Learn Jazz Standards.com focuses on helping  jazz musicians expand their repertoire.  Jazz musicians are required to know jazz standards for working gigs and playing at jam sessions.   However, it’s also very important to practice soloing over chord progressions, such as the ii-V-I-VI7 progression.  This progression will show up time and time again in many tunes, and so practicing improvising over these changes will pay HUGE dividends when you approach the standards.  Some of our readers are more experienced jazz musicians and will appreciate having this chord progression study as a resource for learning new licks and honing their skills.  Other readers visiting this site may be new to jazz [...]

Ain’t Misbehavin’ is an important tune by Fats Waller.  This is probably the tune people think of first when you think of the harmonic motion in the three bars: IMaj7  #idim7  |    ii-7   #iidim7    |    iii-7 This is an important progression, and this tune embodies that progression. Fats Waller did the tune in Eb, so that’s the key we are going to use in the chart/jam track.  Lots of vocalists sing this song in various keys, of course. Ain’t Misbehavin’-C Instruments (.pdf) Ain’t Misbehavin’-Bb Instruments (.pdf) Ain’t Misbehavin’-Eb Instruments (.pdf) Ain’t Misbehavin’ Play Along Fats Waller [...]

This is likely my favorite jazz standard of all time. It’s got a great melody, and I love blowing over the changes! It was written for the musical comedy “And the Angels Sing” by lyricist Johnny Burke and composer Jimmy Van Heusen. Released as a song by Jo Stafford, the tune also reached #10 on the Billboard chart one week in 1944. I used the Miles Davis changes (although they play slight variations throughout, as is commonly true for any jazz recording) in the .pdf chart and the play along. It Could Happen to You changes It Could Happen to [...]

In my teaching, I sometimes feel the need to make a chord chart for a particular song to help guitarists comp through a tune. This isn’t intended to be what Joe Pass would do, but it’s a few jazz voicings to get you started comping over St. Thomas. Elizabeth, this is for you (and I’m sure others will benefit also). Click on the link below to learn the voicings. St. Thomas Chords

Soloing over a minor iim7b5-V7-i progression is often played with either melodic minor harmony or harmonic minor harmony. Some musicians prefer the melodic minor sound, while others prefer using the harmonic minor sound. I will demonstrate both sounds over this next two-post series. Jazz melodic minor soloing is a very hip sound.  Over a minor ii-V-i, the melodic minor sound is used thus: Over the iim7(b5) chord, use a melodic minor scale up a minor third from the root.  Ex.  Em7(b5)=G melodic minor Over the V7 chord, use a melodic minor scale up a half-step from the root.  Ex.  A7=Bb [...]