Jazz Standards.

Sushant Sharma

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So after the wonderful advice by forum members on acquainting onself with Jazz standards as a step to enjoy and appreciate the form more, and with inputs by a FM, I thought of starting this thread.

Google led me to some good explanations "A standard should be melodically simple (not simplistic) and harmonically attractive. To me a mark of a standard, it is capable of being interpreted over and over again, so the song has to have a certain amount of meat or heft to it to be able to stand up that way." Jules Styne, Composer.
"Great vocalists, as well as jazz musicians like Oscar Peterson realized that this is a canon, almost like of classical music and the way classical music is reinterpreted by many performers- we can do the same".
What do you think a "STANDARD" entails and why do some become it and some don't?

Personally for me, the album Night Train by Oscar Peterson Trio was my first album that I have listened to the most in the past few years and recognize the tunes on it. Side story of this is being on a vacation in Bangkok where I picked up a few LPs. Some mistakes were made as I picked up some that are very forgetful and some that are too complex for me. The Salesman (bless him) suggested that if I was just getting into jazz, I should buy this album and on his recommendation I did. Much later I heard other variations of C jam Blues and a couple of others covered on this album.But surely I recognize the personal stylings that others put on these tunes due to having heard them already.
So without going on and on, please list your favourite jazz standards (and some variation of it that you enjoy) or other info you could share.
I start with a recent discovery "Cherokee" by Ray Noble and made popular by Bird and used in "koko" and then covered by other greats as Clifford Brown and Hawk.

Interesting write up on the song Cherokee here
 
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I love the standards for the way they help one understand jazz and improvisation. If love them for the beautiful lyrics and the old world sense of romance that they evoke. I love them because they make jazz music live over several decades, long after the composer has left us. And if you are a Trekkie like me you'll love this:
Nog and the singing hologram Vic Fontaine in Deep Space 9
 
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I love the standards for the way they help one understand jazz and improvisation. If love them for the beautiful lyrics and the old world sense of romance that they evoke. I love them because they make jazz music live over several decades, long after the composer has left us. And if you are a Trekkie like me you'll love this:
Nog and the singing hologram Vic Fontaine in Deep Space 9
just beautiful....smooth vocals and very heartfelt (and it feels your choice of it too). definitely evoked an old world sense of romance too.
 
This will a be a great thread.
In May 11 1945 , Parker and Gillespie reunited at a session to produce Salt Peanuts , the highlight of which is a smoking hot Gillespie solo. It’s was also in November of the same year that they rejoined for Billie’s Bounce , Now’s the Time and the even remarkable Ko Ko, for the Guild and Savoy label , featured in this thread earlier.

 
I am surprised at very few mentions of Bossa Nova and magicians like Antonio Jobim.. I adore Jobim and try and collect as many versions of his songs as possible . An album I would recommend as a Jazz standard in Bossa Nova would be Stone Flower..


My favourite track from the album and covered by a few artists although not as many as the other Jobim classics...
 
Sushant, you sly fox! Posting a thread titled ‘Jazz Standards’ just had to grab my attention, right? :)
Well, no prizes for guessing which tune springs to my mind when discussing standards. A melody so simple even little children can hum it; yet, open to complex improvisation in the hands of the masters.
Here are a few of my favourite interpretations:





 
I am surprised at very few mentions of Bossa Nova and magicians like Antonio Jobim.. I adore Jobim and try and collect as many versions of his songs as possible . An album I would recommend as a Jazz standard in Bossa Nova would be Stone Flower..

I'm a big fan of Jobim too (Getz/Gilberto is up there in my top 10) but i have heard several purists say Bossa Nova is not Jazz because it has something called clave - Can someone comment ?
 
I'm a big fan of Jobim too (Getz/Gilberto is up there in my top 10) but i have heard several purists say Bossa Nova is not Jazz because it has something called clave - Can someone comment ?
The Guardian , used to have a very informative series called Bluesnotes- Building a jazz library. John Fordham while writing a retrospective review ( or perhaps a recommendation for inclusion in the said library ) of Sonny Rollins‘ Saxophone Colossus , early on in his essay said that Rollins’ music had - an improvisational urgency and melodic originality intensified by a willingness to stretch the consensus on good tone, rhythmic regularity and relations with the original tune. This was perhaps very pertinent given his eclectic repertoire in the album- some blues , calypso ( St. Thomas ) even show- tune ( Moritat- from Mack The Knife.
I guess what caused a syncopated rhythmic pattern from a South American dance music to be elevated into a sub-genre of jazz is precisely what the duo of Getz- Gilberto did to it in terms of what is mentioned in that quote.
Their deceptively simple style masks much rhythmic and harmonic sophistication.
Back in the day when I used to watch Shaolin martial art movies , the ultimate master in the last chamber , would have a style far removed from the exaggerated and extroverted flourishes of the lower level experts.
The master could simply do more by doing less. One finds that kind of economy in Miles too. Just my two pence.
 
This one too is layered interpretation of My Favorite Things by Motohiko Hino, the Japanese drummer and his group. Like how shapes shift and finally become something recognizable..

Sushant, you sly fox! Posting a thread titled


‘Jazz Standards’ just had to grab my attention, right? :)
Well, no prizes for guessing which tune springs to my mind when discussing standards. A melody so simple even little children can hum it; yet, open to complex improvisation in the hands of the masters.
Here are a few of my favourite interpretations:





 
Mack the Knife (Die Moritat von Mackie Messer) is one of the most covered standards. Started out as a composition for a 1928 German opera The Threepenny Opera


Made popular by Louis Armstrong


And even more so by Bobby Darin


Many covers by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and more but this is my favorite version:

 
but i have heard several purists say Bossa Nova is not Jazz because it has something called clave
I really like @moktan's take on this. Clave is the Afro-Cuban beat that sets the rhythm and happens to be in Bossa Nova as well. The simplicity and ease of consumption of the form demonstrates a supreme mastery - like the Shaolin masters Moktan mentioned. Jobim is a genius in my book too :)
 
Sushant, you sly fox! Posting a thread titled ‘Jazz Standards’ just had to grab my attention, right? :)
Well, no prizes for guessing which tune springs to my mind when discussing standards. A melody so simple even little children can hum it; yet, open to complex improvisation in the hands of the masters.
Here are a few of my favourite interpretations:





@Coltrane, all beautiful renditions of a melody so sweet and catchy. Read that Miles may have been inspired by Coltrane doing this to come up one year later with "Someday My Prince will come", a Disney movie and a waltz.
 
I really like @moktan's take on this. Clave is the Afro-Cuban beat that sets the rhythm and happens to be in Bossa Nova as well. The simplicity and ease of consumption of the form demonstrates a supreme mastery - like the Shaolin masters Moktan mentioned. Jobim is a genius in my book too :)
some great insight by Moktan and you. All i can say is if Jazz can be inspired from musicals and Broadway and Disney movies then why not from Samba too. While I understand the former are inspirations for jazz, the latter is a form in jazz itself. I am all for amalgamation and fusing.
Take the A Train has been covered so widely. I think I might spend the afternoon listening to some of them. I am familiar with Tsuyoshi Yamamoto doing it.
Jayant thanks for Mack the Knife. as with so many other tunes, had missed this one too.
 
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I am surprised at very few mentions of Bossa Nova and magicians like Antonio Jobim.. I adore Jobim and try and collect as many versions of his songs as possible . An album I would recommend as a Jazz standard in Bossa Nova would be Stone Flower..


My favourite track from the album and covered by a few artists although not as many as the other Jobim classics...
Rahul, thanks for that share. I have put it on my list of albums to hear. So much good music out there.
 
some great insight by Moktan and you. All i can say is if Jazz can be inspired from musicals and Broadway and Disney movies then why not from Samba too.
Take the A Train has been covered so widely. I think I might spend the afternoon listening to some of them. I am familiar with Tsuyoshi Yamamoto doing it.
Jayant thanks for Mack the Knife. as with so many other tunes, had missed this one too.
Sushant, we’re swimming in the shallow end of an infinite musical pool. Multiple lifetimes aren’t enough to hear and appreciate everything in the pool. Therein lies the joy of a new discovery everyday and I can relate to that feeling you're expressing :)
 
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