7/10/2017 50 Jazz Standards You Need To Know - Learn Jazz Standards

50 Jazz Standards You Need To Know

By Brent Vaartstra - September 16, 2015

There are hundreds and even thousands of jazz standards to learn. Playing jazz requiresa
reasonable amount of repertoire ready to be played at a moments notice (no pun
intended). It can be overwhelming!

We get emails from time to time from musicians asking for advice on whichstandards to
learn. There are so many standards it can be hard to know where to start and which ones
are the most important. Its important to know as many standards as possible. Not only
will this help you out during a jam session or gig, it will strengthen your harmonic
knowledge and improvisation skills. However, its impossible to know them all and indeed
some are more important to know than others.

Every city or region tends to have a different set of common tunes that jazz musicians will
call. One cities list may differ slightly from the other, or even different circles of musicians
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will have different lists. Its important to get involved in your local jazz scene and nd out
what other musicians in your area like to play. But there are certain tunes that I would
consider the standards among standards; the songs that every jazz musician needs to
know and will likely be called in any jazz scene you are a part of.

Below is a list of 50 jazz standards you need to know. If you are a beginner and looking for
a place to start, this is your list! Make it a goal to learn every tune in here and you will
have an excellent foundation to build off of. If you are an experienced player, make sure
you know all of these tunes. I guarantee that these will get called on you at some point.

If you dont know one of these tunes, take advantage of everything Learn Jazz Standards
has to offer! We have spent years and countless hours researching these tunes, creating
chord charts and play-alongs, and building up resources to help you learn these important
songs. To learn these songs and learn more about them, click on them! If you already
know all of these songs, your journey is not over. Visit our index to learn more!

By the way, if you need help practicing jazz standards and other jazz stuff, be
sure to get our FREE eBook A Jazz Guide to Practicing.

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE GUIDE NOW

50 Jazz Standards Every Jazz Musician Needs To Know:

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1. All of Me
2. All The Things You Are
3. Alone Together
4. Autumn Leaves
5. Billies Bounce
6. Black Orpheus
7. Blue Bossa
8. Body and Soul
9. But Not For Me
10. Bye Bye Blackbird
11. Cherokee
12. Con rmation
13. Days of Wine and Roses
14. Doxy
15. Fly Me To The Moon
16. Footprints
17. Four
18. Have You Met Miss Jones
19. How High The Moon
20. I Hear a Rhapsody
21. I Love You
22. I Remember You
23. Ill Remember April
24. Im Old Fashioned
25. If I Should Lose You
26. If I Were A Bell
27. In A Mellow Tone
28. In A Sentimental Mood
29. It Could Happen To You
30. Just Friends
31. Misty
32. My Funny Valentine
33. Night and Day
34. Oleo
35. On Green Dolphin Street
36. Recorda Me
37. Satin Doll
38. Stella By Starlight
39. Scrapple From The Apple
40. So What
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41. Solar
42. St. Thomas
43. Sweet Georgia Brown
44. Take The A Train
45. The Girl From Ipanema
46. There Is No Greater Love
47. There Will Never Be Another You
48. Up Jumped Spring
49. What Is This Thing Called Love
50. Yesterdays

Want to practice these? Check out the play-along album:

50 Jazz Standards
You Need To Know
$49.99

View

About the Author

Brent Vaartstra
http://www.brentvaartstra.com

Brent Vaartstra is a professional jazz guitarist and educator living in New York City. He is the head blogger and podcast host
for learnjazzstandards.com which he owns and operates. He actively performs around the New York metropolitan area and is
the author of the Hal Leonard publications "500 Jazz Licks" and "Visual Improvisation for Jazz Guitar." To learn more, visit
www.brentvaartstra.com.

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