Jazz Changes

J. Fred Coots, music · Haven Gillespie, lyrics · Hit for Larry Clinton and Bea Wain, 1938

You Go to My Head

You Go to My Head is a 1938 ballad by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, and it became a pop hit that year. Players like its harmony, which starts in a major key and leans toward minor from the second bar. You will hear it from singers, piano trios and horn players, usually as a slow ballad.

E♭ major · 40 bars · A A B A C form · how it works

Listen in this order

The path starts with the 1938 hit, then three sung versions, then a piano trio, a trumpet date, a second trio and a quintet. Each step gives one thing to listen for and one thing to try.

8 recordings, 1938 to 1962 · Play all 8 on YouTube ↗

  1. Larry Clinton1938
  2. Frank Sinatra1945 · Vocal
  3. Billie Holiday1952 · Vocal
  4. Oscar Peterson Trio1952 · Contemporary jazz
  5. Lou Donaldson - Clifford Brown Quintet1953
  6. The Tommy Flanagan Trio1960 · Bebop
  7. Sarah Vaughan with Count Basie1961
  8. Bill Evans Quintet1962 · Post-bop

Step 1 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard

Learn the song

Larry Clinton and His Orchestra (vocal Bea Wain) · 1938

Victor 25849

Listen for
Bea Wain sings the whole song with the orchestra behind her. Follow the tune as she sings it and notice how the song is built in eight-bar sections.
Try this
Sing or hum the tune along with the record. Then play it on your instrument with the chords from the chart.
YouTube ↗

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Hear a singer's reading

Frank Sinatra (Axel Stordahl and His Orchestra) · 1945 · Vocal

The Voice of Frank Sinatra

Listen for
The accompaniment is a string quartet and a four-piece rhythm section. Listen for how few instruments play behind the voice.
Try this
Play the tune slowly, one phrase at a time, and hold one chord under each phrase.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

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Hear a jazz singer's reading

Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra · 1952 · Vocal

Solitude

Listen for
Two horns, piano, guitar, bass and drums back the singer. Pick out each instrument from the lineup as the track goes by.
Try this
Sing the first eight bars with the record, then play the same bars on your instrument with the chords.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

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Hear it with a big band

Sarah Vaughan with Count Basie and His Orchestra · 1961

Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan

Listen for
A full orchestra plays behind the voice. Follow the vocal line and notice where the band answers.
Try this
Sing or play the tune once through with the chords, keeping a slow steady pulse.
YouTube ↗

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Hear it as a piano trio

Oscar Peterson Trio · 1952 · Contemporary jazz

Oscar Peterson Plays Pretty

Listen for
The trio is piano, guitar and bass, with no drummer. Listen for how the three share the pulse.
Try this
Play the chords of the first eight bars from the chart, one chord per beat group, at a slow steady pulse.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

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Hear a horn player's reading

Lou Donaldson - Clifford Brown Quintet · 1953

New Faces - New Sounds

Listen for
The session group is trumpet, alto sax, piano, bass and drums. Listen to find out which of them play on this track.
Try this
Play the tune from the chart with a steady pulse, then play it again and change the rhythm of two or three notes.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

Step 7 of 8 Now playing✓ Heard

Hear the song in a piano trio

The Tommy Flanagan Trio · 1960 · Bebop

The Tommy Flanagan Trio

Listen for
This is a standard piano trio of piano, bass and drums. Listen to how the pianist plays the tune.
Try this
Play the melody with your right hand and one chord in your left hand at the start of each bar.
YouTube ↗

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Hear a small group at work

Bill Evans Quintet · 1962 · Post-bop

Interplay

Listen for
Trumpet, piano, guitar, bass and drums all play on the album. Notice how Jim Hall's guitar sits next to Evans's piano.
Try this
If you can play chords on piano or guitar, play the chart's chords under a recording of the tune. A smaller version is to play only the bass note of each chord in the first eight bars.
Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

More great versions

2 more, from 1938 to 1957. Tap a cover to play it here.

  1. Teddy Wilson1938
  2. Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson1957 · Vocal

How the tune works

E♭ majorusual key
40 barsA · A · B · A · C form
E♭ major · G♭ major · E♭ minor · A♭ major · G major · G minorkeys it moves between

The A section starts in E♭ major, moves to G♭ major for bars 2 and 3, leans toward E♭ minor for three bars, and comes back to E♭ major. It plays twice, and the second ending leads into the B section. B visits A♭ and E♭, then spends four bars in G major before a B♭7 chord pulls back to E♭. A returns, and the last eight bars pass through A♭, E♭ and G minor before ending on a ii–V turnaround in E♭. The key areas come from a reading of the iReal Pro chord chart.

Play the changes

E♭ major
Open in iReal Pro ↗
A10 bars
E♭maj7Gm7
A♭m7D♭7
G♭maj7
Fm7♭5B♭7♭13
E♭m7Cm7♭5
Fm7♭5B♭7♭13
1.E♭6Cm7
Fm7B♭7
2.E♭6
B♭m7E♭7
B8 bars
A♭maj7
A°7
E♭6/B♭
E♭6
Am7D7
Bm7E7♭9
Am7D7
Gmaj7B♭7
A8 bars
E♭maj7Gm7
A♭m7D♭7
G♭maj7
Fm7♭5B♭7♭13
E♭m7Cm7♭5
Fm7♭5B♭7♭13
E♭maj7
B♭m7E♭7
C8 bars
A♭maj7
D♭7
E♭maj7Cm7
Am7♭5D7
Gm7C7
Fm7B♭7
E♭6Cm7
Fm7B♭7

Chart from iReal Pro's Jazz 1460 playlist, contributed by its users.