What Is This Thing Called Love

"What Is This Thing Called Love" is a jazz standard composed by Cole Porter for the 1929 musical revue Wake Up and Dream, where it was introduced in London by Elsie Carlisle before reaching Broadway later that year. The tune's sophisticated harmonic structure—opening with a Gm7b5 to C7 resolution that establishes a distinctly minor-inflected tonal space, enriched by borrowed chords and intricate II-V progressions—has made it irresistible to jazz musicians for nearly a century. Its chord changes spawned several important bebop contrafacts, most notably Tadd Dameron's "Hot House" (1945), closely associated with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, as well as Lee Konitz's "Subconscious-Lee" and John Coltrane's "Fifth House." The composition has been recorded over 500 times across diverse interpretations, from James P. Johnson's early stride piano version (1930) and Sidney Bechet's near-ballad treatment (1941) to Clifford Brown and Max Roach's blazing uptempo reading with Sonny Rollins (1956) and Bill Evans' introspective Portrait in Jazz trio performance (1959). Lee Konitz returned to the original tune with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden on the acclaimed Alone Together album (1997), demonstrating the enduring appeal of Porter's harmonic innovations to modern jazz artists.