Jazz standard

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Jazz standard

A jazz standard is a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
tune that is held in continuing esteem and which is widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians as part of the jazz musical repertoire. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be "jazz standards" changes over time. Moreover, there are different jazz standards for the different musical styles and subgenres that make up jazz, such as swing

Swing

Swing may refer to:...
, bebop

Bebop

Bebop or bop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s....
, and fusion

Jazz fusion

Fusion or, more specifically, jazz fusion or jazz rock, is a musical genre that merges jazz with elements of other styles of music, particularly funk, Rock and roll, R&B, electronic music, and world music, but also pop music, classical music, and folk music, or sometimes even Heavy metal music, reggae, ska, country music, hip hop...
.

In many cases, songs that have become jazz standards were not originally composed by a jazz musician.

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A jazz standard is a jazz

Jazz

Swing

Swing may refer to:...
, bebop

Bebop

Bebop or bop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s....
, and fusion

Jazz fusion

Reharmonization

In music, reharmonization refers to the technique of taking an existing melody and altering the harmony which accompanies it. Typically, a melody is reharmonized to provide musical interest or variety....
, or improvisation by jazz performers or composers. Nevertheless, the songs commonly included in jazz fake book

Fake book

A fake book is a collection of musical lead sheets intended to help a performer quickly learn new songs. Each song in a fake book contains the Melody, basic Chord , and lyrics - the minimal information needed by a musician to make an impromptu arrangement of a song, or "fake it."...
s (books containing the melodies and chords to jazz songs) and those that have been widely recorded are a rough guide to the list of jazz standards.

Many jazz standards have a long history, and they are based on old popular tunes, Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
or musical selections, or old recordings of famous bands from the Great American Songbook

Great American Songbook

Great American Songbook is a term referring to the interrelated music of Broadway theatre musical theater, the Hollywood musical, and Tin Pan Alley, in a period that begins roughly in the 1920s and tapers off around 1960 with the emerging dominance of rock and roll....
. In some cases, the version of a song that becomes a jazz standard is a reharmonized or altered version of the original song. Jazz musicians also include a wide range of 1950s and 1960s Bebop

Bebop

Bebop or bop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s....
and Hard Bop

Hard bop

Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Hard bop incorporates influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano playing....
tunes in their standards.

The development of a repertoire of jazz standards has created a shortlist of songs that are widely known by jazz musicians from different countries and jazz subgenre traditions. This shortlist makes it easier for jazz musicians to flesh out their song list for performances, or improvise over in familiar chord changes during jam sessions with musicians that they have just met. As well, the jazz standard repertoire is often performed by "working musicians" who play in bars, lounges, and supper clubs

Supper club

A supper club is an American cuisine dining establishment generally found in the Upper Midwestern states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. These establishments typically are located on the edge of town in rural areas ....
.

Standards from different eras

Well-known standards from the Dixieland
Dixieland

Dixieland music or sometimes referred to as Hot jazz or New Orleans jazz is a style of jazz which developed in New Orleans, Louisiana at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s....
era, such as "Basin Street Blues

Basin Street Blues

"Basin Street Blues" is a song often performed by Dixieland jazz bands, written by Spencer Williams. The song was published in 1926 and made famous in a recording by Louis Armstrong in 1928....
", "When the Saints Go Marching In", and "I Got Rhythm

I Got Rhythm

"I Got Rhythm" is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, published in 1930, which became a widely-known jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the "Rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes such as Charlie Parker's and Dizzy Gillespie's Bebop standard "Anthropology "....
" are known even to non-jazz fans. The chord progression from "I Got Rhythm", known as "Rhythm changes

Rhythm changes

In jazz and jazz harmony, rhythm changes is a modified form of the chord progression of George Gershwin's song "I Got Rhythm", which form the basis of countless jazz musical composition....
", became a popular foundation for new jazz tunes in subsequent decades (for more information, see the List of Dixieland standards

List of Dixieland standards

Dixieland and traditional jazz standards are jazz tunes from the early 1900s that are widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians....
). "Mainstream" or "evergreen" jazz standards such as "All of Me

All of Me (song)

"All Of Me" is a popular song and jazz standard written by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons in 1931.First recorded by Belle Baker, it has become one of the most recorded songs of its era, with notable versions by Louis Armstrong, Mildred Bailey, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Django...
", "My Funny Valentine

My Funny Valentine

For the album by Miles Davis, see My Funny Valentine "My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart musical Babes in Arms....
", "Tea for Two

Tea for Two (song)

"Tea for Two" is a song from the 1925 musical No, No, Nanette with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Irving Caesar. The song is sung from the viewpoint of a lovestruck man, who plans the future with his new woman in mind....
" and "Stella by Starlight

Stella By Starlight

"Stella by Starlight" is a jazz standard written by Victor Young and featured in The Uninvited , a 1944 film released by Paramount Pictures....
" are performed by jazz performers from a wide range of jazz subgenres (for more information, see the List of mainstream jazz standards

List of Mainstream jazz standards

"Mainstream" or "evergreen" jazz standards are jazz tunes from that are widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians.There is no definitive list of mainstream jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be evergreen or "classic" jazz standards changes over time....
).

Swing
Swing (genre)

Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and had solidified as a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States....
band standards include "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

"It Don't Mean a Thing " is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Irving Mills, now accepted as a jazz standard. The music was written and arranged by Ellington in August 1931 during intermissions at Chicago's Lincoln Tavern and was first recorded by Ellington and his orchestra for Brunswick Records on February 2, 1932....
" and "Take the A Train

Take the A Train

"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra....
" (for more information, see the List of swing jazz standards

List of Swing jazz standards

swing music jazz standards are jazz tunes from the 1920s and 1930s that are widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians. Swing, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that developed during the 1920s and had solidified as a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States....
). Bebop
Bebop

Bebop or bop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody. It was developed in the early and mid-1940s....
standards include: "Now's the Time

Now's The Time To Fall In Love

"Now's The Time To Fall In Love" is a song from the Depression era written by Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths, Al Sherman and Al Lewis . The song was made popular by Eddie Cantor on his weekly radio show....
" and "Well You Needn't

Well You Needn't

"Well, You Needn't" is a jazz standard composed by Thelonious Monk in 1944. Like another Monk standard, "Epistrophy", it is notable for a chord sequence in which the root note moves by semitones....
" (for more information, see the List of bebop jazz standards

List of Bebop jazz standards

Bebop jazz standards are jazz tunes from the 1940s and 1930s that are widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians. Bebop is a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos and improvisation based on harmonic structure rather than melody, that was developed in the early and mid-1940s....
). Bossa Nova
Bossa nova

Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music popularized by Ant?nio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes and Jo?o Gilberto. Bossa nova acquired a large following, initially by young musicians and college students....
standards include: "Blue Bossa", "The Girl from Ipanema

The Girl from Ipanema

"The Girl from Ipanema" is a well-known bossa nova song, a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s that won a Grammy Award for Grammy Awards of 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes with English language lyrics written later by Norman Gimbel....
", and "One Note Samba" (for more information, see the List of bossa nova standards).

Modal
Modal jazz

Modal jazz is jazz using musical modes rather than chord progressions as its harmonic framework....
and Postbop standards include "Impressions", "So What

So What (composition)

"So What" is the first track on the 1959 Miles Davis album Kind of Blue. It is one of the most well-known examples of modal jazz, set in the Dorian mode and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E Dorian and another eight of D Dorian....
", "All Blues

All Blues

"All Blues" is a jazz composition by Miles Davis first appearing on the influential 1959 album Kind of Blue.It is a 12 bar blues in Triple metre; the chord sequence is that of a basic blues and made up entirely of 7th chords, with a bVI in the turnaround instead of just the usual V chord....
", and "Footprints

Footprints (composition)

Footprints is a jazz standard composed by Wayne Shorter, first appearing on his 1966 album Adam's Apple .Whilst in Time signature Metre , it is debatable whether it could be called a jazz waltz, since the feel could be divided into compound duple or simple triple time....
" (for more information, see the List of modal and post-bop jazz standards

List of Modal and Post-bop jazz standards

Modal jazz and Post-bop jazz standards are jazz tunes from the that are widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians.There is no definitive list of modal and Post-bop jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be "jazz standards" from this era changes over time....
). Latin/Funk
Funk

Funk is an United States Music genre that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music....
standards include "Little Sunflower" and "The Chicken" (for more information, see the List of Latin and funk jazz standards

List of Latin and Funk jazz standards

Latin and funk jazz standards are latin jazz and jazz-funk tunes from the that are widely known, performed, and recorded among jazz musicians.There is no definitive list of latin and jazz-funk standards, and the list of songs deemed to be "jazz standards" from this era changes over time....
).

External links

- catalogue of over 1000 standards, ranked by the number of jazz artists who have recorded each one; also historical and biographical information

- includes almost 3000 standards, with scanned partitures of songs (harmony and theme) of pre- and post-war jazz

- Transposable with playback capability

Jazz standard

Standards from different eras

See also

External links