Chances are you got here by clicking a title of a song within the text, maybe looking for the chart? Perhaps the recorded music? Sorry, perhaps at some point in the future all of scores for all of these tunes will be included in this text to augment one's learning. Wow, that would be giant. Until then we must preserve artistic copyright and rely on published real books for the scores and recordings for the music.

The following list of titles of popular jazz American music is included for the aspiring creative musician, one who is seeking perhaps new musical challenges regardless of where their musical roots are planted. And although by no means complete, the following list of titles hopefully will give the emerging artist a place to start an important process of discovery. The compositions on these lists are known as "standards", thus named by their unfailing popularity through the decades to continue to inspire new interpretations by players to the joy of their listeners. Each of these compositions contain something unique which contributed to it becoming a standard. A gorgeous melody, a unique harmonic scheme, a cool turn of a phrase, a unique melodic sequence, well crafted lyrics, an important story, perhaps creating a new view of well worn elements, all can help a composition to become a standard. Of course, being played by American legends also helps, of which most of the following titles are.

Learning tunes is one sure way to learn the art of any of the American styles. And although there are numerous books of jazz licks and patterns for jazz studies, learning tunes can probably provide some very usable ideas as well. For what do we play when we perform? Usually tunes right? Somehow patterns for jazz start to sound like patterns for jazz when placed into a performance format. I guess the idea here is that in learning tunes, we prepare a wider repertoire of pieces to perform as well as discover potentially important ways as to how the musical elements are put together in well crafted, American jazz compositions. Lest we forget that jazz was America's popular ( pop ) music for nearly 50 solid years, imagine that.

Is reading through songs is potentially the best source for melodic and harmonic ideas? Absolutely. When you come across a composition you dig, once it is under your fingers, try working it out in a different key. Easy melodies could perhaps be run through the cycle of fifths. This running a melody through the cycle of fifths filter is perhaps a good idea with the 12 bar blues heads.  Can never seem to have enough blues heads on the list. If in playing a melody you come across a nice phrase, the hook of the tune perhaps, maybe a cool idea over a Two / Five / One turnaround, perhaps extract this motif and run it through the various filters, create new permutations of your own using the borrowed idea as a basis.

Why would we want to do this? Well, in preparation to improvising in any style of American music, it is easy to work on scales, arpeggios, licks etc. Unfortunately, what we practice is pretty much what we are going to play. So, by reading through tunes as a basis for practice, not only are we finding potential "gems" for performance, but perhaps our improvisations will take on a more lyrical manner, potentially making us better storytellers with our music. The idea of filtering an idea through various cycles is based on the idea that as one gradually moves deeper in the art of jazz, one tendency is for the music to become more fractured chromatically. Motion from half step above or below the target chord or pitch can become very common depending on ones directions. Knowing tunes in a few different keys, running a lick through various chromatic type permutations, both help to sharpen ones ears and abilities towards this potential chromaticism in advanced playing situations. Modernists of today often use a couple of different keys per tune to increase the range of expression, using the contrast of keys and tonalities to tell their stories. Here is a beginning list of music to explore for the emerging, creative jazz musician. Many of these titles are callable at jam sessions and are oftentimes requested by listeners at public jazz performances, thus they have become over the years jazz standards.

To tie into the form in music page and styles aspect of this page, these listings of jazz titles are grouped by style with their musical form included in the brief description. Seek an expanded list of song titles on the jazz tunes page. Hip to the A / B and A / A / B / A 32 bar forms?

Ballads. The essential songs where it all can come out. The slower tempos of a ballad give time and space for the player to think, thus to play their clearest ideas. Always try to read through the words of a ballad to get the gist of the writing.