Stella by Starlight - The Real Chord Changes

[jordanklemons]

So I've been getting curious to learn the real chord changes of Stella by Starlight. I found this on youtube.

Anyone know if this is THE original? I thought there were lyrics. Beautiful lyrics. The chord changes here are so much prettier than the real book... but I'm not sure it's the original since it's instrumental. Anyone have any idea?

Also... get a load of those changes!

[Stuart Elliott]

Stella was written as an instrumental by Victor Young for the 1944 film The Uninvited. Ned Washington wrote lyrics for it in 1946. Harry James had a hit with it in 1947, and a little later that year Frank Sinatra had a bigger hit. Charlie Parker is said to have done the first jazz version in 1952. Stan Getz and others followed soon thereafter.

So, in short, the film version is the original. But, perhaps, the original jazz changes could be traced to Bird and the other early jazz recordings.

[sgcim]

Yeah, those are the original changes. It was originally done in G.
The boppers changed the i diminished it starts out on to a ii V.
All the pop music back then originally sounded like Tchaikovsky, with a lot of harmony from the Romantic Era.

You can still hear some early versions by people like Red Norvo and Tony Mottolla that use those changes.
Check out "Red Norvo in Hi Fi".

Back when there were still a lot of gigs around, guys would play those changes out of Fake Book #1, the first fake book.
The lyrics start off something like, "The song a robin sings" etc...
The bridge goes, "A great symphonic theme, that's Stella by starlight, without a dream."
The last line is, She's everything, on earth to me.'

Green Dolphin Street was also from a movie of the same name.
Most of the tunes were from some movie or show.

[jordanklemons]

Stella was written as an instrumental by Victor Young for the 1944 film The Uninvited. Ned Washington wrote lyrics for it in 1946. Harry James had a hit with it in 1947, and a little later that year Frank Sinatra had a bigger hit. Charlie Parker is said to have done the first jazz version in 1952. Stan Getz and others followed soon thereafter.

So, in short, the film version is the original. But, perhaps, the original jazz changes could be traced to Bird and the other early jazz recordings.

Great history lesson Stuart, thanks. I didn't know the chronological timeline. I just assumed that the lyrics were written for, and sung in, the movie that first showcased the tune. Interesting to find out they were added later.

[jordanklemons]

Yeah, those are the original changes. It was originally done in G.
The boppers changed the i diminished it starts out on to a ii V.
All the pop music back then originally sounded like Tchaikovsky, with a lot of harmony from the Romantic Era.

You can still hear some early versions by people like Red Norvo and Tony Mottolla that use those changes.
Check out "Red Norvo in Hi Fi".

Back when there were still a lot of gigs around, guys would play those changes out of Fake Book #1, the first fake book.
The lyrics start off something like, "The song a robin sings" etc...
The bridge goes, "A great symphonic theme, that's Stella by starlight, without a dream."
The last line is, She's everything, on earth to me.'

Green Dolphin Street was also from a movie of the same name.
Most of the tunes were from some movie or show.

Thanks SG, I'll check out Red Norvo too.

I knew different guys played it in G, but honestly, I've never had anyone call it at a gig or session in G. And I'm not sure that it was originally in G. The recording I posted above (which I assume is the original??) is in Bb for one chorus, and then it modulates up to D (I didn't transcribe the whole thing. I only listened to get the original chords from the Bb section and then listened enough to hear it move into D... it might do something different towards the end).

The Sinatra version was in G. And the Bird version was back in Bb (may have changed keys during the 2nd chorus again like the original, need to give it a proper listen).

What's interesting is that I'd heard about the Dbdim instead of the E-7b5 A7 at the beginning a while back, but there are a couple of other differences that are pretty nice in the original... and the Sinatra version and the Bird version both are still using that older version.

And yeah, those are the lyrics... they're really beautiful.

[destinytot]

I love the sound of Do Mi Sol Do (Sol Mi Do) transitioning to Do Me Se Ti (Se Me Do) at the top of the tune: "The song..." (An F# triad with a G bass?)

[sgcim]

Thanks SG, I'll check out Red Norvo too.

I knew different guys played it in G, but honestly, I've never had anyone call it at a gig or session in G. And I'm not sure that it was originally in G. The recording I posted above (which I assume is the original??) is in Bb for one chorus, and then it modulates up to D (I didn't transcribe the whole thing. I only listened to get the original chords from the Bb section and then listened enough to hear it move into D... it might do something different towards the end).

The Sinatra version was in G. And the Bird version was back in Bb (may have changed keys during the 2nd chorus again like the original, need to give it a proper listen).

What's interesting is that I'd heard about the Dbdim instead of the E-7b5 A7 at the beginning a while back, but there are a couple of other differences that are pretty nice in the original... and the Sinatra version and the Bird version both are still using that older version.

And yeah, those are the lyrics... they're really beautiful.

Tal and Jimmy Raney played it in G, and it's in G in Fake Book #1, so everybody did it in G back then.

Many of the songs in the Real Book use Bill Evans changes. A good example is "My Foolish Heart", which was a I vi ii V before Bill and Scott La Faro resurrected it.
I used to call it on gigs with some older cats on organ, and i couldn't believe it when I heard Bb Gm Cm F7, instead of what Bill Evans played.
There's a recording of Bill and Scott rehearsing it for the first time, trying out a bunch of different things.
Bucky Pizzarelli thinks you should use the songs original changes, but I go along with Bill Evans' view that you have to change a tune to make it most logical for blowing on it.

[MarkRhodes]

Bucky Pizzarelli thinks you should use the songs original changes, but I go along with Bill Evans' view that you have to change a tune to make it most logical for blowing on it.

And one can play the head with one set of changes then switch to another set for blowing over....

[pubylakeg]

Just for the sake of trivia, it's also featured throughout the movie "The Nutty Professor" (the Jerry Lewis one) as a theme for the actress Stella Stevens, whose character is also named Stella in the film.

[jordanklemons]

You know for me, it's less important to play what's best to improvise on and more important to play what, to my ear, sounds the prettiest. I think a handful of years ago, I'd be all over what's easiest, most fun, and most logical for blowing... but right now, my priorities are just changing... and I'm more concerned with playing something pretty. Sometimes that means not improvising at all. Sometimes it means improvising but just doing so around the melody. Sometimes it means actually blowing.

Either way, for me right now, it seems not possible for me to be able to make conscious and logical choices about what I want until I figure out where it all started. That gives me an idea of where the tune actually came from, and it helps me put Bill Evans and other guys changes into perspective that makes sense.

I heard that Peter Bernstein used to go to the NYC library to look up the original published sheet music for all the old standards. He wanted to know what the composer actually wrote down... the chords and the phrasing for the melody. He felt that if you learned a tune ONLY by listening to Miles or Monk or whoever, that you would only at best be learning their version. Your version would just be an arrangement of their version. Whereas if you went to the original, then you could actually come up with an arrangement that was your own. I think learning from others is great... but there's something so personal and deep about going to the source and finding your own way to develop that.

At least, that's where I'm currently at.

[KirkP]

Lately I've taken to seeking out the original popular or show versions of standards. I'd like to know the original interpretation of the tune before the jazz guys started reharmonizing it.

I won't necessarily play it in the original form, but I feel the process will give me a deeper feel for the song and might free me to interpret the tune in my own way rather than being locked into a fake book.

[mr. beaumont]

So I just ran through the bass notes here at lunch...this seems like this is going to be the most interesting differences...lots of great half step/whole step movement...

[jordanklemons]

Right? That's what I noticed too. Really pretty bass movement.

[mr. beaumont]

It makes for beautiful "drama."

I get why the changes were "bopped" for turning this into a jazz tune...but I think I'm going to revamp the way I play this solo and stick closer to this version, at least for the melody. Really puts the "pretty" back into the tune...it also inspires me to play it sloooooowwwwwweeeerrrrr...

Anyway, here's my rough take on the changes. I'm certain there's mistakes, and I may have named a few things weird...I'll be going back tomorrow for another listen.

| Dbdim7 | Dbdim7| C- (11) | F7 F7b9 |
|F-9 | Bb13 | Eb | Eb Ab7 |
| Bbmaj7 | G-6 | D-7 | Bb-6/Db |
| F/C | Bbdim | A-7b5 | D7b9 |
| G7+ | G7+ | C- | C- |
| Eb-/maj13 | Eb-/maj13 | Bb/D | Bb/D |
| Dbdim7 | Dbdim7 | Bb-6/Ab | G7b9 |
| Cm7b5 | F7 | Bb | Bb |

A few edits, 3/21/16

Edits to come...

[christianm77]

Bass movement was more of a big deal back when bassists didn't improvise so much.

When they started walking they needed more freedom - is this perhaps part of the reason why bop changes made everything more ii V based?

[sgcim]

In graduate school, I took a class in the History of musical theater.
The most interesting thing I got out of it was that most of the standards from the 20s,30s and 40s came out of Operetta, so the the guys that wrote the tunes were actually composers who were trained in the European tradition of harmony and melody from the 19th Century Romantic Period (1820-1900) composers.
Jerome Kern was a good example of a guy that hated jazz, and especially hated jazz musicians playing his tunes.
At one point, he actually would refuse to let jazz musicians record his songs, but then he croaked, and them dope-crazed jazzers started re-harmonizing and improvising on ATTYA and all his other great stuff, causing Jerry to roll over in his grave...

It is cool to know the original changes, so you can understand the thought processes of geniuses like Bill evans in (as he put it) changing the architecture of a song.

[mr. beaumont]

Did a quick run through with the old changes...it's pretty like this. Gonna play around with it more.

[invisible pink unicorn]

Did a quick run through with the old changes...it's pretty like this. Gonna play around with it more.

That's lovely. I might have to try and steal that. (all I can do is try to play other people's arrangements)

[Little Jay]

Great work guys, I'm going to have a look at those old changes too, very interesting.

[coolvinny]

I find that a lot of tunes get played in Bb even when that's not the original key. Straight No Chaser and But Not For Me come to mind immediately. Most people think Straight No Chaser was recorded in Bb, but it was recorded in F.

I'm sure there are many other examples.

[mr. beaumont]

I think my next step will be to transpose.

Part of me would like to turn this into a slick "plectrum guitar" type of arrangement...

I know, coming from the guy who doesn't like arrangements.

[KirkP]

When I'm studying a tune, there several ways of looking at the changes:
1) As played in early popular recordings
2) As written in early (pop-oriented) books
3) As played in classic jazz recordings (e.g., swing era)
4) As played in modern jazz recordings
5) As written in modern fake books
6) Vanilla changes (minimalist changes based on the melody)
I don't claim to be very methodical about it, but I feel I get to know a tune more deeply if I study it from more than one of those aspects. Of course the ultimate objective is to internalize and make the tune your own, as mr. beaumont is doing.

[pingu]

i mentioned here in a thread somewhere
that Peter Bernstein (and Barry Harris i believe) saying the first chord
of Stella in Bb is Bb dim (=Db dim)

No-one jumped on me then

ps anyone else dig Gbminmaj7 at bar 8 ?

[mr. beaumont]

After figuring out the whole thing, that's my favorite change. Starting a song on a diminished chord is just too cool.

[KirkP]

There a tendency in jazz reharmonization to change what were originally dim7 chords into 7b9 chords, based on the idea that when you remove the root from a 7b9 chord what's left is a dim7 chord rooted 1/2 step higher. Another tendency is to precede dominants chords by a dominant or minor chord a fifth up.

So in Stella, two bars of Bbdim7 becomes Emin7b5, A7b9. There's nothing wrong with that. It's hip and might be easier to solo over, but it changes the bass line among other things. I like having the option to play it with the original changes, especially for playing solo.