George Gershwin, music · Ira Gershwin, lyrics · Introduced by Ethel Merman in Girl Crazy, New York
I Got Rhythm
I Got Rhythm is a 1930 Gershwin song from the Broadway show Girl Crazy. Its chord changes, called rhythm changes, give players a regular frame with room for invention. You hear it sung, played as a standard, and hidden under tunes like Lester Leaps In and Oleo.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Ella Fitzgerald with Nelson Riddle's Orchestra✓
- 2 Hear a 1930 dance-band record Red Nichols✓
- 3 Hear the same chords with a new tune Count Basie's Kansas City Seven✓
- 4 Hear the changes with only two players Don Byas and Slam Stewart✓
- 5 Hear a small group play the tune light and short The Nat "King" Cole Trio✓
- 6 Hear a guitar-led version Stéphane Grappelly and His Hot Four✓
- 7 Hear a piano trio play it The Hampton Hawes Trio✓
- 8 Hear it open up into a long performance Zoot Sims with Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, George Mraz and Grady Tate✓
How the tune works
Gershwin's song is an AABA chorus that runs 34 bars, because the last A has a 2-bar tag. The tag is usually left out today, and jazz players treat the tune as 32 bars. Each A section is 8 bars in B♭: the pattern B♭6 Gm7 | Cm7 F7 (I vi | ii V) is played twice, then a 4-bar ending leads to E♭ and back home. The bridge, bars 17 to 24, is four dominant seventh chords, D7, G7, C7 and F7, two bars each, and then the last A returns. These changes are called rhythm changes. Swing-era and bebop players reused them for many new tunes, from Lester Leaps In to Anthropology and Oleo.
The changes under Dickie Wells's trombone chorus on a 1944 Lester Young session (issued on Lester's Be-Bop Boogie), transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. They follow the usual rhythm-changes outline; published sheets vary in bars 5–8 and add Gershwin's 2-bar tag.
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with a sung version and an early 1930 dance record. Then it follows the chords through Lester Leaps In, a saxophone and bass duo, trios, a guitar group and a long tenor quintet track.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Ella Fitzgerald with Nelson Riddle's Orchestra 1959
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, Volume Five
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The orchestra plays a slow verse first. Listen for the point where the main tune begins and the music swings, then for Fitzgerald's scat singing.
- Try this
- Learn the first A section as a chord chart in B♭: B♭6 Gm7 | Cm7 F7 | B♭6 Gm7 | Cm7 F7 | B♭6 B♭7 | E♭6 E°7 | B♭6 F7 | B♭6. Play the chords one bar at a time and hum the tune on top. The record may sit in another key, so listen for the pattern and move the chords to match.
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Step 2 · Hear a 1930 dance-band record Now playing
Red Nichols and His Orchestra 1930
Embraceable You / I Got Rhythm
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- Listen for
- Red Nichols, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller all play on this record. Listen for Dick Robertson's vocal chorus and for the closing ride-out where Nichols, Goodman and Miller play together.
- Try this
- Play the 8-bar bridge in B♭ on its own: D7 for two bars, G7 for two, C7 for two, F7 for two. Repeat it until the changes feel automatic.
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Step 3 · Hear the same chords with a new tune Now playing
Count Basie's Kansas City Seven 1939
“Lester Leaps In”, Lester Leaps In
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Follow the interweaving solos by Lester Young on tenor saxophone and Count Basie on piano. Each solo sits on the same chord pattern as the earlier versions.
- Try this
- Play the 8-bar A section as bass notes and chords, then add one short phrase of your own built from chord tones. For a smaller version, play only the roots, B♭ G C F B♭ G C F, one per two beats.
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Step 4 · Hear the changes with only two players Now playing
Don Byas and Slam Stewart 1945
The Don Byas Collection 1939-61
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Only two players are on this record, a tenor saxophone and a bass, with no piano or drums. Listen to the bass line under the saxophone to hear where each chord change lands.
- Try this
- Play just the chord roots of the first four bars, B♭ G | C F | B♭ G | C F, on a bass or with your left hand, then move them to a second key. If that is easy, add the next four bars.
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Step 5 · Hear a small group play the tune light and short Now playing
The Nat "King" Cole Trio 1946
The Complete Capitol Transcription Sessions
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Three players and no drums: piano, guitar and bass. Try to hear which instrument keeps the chords going while another one plays the lead.
- Try this
- Play the A section chords with a steady pattern of bass note, chord, bass note, chord. If you play guitar or piano, that is the job of the other two players behind the lead.
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Step 6 · Hear a guitar-led version Now playing
Stéphane Grappelly and His Hot Four (Quintette du Hot Club de France) 1935
Quintette du Hot Club de France
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The group has no drums and no horns: one violin, three guitars and a bass. Listen for which guitars play rhythm and which one plays the lead.
- Try this
- Play or strum the A section chords with two beats per chord and steady quarter notes. If you do not play guitar, tap the quarter notes and say each chord name aloud.
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Step 7 · Hear a piano trio play it Now playing
The Hampton Hawes Trio 1955
Hampton Hawes Trio, Vol. 1
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- A piano trio with bass and drums and no horns. Listen for where Hawes plays the tune and where he starts improvising on the chords.
- Try this
- Play one full chorus of the 32-bar chart in B♭: chord roots with your left hand and the chords with your right. If that is too much, play only the first A section and stop.
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Step 8 · Hear it open up into a long performance Now playing
Zoot Sims with Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, George Mraz and Grady Tate 1975
Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Five players: tenor saxophone, piano, guitar, bass and drums. Try to name each soloist as the solos change hands, and count how many choruses go by.
- Try this
- Count along in 8-bar sections and say "bridge" at bar 17, where the chart in B♭ moves to D7. If you can solo over changes, play one chorus of simple quarter notes on chord tones; if not, count only.
More great versions
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Benny Goodman Quartet 1938
“I Got Rhythm (Live)”, The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert
Recorded live at Carnegie Hall in January 1938.
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Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins 1954
“Oleo”, Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins
The first recording of Oleo, made by Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins in June 1954.
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The Miles Davis Quintet 1956
“Oleo”, Relaxin' With The Miles Davis Quintet
Miles Davis recorded Oleo again in October 1956, with John Coltrane on tenor in place of Rollins.
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Bill Frisell and Fred Hersch 1997
Songs We Know
A guitar and piano duo recorded in San Francisco in 1997.
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Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette 2001
“Oleo”, My Foolish Heart
Keith Jarrett's trio played Oleo at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 2001, and ECM released the concert in 2007.