Essential Tunes List

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On most jazz sites, (such as http://www.AllAboutJazz.com, and http://www.TalkBass.com ), you can typically find a list of tunes that that site's users believe that everyone should know in order to be generally prepared. The lists vary from site to site, reflecting web-regional preferences just as you might find regional jam session preference differences. The following is the intersection of several of those lists, and I'll try to get the changes posted to as many of these as possible.

In the process of finding only the tunes common to many sites, and coming up with a "short list" a lot of great tunes got eliminated, but here are the common tunes:

Essential Tunes
A Foggy Day
A Night In Tunisia
Afro Blue
Ain't Misbehavin'
All Blues
All Of Me
All The Things You Are
Alone Together
Anthropology
Autumn in New York
Autumn Leaves
Back Home Again in Indiana
Beautiful Love
Billie's Bounce
Blue Bossa
Blue Monk
Blue Trane
Blues For Alice
Bluesette
Body And Soul
Caravan
Cherokee
Confirmation
Cottontail
Darn that dream
Dolphin Dance
Donna Lee
Don't Get Around Much Anymore swing
Fine and Dandy
Footprints
Four
Freddie Freeloader
Freedom Jazz Dance
Giant Steps
God Bless the Child
Green Dolphin Street
Have You Met Miss Jones
Here's That Rainy Day
Honeysuckle Rose
How Deep is the Ocean
How High the Moon
I Can't Give You Anything But Love
I Got Rhythm in F and B-flat
I Love You
I Should Care
I Thought About You standard
I'll Remember April
I'm in the Mood For Love
Impressions
In a Sentimental Mood
In Walked Bud
It Could Happen To You
It's You or No One
Joy Spring
Just Friends
Killer Joe
Lady Be Good
Lady Bird
Like someone in love
Love Me or Leave Me
Lullaby Of Birdland
Maiden Voyage
Meditation
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Misty
Moment's Notice swing
Moonlight in Vermont
My Favorite Things
My Funny Valentine
My One and Only Love
My Romance
Nica's Dream
Night and Day
Oleo
On Green Dolphin Street
Out of Nowhere
Over the Rainbow
Pennies from Heaven
Polkadots and Moonbeams
Recorda- me
Rhythmining
Round Midnight
Ruby My Dear
Satin Doll
Scrapple From The Apple
September in the Rain
So What
Softly, As in A Morning Sunrise
Solar
Someday My Prince Will Come
Song For My Father
St. Thomas
Stella By Starlight
Stolen Moments
Straight No Chaser
Sugar
Summertime
Take The A Train
Tea For Two
The Girl From Ipanema
The Song Is You
There is no Greater Love
There Will Never Be Another You
These Foolish Things
Waltz For Debby
Wave
Well You Needn't
What Is This Thing Called Love?
What's New?
Willow Weep For Me
Yardbird Suite
Yesterdays
You Don't Know What Love Is
You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

Ten Tunes for a Starter Repertoire

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Pairing down an essential tunes list even further, but maintaining a breadth of styles, Ed Byrne had suggested the following 10 tunes for getting started:

1. Swing Standard: “There Will Never Be Another You”

(Ed Byrne's solo transcription and Carnegie Hall performance on “There Will Never Be Another You” with Chet Baker)

2. Bossa: “Blue Bossa”

3. Waltz: “All Blues”

4. Ballad: “In a Sentimental Mood”

5. Blues: “Blue Monk”

6. Changing feels: “Green Dolphin Street”

7. Funky: “Watermelon Man"
8. Classic: “Summertime”

9. Bop Blues: “Au Privave”

10. Swing Minor Standard: “Autumn Leaves”
(don't miss Jake Hanlon's study on Autumn Leaves )

You can always search site-wide for tunes using the Search form at the upper left of any page.

A Child Is Born

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A Child Is Born
Thad Jones




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Afro Blue

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Afro Blue
Mongo Santamaria

chords like Real Book 6th Edition




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All Blues (Real Book 5 Ed.)

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All Blues
Miles Davis
Kind of Blue




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All of Me

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All of Me
Seymour Simons
Gerald Marks




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Au Privave

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Au Privave
Charlie Parker

Real Book 5th Edition




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Autumn in New York

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Autumn in New York
Vernon Duke




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Autumn Leaves (New Real Book)

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Autumn Leaves
Les Feuilles Mortes
Joseph Kosma
Jacques Prévert
Johnny Mercer

The music was created, before, by Joseph Kosma for the ballet "Le Rendez-Vous" in 1945,
and Prévert wrote, after, the words for the movie.

The poem was published, after the death of Jacques Prévert, in the book "Soleil de Nuit" in 1980

(info from http://www.johnnymercer.com/index.htm )



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Autumn Leaves (Real Book 5th Ed.)

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Autumn Leaves
Les Feuilles Mortes
Joseph Kosma
Jacques Prévert
Johnny Mercer

The music was created, before, by Joseph Kosma for the ballet "Le Rendez-Vous" in 1945,
and Prévert wrote, after, the words for the movie.

The poem was published, after the death of Jacques Prévert, in the book "Soleil de Nuit" in 1980

(info from http://www.johnnymercer.com/index.htm )



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Billie's Bounce

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Billie's Bounce
Charlie Parker

Real Book 2
Colorado Cookbook




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Bloomdido

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Bloomdido
Charlie Parker




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Blue Bossa

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Blue Bossa
Kenny Dorham




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Blue In Green

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Guide Tone Lines and Root Progression:
(one voice omitted from each successive chorus)



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Blue Monk

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Blue Monk
Thelonius Monk




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Blue Train (Blue Trane)

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Blue Train
(Blue Trane)
John Coltrane

Real Book, 6th Edition




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Blues 1

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Blues 2

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Blues for Alice

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Blues for Alice
Charlie Parker




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Caravan

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Caravan
Duke Ellington
Irving Mills
Juan Tizol

New Real Book, Vol 3




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Christmas Time Is Here

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Christmas Time Is Here
Vince Guaraldi
from the Charlie Brown Christmas classic



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Come Sunday

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Come Sunday
Duke Ellington




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Contemplation (Real Book 6th Ed. - Hal Leonard)

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Danny Boy

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Gospel-like version of "Danny Boy."

The tune is actually called "Londonderry Air," goes back to the 19th century, and is public domain. The title "Danny Boy" was adopted when new lyrics were written to the tune in 1910. These are still in copyright and are not included here.

This version is effective played as a shuffle, emphasizing the bass movement.



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Gigue from Dm Partita BWV 1004

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Gigue
Giga
2nd Dm Partita
BWV 1004
Johan Sebastian Bach




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Gloria's Step (New Real Book)

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Gloria's Step
Scott LaFaro

Sunday at the Village Vanguard, 1961





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I Don't Need No Doctor

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This Armstead, Ashford, and Simpson tune made it onto the charts for Ray Charles in about 1966, and was recently redone by Scofield and Mayer on Scofield's tribute to the music of Ray Charles, "That's What I Say". Sco's changes are different from the Charles version (and Humble Pie's power chord version), and you can here them in the clip below from the Tonight Show (and download the clip from Scofield's site: http://johnscofield.com/music.html )




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In A Sentimental Mood

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In A Sentimental Mood

Duke Ellington
Irving Mills
Manny Kurtz





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Joy Spring

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Joy Spring
Clifford Brown




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My Favorite Things

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My Favorite Things
Richard Rogers
Oscar Hammerstein II




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On Green Dolphin Street

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On Green Dolphin Street
Bronislau Kaper

(from Real Book Fifth Ed.)




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Six and Four

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Six and Four
Oliver Nelson

Hank Jones plays this with the above pattern over each chord (showing it over the F7), and maintains the bass ostinato throughout the entire piece.

Jones has kept this tune going and has recorded it a few times, with Elvin, solo, and most recently with Joe Lovano. Oliver Nelson's original recording of this (with Eric Dolphy, Richard Wyands, George Duvivier, and Roy Haynes) was one note different (b5 - see below).

On Hank Jones' most recent trio recording of it (released on Trane's birthday in 2003 - The Great Jazz Trio - "Autumn Leaves" with Elvin and Richard Davis), they head out with the original ostinato shown below. On the other versions, the alterations come and go, most often present on the bV7 or going from V7 to IV7 to I7.



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Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (RealBook,Vol II)

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Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise
Sigmund Romberg
Oscar Hammerstein II

Real Book Vol II, 2nd Edition, Hal Leonard



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Someday My Prince Will Come

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Someday My Prince Will Come
Frank Churchill
Larry Morey




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Straight, No Chaser

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Straight, No Chaser
Thelonius Monk

Real Book 5th Edition



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Summertime

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Changes for Summertime from The Great Jazz Trio (Hank Jones, Richard Davis, Elvin Jones) "Collaboration". Jones doesn't play the b5 in the melody, and in both the recordings (Collaboration and Autumn Leaves) that came out of the Avatar Sessions, they approach Cmaj7 both through the dominant, and through A7(b13). As in the following example:



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The Girl From Ipanema

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The Girl From Ipanema
Jobim




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There Will Never Be Another You

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There Will Never Be Another You
Harry Warren
Mack Gordon




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Watermelon Man

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(no preview text)



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Wave

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Wave
Antonio Carlos Jobim




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Yardbird Suite

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Yardbird Suite
Charlie Parker



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