Gene de Paul, music · Patricia Johnston and Don Raye, lyrics · Introduced by Dick Foran in the 1942 film Ride 'Em Cowboy
I'll Remember April
Gene de Paul's 48-bar song debuted in the 1942 film Ride 'Em Cowboy. Players like its long chords, four bars at a time, and its turn from major to minor. You hear it on records by Clifford Brown, Erroll Garner, Bud Powell and Charlie Parker.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet✓
- 2 Hear the first record Woody Herman✓
- 3 Hear a piano trio live Erroll Garner✓
- 4 Hear a jazz vocal Carmen McRae✓
- 5 Hear it as bebop Bud Powell Trio✓
- 6 Hear a guitar duo Jim Hall and Ron Carter✓
- 7 Hear a saxophone lead Stan Getz Quintet✓
- 8 Hear a current trio Bill Charlap Trio✓
How the tune works
Forty-eight bars in three sections of sixteen: A, B, A. Each A opens with four bars of Gmaj7 and four bars of Gm7, so the home chord turns from major to minor. Bars 9 to 12 run Am7, D7, Bm7♭5 and E7♭9, and bars 13 to 16 run Am7, D7 and two bars of Gmaj7. The bridge spends its first eight bars in B♭: Cm7 and F7, then B♭maj7 for two bars, played twice. It returns to G for four bars (Am7, D7, then Gmaj7 for two), then ends with two bars of F♯m7 and two of Emaj7, which sets up the last A. Some sources count the same 48 bars as six eight-bar phrases, A B C D A B', and modern versions often play a Latin-feel vamp over the first eight bars of each A.
The changes under Clifford Brown's 1956 solo with Max Roach, transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Published charts differ in places, most at the end of the bridge (F♯m7♭5 B7 to Emaj7).
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Source: Weimar Jazz Database: Clifford Brown, I'll Remember April
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with the 1956 Clifford Brown and Max Roach record, then goes back to Woody Herman's 1941 original. It moves on through a live piano trio, a vocal, a bebop trio, a guitar duo, a tenor saxophone quintet and a 2015 piano trio.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet (with Sonny Rollins) 1956
Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street
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- Listen for
- The quintet plays at a bright tempo and uses the Latin-feel vamp that modern performances commonly use. Hear how Brown's trumpet solo swings over the same 48-bar changes.
- Try this
- Play four bars of Gmaj7 and four bars of Gm7 from the chart, which is the opening of each A section, at a slow steady tempo. If that comes easily, add bars 9 to 16 of the chart.
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Step 2 · Hear the first record Now playing
Woody Herman and His Orchestra 1941
Decca 78 rpm single
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- Listen for
- Herman sings the song himself in front of his big band. This is the record that carried the song onto the 1942 pop chart.
- Try this
- Play bars 1 to 16 of the chart at a relaxed tempo, one chord per bar. Notice how long the harmony stays on Gmaj7 and Gm7 before it starts to move.
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Step 3 · Hear a piano trio live Now playing
Erroll Garner 1955
Concert by the Sea
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- Listen for
- Garner plays piano with Eddie Calhoun on bass and Denzil Best on drums. On this tape the bass and drums sit back in the balance, so the piano leads.
- Try this
- Play the chart's first A section (bars 1 to 16) with a steady left hand and the chords in your right hand. If that is too much, play only the bass notes of each bar.
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Step 4 · Hear a jazz vocal Now playing
Carmen McRae 1955
By Special Request
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- Listen for
- McRae sings with accordion, flute, guitar, bass and drums behind her, and the whole track runs under three minutes.
- Try this
- Play the melody of the first A section over the chart's chords, one bar at a time. If you cannot play the melody yet, play the chords and hum the tune.
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Step 5 · Hear it as bebop Now playing
Bud Powell Trio 1947
Roost 78 rpm single
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- Listen for
- Powell plays the tune and his solo with Curly Russell on bass and Max Roach on drums, and the whole take runs under three minutes. Hear how a bop trio fits the 48-bar form into a single.
- Try this
- Play bars 9 to 16 of the chart: Am7, D7, Bm7♭5, E7♭9, then Am7, D7 and two bars of Gmaj7. Play them slowly, one chord per bar.
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Step 6 · Hear a guitar duo Now playing
Jim Hall and Ron Carter 1972
Alone Together
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- Listen for
- Only guitar and bass play on this track, recorded live, so every chord change is easy to follow against the chart.
- Try this
- Play the first eight bars of the bridge from the chart: Cm7, F7, then B♭maj7 for two bars, and the same again. It sounds like a short move to B♭ before the tune heads home to G.
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Step 7 · Hear a saxophone lead Now playing
Stan Getz Quintet 1954
Stan Getz at the Shrine
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- A tenor saxophone and a valve trombone share the front line over piano, bass and drums. The take runs more than seven minutes, so the solos have room.
- Try this
- Play the chart through once as A, B, A at a tempo you can hold, and mark in your head where each section starts. If 48 bars is too long, play the first A twice.
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Step 8 · Hear a current trio Now playing
Bill Charlap Trio 2015
Notes from New York
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- Listen for
- A piano trio of Charlap, Peter Washington and Kenny Washington plays the tune in under five minutes. Compare its length and sound with the Garner trio earlier on the path.
- Try this
- Play the chart through in G, then use the key buttons to move it to the key of your own instrument and play it again.
More great versions
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Miles Davis Quintet 1954
Miles Davis Quintet
Davis recorded this at the Van Gelder studio in Hackensack in April 1954 with Dave Schildkraut on alto saxophone.
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Kenny Dorham with Sonny Rollins 1957
Jazz Contrasts
Trumpeter Kenny Dorham and tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins stretch the tune to twelve minutes on this May 1957 Riverside date.
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Sonny Clark 1957
Sonny Clark Trio
On the Sonny Clark Trio album, this is the one track Clark plays alone at the piano.
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Cannonball Adderley Quintet 1958
Cannonball Enroute
Cannonball Adderley recorded this in March 1958 with Nat Adderley on cornet.
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Keith Jarrett Trio 1996
Tokyo '96
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette played this in Tokyo in March 1996, and it runs just over ten minutes.