
Sidney Bechet and cornetist Muggsy Spanier record it in April 1940 with guitar and bass, and it comes out on Hot Record Society 2003.
1950s
Miles Davis's quintet records it in New York on September 10, 1956, and it first comes out on a Leonard Bernstein album. In 1958 Hampton Hawes plays it in a quartet with guitarist Barney Kessel.
1960s
Chet Baker sings it with guitarist Kenny Burrell in New York in November 1964. Limelight issues the recording on the album Baby Breeze in 1965.
2010s
The Texas trio Hot Club of Cowtown records it in July 2012 for the album Rendezvous in Rhythm, playing fiddle, guitar and bass in the Gypsy jazz style of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.
More great versions
8 more, from 1928 to 1964. Tap a cover to play it here.
1920sBen Pollack and His Californians1928
1930sLouis Armstrong1933
Jimmie Lunceford1938
Tommy Dorsey1938
The Mills Brothers1939
1940s
1950sErroll Garner1954 · Latin jazz
Barney Kessel1959 · Cool jazz
1960sChet Baker1964 · Cool jazz
Ben Pollack and His Californians
1928
Sweet Sue, Just You
Ben Pollack's band recorded it for Victor in New York on April 26, 1928, with a vocal by Franklyn Baur. Victor issued it as Victor 21437.
Erroll Garner recorded it in New York in July 1954 for the album Mambo Moves Garner, with Candido on conga drums behind his piano trio. It runs seven and a half minutes.
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
32 barsA · A · B · A form
G major → C major → A minor → G majorkey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
G
C
A m
G
The tune is 32 in four 8-bar sections: A, A, B, A. Each A opens with , , Am7, D7 in bars 1 to 4. The first A goes on with and in bar 5, Am7 D7 in bar 6, G6 in bar 7 and in bar 8, which lead back to the start. The second A has the same bars 5 and 6, then G6 in bars 7 and 8, which carry on into the . The last A has G6 in bar 5, in bar 6, G6 in bar 7 and Bm7♭5 E7♭9 in bar 8. The bridge, bars 17 to 24, gives and one bar each, which point to , then Bm7♭5 and E7♭9 one bar each, which point to . and walk down through bars 21 and 22, fills bar 23, and Bm7♭5 E7♭9 in bar 24 leads into the Am7 that opens the last A. The tune stays in except for the bridge. These follow the iReal Pro chart; other lead sheets may spell some differently.