Sonny Rollins, music · First recorded for Prestige in Hackensack, New Jersey
Oleo
Oleo is a Sonny Rollins tune built on the chord changes of Gershwin's I Got Rhythm. Players know it as one of the standard rhythm changes melodies, and jam sessions call it often. You will hear it on records by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and Rollins himself.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins✓
- 2 Hear the quintet version The Miles Davis Quintet✓
- 3 Hear it stretched Sonny Rollins✓
- 4 Hear the source song Red Nichols✓
- 5 Hear a piano trio Bill Evans Trio✓
- 6 Hear a guitar lead Grant Green✓
- 7 Hear a later band Miles Davis Quintet✓
- 8 Hear it today Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian✓
How the tune works
Thirty-two bars in four sections of eight, A A B A, all in B♭. Each A section plays B♭maj7 G7, Cm7 F7, B♭maj7 G7 and Cm7 F7 in bars 1 to 4. Bars 5 to 8 play Fm7 B♭7, E♭maj7 E♭m6, B♭maj7 G7 and Cm7 F7. The bridge moves through D7, G7, C7 and F7, two bars each, and the last A section brings the form home to B♭.
The changes under John Coltrane's solo on the Miles Davis Quintet's Relaxin' (1956), transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. They match standard rhythm changes.
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 the 1954 original, the 1956 quintet and Rollins live in 1962, then goes back to a 1930 record of I Got Rhythm, the song whose changes Oleo borrows. It ends with a piano trio, a guitar quartet, a 1965 quintet and a 2009 quartet.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins 1954
Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- In the theme, the A sections use only trumpet, tenor sax and bass, and in the solos the drums join those A sections while the piano stays out. Davis plays with a Harmon mute.
- Try this
- Play the first A section from the chart (bars 1–8), two chords to a bar where the chart shows two. If that is too fast, play only the first chord of each bar.
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Step 2 · Hear the quintet version Now playing
The Miles Davis Quintet 1956
Relaxin' With The Miles Davis Quintet
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- Listen for
- Coltrane's solo runs four choruses of 32 bars, and the Weimar transcription puts the tempo near 266 beats per minute. Count the choruses by listening for the bridge each time.
- Try this
- Play the bridge from the chart, D7 G7 C7 F7 at two bars each, when the record reaches it. Smaller version: play only the root of each chord.
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Step 3 · Hear it stretched Now playing
Sonny Rollins 1962
Our Man in Jazz
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- Listen for
- Giddins writes that the melody is never clearly stated, so listen for the changes under Rollins's solo. Cranshaw's bass keeps a loping gait while Higgins moves between a loose four and a firm backbeat.
- Try this
- Follow the chart for the first few minutes and count bars in groups of eight. If the count slips, pick it up again at the next bridge, and stop after a few minutes if it keeps slipping.
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Step 4 · Hear the source song Now playing
Red Nichols and His Orchestra 1930
“I Got Rhythm”, Embraceable You / I Got Rhythm
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- This is the song whose changes Oleo uses. The chorus is in AABA form, so listen for the bridge, which sounds different from the A sections. A vocal chorus by Dick Robertson is on this record.
- Try this
- Count the song's AABA shape while it plays, with the bridge as the part that sounds different. Then play Oleo's chart and notice that the shape is the same. The key on this record may not be B♭.
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Step 5 · Hear a piano trio Now playing
Bill Evans Trio 1958
Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- This is a trio of piano, bass and drums with no horn, so the piano carries the theme and the solos. Evans had spent most of 1958 in Miles Davis's sextet.
- Try this
- Play the chart's chords at the piano, with the root in your left hand and the chord in your right, one bar at a time. If that is too much, play only the first A section until it feels steady.
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Step 6 · Hear a guitar lead Now playing
Grant Green 1962
Oleo
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Green plays guitar where a horn led on steps 1 and 2, with Sonny Clark on piano behind him. Compare the guitar with the tenor and trumpet on the earlier records.
- Try this
- Play along with the roots of the chart's chords on guitar, bass or piano, with each root lasting two beats. If the whole chorus is too long, play the first A section only.
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Step 7 · Hear a later band Now playing
Miles Davis Quintet 1965
“Oleo (Live at the Plugged Nickel, 3rd set)”, Complete Live at Plugged Nickel 1965
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Wayne Shorter plays tenor where Coltrane did on step 2, and Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams replace Garland, Chambers and Jones. This is the band's third set of the night.
- Try this
- Play the first A section of the chart over this record, then over step 2, and compare how easy each is to follow by ear.
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Step 8 · Hear it today Now playing
Lee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian 2009
“Oleo (Live at Birdland)”, Live at Birdland
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- This take runs over fifteen minutes, nearly three times as long as the 1954 record. The band is one saxophone with piano, bass and drums, and no guitar or second horn.
- Try this
- Use the chart to count how many 32-bar choruses fit into the first five minutes. Counting bars in groups of eight keeps your place.
More great versions
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The Miles Davis Sextet 1958
“Oleo (Live at the Plaza Hotel)”, Jazz at the Plaza Vol. 1
Davis led a sextet with John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans at the Plaza Hotel in September 1958.
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Miles Davis Quintet 1961
“Oleo (Live at the Black Hawk)”, In Person Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco, Volume II
Davis played Oleo at the Blackhawk in San Francisco in April 1961 with Hank Mobley on tenor and Wynton Kelly on piano.
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Hampton Hawes Trio 1966
“Oleo (Live at Mitchell's Studio Club)”, The Seance
Hampton Hawes recorded Oleo live at Mitchell's Studio Club in Los Angeles in 1966 with Red Mitchell and Donald Bailey.
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The Michel Petrucciani Trio 1984
“Oleo (Live at the Village Vanguard)”, Live at the Village Vanguard
Michel Petrucciani recorded Oleo at the Village Vanguard in March 1984 with Palle Danielsson and Eliot Zigmund.
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Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette 2001
My Foolish Heart
Keith Jarrett's trio played Oleo at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 2001, and ECM released the concert in 2007.
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Pat Martino 2001
“Oleo (Live from Yoshi's)”, Live at Yoshi's
Pat Martino recorded Oleo live at Yoshi's in Oakland in 2001, with Joey DeFrancesco and Billy Hart.