Charlie Shavers, music · Sid Robin, lyrics · First recorded by John Kirby and His Onyx Club Boys
Undecided
Undecided is a swing-era song from 1938, with music by trumpeter Charlie Shavers and words by Sid Robin. Its 32 play the opening section twice, a contrasting middle part, then the opening again. Ella Fitzgerald sang it with Chick Webb's band in 1939, and John Coltrane played it in 1957.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the first record by John Kirby's sextet and the hit with Ella Fitzgerald, then hears Fats Waller, two piano trios, a saxophone-led septet, Ella again with Louis Armstrong's band, and a long quintet take with John Coltrane.
The Red Garland Quintet with John Coltrane1957 · Hard bop
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Hear the first recording
John Kirby and His Onyx Club Boys · 1938
Undecided / From A Flat to C
John Kirby's sextet made the first recording of the song in New York on 28 October 1938, and Decca issued it on a 78 rpm single with From A Flat to C on the other side. Charlie Shavers, who wrote the music, plays trumpet in the band.
The first recording
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Listen for
A small band of six: trumpet, clarinet and alto saxophone over piano, bass and drums, and the whole record runs just under three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first six of the slowly: for two bars, for two, in bar 5, then to in bar 6. Hum the tune over the .
Chick Webb and His Orchestra (vocal Ella Fitzgerald) · 1939 · Swing, Big band
Undecided / In the Groove at the Grove
Chick Webb's orchestra recorded the song with Ella Fitzgerald singing on 17 February 1939 at Decca Studios in New York, and Decca issued it on a 78 rpm single with In the Groove at the Grove on the other side. Webb plays drums and leads the band.
The hit with a singer
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Ella Fitzgerald sings the words with a full swing band behind her: three trumpets, three trombones and four saxophones, with Chick Webb on drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play all 32 as A, A, B, A at a medium swing pace and sing or hum the tune on top. In the the move to F and then toward G before the last A brings you back to C.
Fats Waller and His Rhythm recorded it in New York on 9 March 1939 for Bluebird, which issued it on a single with Step Up and Shake My Hand on the other side.
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Listen for
A six-piece group led from the keyboard, with Fats Waller on piano and a of trumpet and clarinet or tenor saxophone, plus guitar, bass and drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the at a bouncy medium tempo: bass note of the on beats 1 and 3, the full chord on beats 2 and 4, melody on top if you can.
Erroll Garner recorded it with bass and drums in Los Angeles on 29 March 1949, and Savoy issued it on a single with Red Sails in the Sunset on the other side.
Piano trios
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Garner's piano takes the lead, with John Simmons on bass and Alvin Stoller on drums, and the whole take lasts under three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the melody with your right hand and one per with your left. Where a bar has two chords, such as and , change on beat 3.
Dave Brubeck recorded it with bass and drums in San Francisco in June 1950, and Fantasy issued it on Fantasy 506 with That Old Black Magic on the other side.
Piano trios
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Brubeck plays piano with Ron Crotty on bass and Cal Tjader on drums, and the take is short, under two and a half minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Loop the until between , , and to feel smooth, then add the .
Gene Ammons led a seven-piece group in New York on 14 November 1951, and Prestige issued the take in 1952 on a single with Charmaine on the other side. Sonny Stitt is in the group on alto and baritone saxophone.
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Ammons's tenor saxophone leads a that also has trumpet, trombone and Sonny Stitt on saxophone, and the record runs under three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the chart through with the quick slowed down: and share bar 6 and bar 8, so practice that change alone four times before running the whole .
“Undecided (live at the Hollywood Bowl)”, Ella Fitzgerald with Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra
Ella Fitzgerald sang it live at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1956 with Louis Armstrong's band, 17 years after her record with Chick Webb. Billy Kyle, who played piano on John Kirby's 1938 original, is the pianist.
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Listen for
Two voices, Ella Fitzgerald's and Louis Armstrong's, with Armstrong's trumpet and a small band of trombone, clarinet, piano, bass and drums, recorded in front of a live crowd.
Try it on your instrument
Play the 's on piano, two of to , two of , two of to , and two of . It is the part that sounds different from the .
The Red Garland Quintet with John Coltrane · 1957 · Hard bop
High Pressure
Red Garland's quintet recorded it at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, on 15 November 1957 with John Coltrane and Donald Byrd. Prestige issued this track in 1961 on High Pressure.
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Listen for
At almost seven minutes this is the longest take on the path, with Donald Byrd on trumpet and John Coltrane on tenor saxophone in front of Garland's piano trio.
Try it on your instrument
Play the chart three or four times in a row, the way a band does when it takes turns soloing, and hum the tune on the first pass. Soloing over takes more skill; the smaller version is to play only the root of each on beats 1 and 3.
The song is published in 1938, with music by Charlie Shavers and words by Sid Robin. John Kirby's sextet records it first, in October 1938, and Ella Fitzgerald sings it with Chick Webb's orchestra in February 1939.
1940s
Erroll Garner takes it as a piano feature in March 1949, backed by bass and drums, and Savoy puts it out on a single with Red Sails in the Sunset.
1950s
Ella Fitzgerald sings it live at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1956 with Louis Armstrong's band. In November 1957 Red Garland's quintet, with John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, plays it for nearly seven minutes.
More great versions
3 more, from 1950 to 1954. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sRoy Eldridge Quintet1950 · Swing
Dizzy Gillespie and His Operatic Strings1953 · Bebop
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
C majorusual key
32 barsA · A · B · A form
C → F → G → Ckey centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A8 bars
C
F
G
C
The runs 32 in four sections of eight: A, A, B, A, in . Each A starts with two bars of , two of , then in bar 5 and to in bar 6. The first A ends on C6 to and Dm7 to G7, which sends it back to the top; the second A ends on two bars of C6 and moves into the . B sits first in F ( to twice, then for two bars) and then leans toward G ( to D7 twice, then G7 for two bars). The last A repeats the opening and ends on C6.