Double Bass Essential Jazz songs for learning jazz...

[gai113]

Ive noticed jazz is a language and i was wondering what are some essential jazz songs or progressions to learn to really understand jazz...

My goal is to be able to play without a real book or even knowing the changes..

I'm looking for standards of standards... if that makes any sense... Tunes that will enable me to really learn jazz..
Here are some songs ive been practicing that i feel are essential any other reccomendations?

Ive been only working on these tunes for about 1 1/2 years and im still not bored..

Rhythm Changes
Blues
Minor Blues
Birds Blues
Autumn Leaves
All the things you are


I think you guys understand what i mean.. I hope.. Thanks

 

[Sam Sherry]

You will get a long way toward your goal if you learn all the songs on four classic Miles Davis Quintet recordings on the Prestige label: Workin', Cookin', Steamin' and Relaxin'.

Although there are a few songs which never caught on more broadly -- "Dianne" comes to mind -- the vast bulk of this material is still The Standard Canon.

 

[bannybassman]

Birdland
Chameleon
Watermelon man
The chicken
Those are the first that spring to my mind

 

[longfinger]

Cool idea. I have to do this too.

Searching for 'prototype standards' can mean looking for tunes/chord progressions that form the basis of many other melodies later on.

Here is a common one...

|I | | II7 | | iim7 | V7 | I vi | ii V |

a few songs where the "A" follows some variation of this are...
Exactly Like You
Take The A Train
Watch What Happens


"Sweet Georgia Brown" is also a common tune with other tunes coming from it.

An additional approach is to by rhythm style...
ie. old 2 feel swing, walking swing, bossa nova, jazz waltz, bolero etc....

 

[gai113]

The miles davis prestige quintet period is some good stuff man!! Thanks!!!

I love miles because sometimes he plays so simple and slow but with so much feel!

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Here's recent thread with a similar topic. Here's the list I work from, and that I have my students work from. Neither, of course, is exhaustive.

 

[ric3xrt]

The miles davis prestige quintet period is some good stuff man!! Thanks!!!

I love miles because sometimes he plays so simple and slow but with so much feel!

Love Miles , ..the early stuff to get a good feel for Jazz, the later stuff to understand where Jazz can go.
I'm big Brubeck fan, Time out is a good one to listen to

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Here's recent thread with a similar topic. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] the list I work from, and that I have my students work from. Neither, of course, is exhaustive.

That's a great list Chris! That's the real stuff and I hear a lot of Jazz players over here working on this kind of material. I think if somebody had memorised all those tunes they could step into a gig in London..?

I recognised most of them - but when you say "Sugar" - I think of Stanley Turrentine...?

Also - I saw a band play Nardis this weekend at a Jazz Festival - but they said that Miles had never recorded it - so how did it get to become a standard?

 

[bassist1962]

Love Miles , ..the early stuff to get a good feel for Jazz, the later stuff to understand where Jazz can go.
I'm big Brubeck fan, Time out is a good one to listen to

Brubeck's 'Time Out' and Miles' 'Kind of Blue' are the two essentials in my library.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

It's gone a long way in the 50-odd years since - as well!!

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Bruce - I knew "Nardis" from Bill Evans recordings with the trio and I think also with Cannonball. "Sugar" is definitely from Turrentine, and that's how people know it. As for the list, I probably need to add some more songs to it, but I would think that if a person knew those tunes they'd be in pretty good shape.

One hard thing when you've been playing a while is something I call "tune confusion": parts of tunes, especially bridges, start to mingle with each other in the mind and it can be hard to play a tune you haven't played in years for the first chorus or two. In my case, I get a little foggy on the bridges and have to be reminded how they go. Usually if the person calling it can hum the melody quickly and tell me what key the bridge starts in, the rest will fall into place, but it always pays to review the tunes on your list periodically.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

So - Miles gave one back to Bill, in return for "Blue in Green" maybe...? ;-)

I obviously need to get some more Bill Evans CDs!!

Just looked at Amazon - maybe "Explorations" ?

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I have the Riverside collection, but that's huge. I'd pick the one that has the musicians you know/like best and with the most songs you know you want to go deeper into. They're pretty much all good.

 

[Roger Davis]

A great list Chris and I'm happy to say I've played most of them in my time just by being lucky enough to play for some great guys (more knowledge that me) who have called them. Probably the greatest joy of being a freelance bassist.

If I could call just one more it would be I've Told Ev'ry Little Star and I've always had a soft spot for it ever since hearing Cannonball's recording. It's a simple tune but I'm told it was Jerome Kern's favourite composition. Only a lot later did I learn that Oscar Hammerstein, who wrote the words, visited Jerome as he was in his last moments and softly sang the song to him. That was the last thing he ever heard.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I have the Riverside collection, but that's huge. I'd pick the one that has the musicians you know/like best and with the most songs you know you want to go deeper into. They're pretty much all good.

I just downloaded Explorations and Portrait in Jazz as I looked them up (in Penguin Guide to Jazz) and realised that they were both with Scott La Faro and I didn't have them in my collection!!

I have a few others, but neither of these and they are in the Penguin essential collection!

I'm going to have a go at playing along and working out Nardis in a bit!

 

[Ed Fuqua]

One hard thing when you've been playing a while is something I call "tune confusion": parts of tunes, especially bridges, start to mingle with each other in the mind and it can be hard to play a tune you haven't played in years for the first chorus or two.

That's actually called Jazzheimer's.

 

[powerbass]

There is another way to think about learning jazz separate from learning specific tunes and that is to think of common chord formulas since many tunes follow chord theory. There are blues changes, minor blues, swing with ii, v i, and i, vi, ii,v and iii, vi, ii, v, i type changes, rhythm changes and bossa tunes with similar, predictable chord changes. When listening to jazz try to hear what the chord logic is and where the tune is going harmonically. It is helpful to sit down with a chart and listen to a particular tune noting chord and key changes. This helps to open the ears to common harmonic patterns. After a while an intuition can develop where you know where a tune is going based on what you know and hear. FYI, I am no where near proficient at this, my teacher is.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

That's actually called Jazzheimer's.

Damn. Well, my full initials (RCF) *do* sound a bit like CRS. Or was it the other way round?

 

[Paul Warburton]

Damn. Well, my full initials (RCF) *do* sound a bit like CRS. Or was it the other way round?

Was what the other way round?

 

[Mike Goodbar]

One hard thing when you've been playing a while is something I call "tune confusion": parts of tunes, especially bridges, start to mingle with each other in the mind and it can be hard to play a tune you haven't played in years for the first chorus or two. In my case, I get a little foggy on the bridges and have to be reminded how they go. Usually if the person calling it can hum the melody quickly and tell me what key the bridge starts in, the rest will fall into place, but it always pays to review the tunes on your list periodically.

I was talking with an older musician who told me when he was playing full-time back in the 40's and 50's, they'd have two default bridges, the "Sears-Roebuck," which started on the third and wound down (essentially rhythm changes bridge), and the "Montgomery-Ward," which started on the fourth, like A-Train. If someone requested a tune and they didn't quite know the bridge, the leader would call either one of these bridges and improvise a melody over it until the main theme came back around. He said the crowd never caught on.