Things Are Looking Up - George Gershwin

[engelbach]

The 1937 film A Damsel in Distress was not one of Fred Astaire's most successful. For one thing, his 19-year-old co-star, Joan Fontaine, couldn't dance.

But the film contains two of Gershwin's most famous tunes: A Foggy Day, and Nice Work If You Can Get It. It also has this wonderful song, one of Gershwin's most joyful, Things Are Looking Up.

I've put it in F Major, the key in which Astaire sings it. Here's a YouTube link to a film clip of the whole number:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq2uweAMMW8

There's also a marvelous version by Ella Fitzgerald, in Bb major:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgjI35sGdoM

I haven't included the verse, as jazz musicians rarely play those, and iReal Pro doesn't lend itself to rubato verses anyway. Notice the unusual length first A sections, which are ten bars long.

Things Are Looking Up 2 - George Gershwin

Cheers,
Jer

 

[pdxdjazz]

Thanks for another great post.

I haven't included the verse, as jazz musicians rarely play those, and iReal Pro doesn't lend itself to rubato verses anyway.

Verses:
You are correct, the player feature doesn't accompany verses very well.

As a bassist, having the chords available to (the rapidly disappearing) verses is like gold!
I work with singers that enjoy including the verse when they can...
We are collecting every verse we encounter:
https://forums.irealpro.com/threads/Verses-for-jazz-standards.10234/
For me, it works best if the verse is a separate chart labeled: <song title> VERSE
)BOB

 

[engelbach]

Thanks, Bob. I just rediscovered this song for myself and added it to my tune list for the first time.

I sometimes play verses when I play solo and without backing tracks. I usually don't have a practical way to use them with iReal Pro, although I think I may have included verses in a couple of tracks at full tempo.

Cheers,
Jer