This post if for the jazz guys, and possibly those that want to venture into jazz territory. I talked about repertoire yesterday, and today I was asked by a friend to put together a list of the most popular jazz standards that might be called at a jam session…this is what I came up with, and I thought of sharing it with you. Comes without saying that this list is by all means incomplete and dictated by my experience with jazz jams. Feel free to add your suggestion in the comments section!
A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Sqare
Agua De Beber
Ain’t Misbehavin’
All Blues
All of Me
All of You
All Or Nothing At All
All the Things You Are
Alone Together
Angel Eyes
Autumn Leaves
Beautiful Love
Billie’s Bounce
Blue Bossa
Blue Monk
Blue Moon
Body and Soul
But Not For Me
Bye Bye Blackbird
C Jam Blues
Caravan
Chelsea Bridge
Cherokee
Come Rain Or Come Shine
Cry Me a River
Darn That Dream
Days of Wine and Roses
Desafinado
Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me
Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
Donna Lee
Doxy
Easy to Love
Embraceable You
Estate
Everything Happens to Me
Everytime We Say Goodbye
Fly Me To The Moon
Foggy Day
Four
Gee Baby Ain’t I Good to You
Gentle Rain
Georgia On My Mind
Giant Steps
Girl From Ipanema
God Bless the Child
Good Bait
Green Dolphin Street
Have You Met Miss Jones
Here’s That Rainy Day
How Deep is the Ocean
How High the Moon
How Insensitive
How Long Has This Been Going On
I Can’t Get Started
I Could Write a Book
I Didn’t Know What Time It Was
I Get a Kick Out of You
I Got Rhythm/Rhythm Changes
I Hear a Rhapsody
I Loves You Porgy
I Remember You
I Should Care
I Thought About You
I’ll Remember April
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
If I Should Lose You
If I Were a Bell
Impressions
In A Sentimental Mood
Invitation
Isn’t It Romantic
It Ain’t Necessarily So
It Could Happen to You
It Don’t Mean A Thing
It Had to Be You
Jitterbug Waltz
Joy Spring
Just Friends
Just One of Those Things
Killer Joe
Lady Is A Tramp
Laura
Lazy bird
Like Someone In Love
Love For Sale
Lover Man
Lullaby Of Birdland
Lush Life
Mack the Knife
Maiden Voyage
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Misty
Moanin’
Mr. P.C.
My Favorite Things
My Foolish Heart
My Funny Valentine
My Little Suede Shoes
My One and Only Love
My Romance
Nardis
Nature Boy
Night and Day
Night In Tunisia
Now’s The Time
Old Devil Moon
Old Folks
Oleo
On A Slow Boat To China
On The Sunny Side Of The Street
One Note Samba
Over The Rainbow
Polka Dots and Moonbeams
Prelude To A Kiss
Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)
Round Midnight
Satin Doll
Scrapple From The Apple
Smile
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
So What
Softly as In A Morning Sunrise
Solar
Someday My Prince Will Come
Someone To Watch Over Me
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Song For My Father
Sonnymoon For Two
Speak Low
St. Thomas
Stella By Starlight
Stormy Weather
Straight No Chaser
Sugar
Summertime
Sunny
Sweet Georgia Brown
Take Five
Take the “A” Train
Tea For Two
The Man I Love
The Nearness of You
The Night Has 1000 Eyes
The Shadow Of Your Smile
The Very Thought of You
The Way You Look Tonight
There is No Greater Love
There Will Never Be Another You
They Can’t Take That Away From Me
Things Ain’t What They Used to Be
This Masquerade
Time After Time
Tune Up
Watermelon Man
Wave
Well You Needn’t
What is This Thing Called Love
When I Fall In Love
When Sunny Gets Blue
Work Song
Yesterdays
You and the Night and the Music
You Don’t Know What Love Is
You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To
by Mick Goodrich. One the exercises explained in this great book is about creating a random sequence of chords by writing every type of chord (major, minor, all the 7th chords and, if you feel more adventurous, chords with extensions and alterations) on small pieces of paper and extracting them at random. This will not only improve your sight reading in terms of chords and chord progressions, but, if you record these sequences to create a backing track, it will greatly improve your improvisation skills.