It Don’t Mean a Thing | B♭ Sheet Music
Jazz Lead Sheet Transposed for B♭ — trumpet, tenor sax, clarinet
Lyrics
1931 - Duke Ellington / Irving Mills It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing Doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah It don't mean a thing all you got to do is sing Doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah It makes no difference if it's sweet or hot Just give that rhythm everything you've got It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing Doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah, doo-ah
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Read it in your key: Concert (C) (piano, guitar, voice) B♭ (trumpet, tenor sax, clarinet) E♭ (alto sax, baritone sax) Bass clef (trombone, bass, cello)
About this It Don’t Mean a Thing lead sheet
This is the jazz lead sheet for It Don’t Mean a Thing, written by Duke Ellington / Irving Mills in 1931, transposed for B♭ instruments — trumpet, tenor sax, clarinet. The melody and the chord symbols are written a major second above concert pitch, so what you read matches what the rhythm section plays. The chart is written in C major (concert Bb major), in 2/2 time. Read it here for free and play it back — the band keeps sounding in concert pitch while you read your part. Need another key? Switch the Transpose preset above.
- Composer
- Duke Ellington / Irving Mills
- Year
- 1931
- Key
- C major (written) · Bb major (concert)
- Edition
- B♭ transposed — trumpet, tenor sax, clarinet
- Time signature
- 2/2
- Style
- Up Tempo Swing
- Tempo
- 240 BPM
- Genre
- Jazz, Swing
- Format
- Lead sheet — melody and chord symbols
It Don’t Mean a Thing chord changes
The chord progression of It Don’t Mean a Thing transposed for B♭ instruments (trumpet, tenor sax, clarinet), written in C major — concert Bb major — 32 bars, four to a line. These are the changes as a trumpet player reads them; the rhythm section sees the concert chart.
| Am | % | F7 E7 | Am | | D7 | G7 | C | F7 E7 | | Am | % | F7 E7 | Am | | D7 | G7 | C | % | | C7 | % | F | % | | D7 | % | G7 | E7 | | Am | % | F7 E7 | Am | | D7 | G7 | C | % |
Listen to "It Don't Mean a Thing"
Ella Fitzgerald - It Don't Mean a thing (If it ain't got that swing) [1974] — bretodeau
