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On Green Dolphin Street

July 26, 2010 in Jazz Standards

This famous tune was made for a 1947 movie, “Green Dolphin Street,” and is known for switching back and forth between latin and swing feels, and for the pedal I underneath changing harmonies for the first 7 bars of the A section.  The form is basically ABAB, with the second B being different than the first B.  It’s a 32 bar song form, as is so common in the jazz idiom. It’s normally called in C or Eb, although I heard Benny Green call it in Bb to test out a young bass player at a jam session one time. [...]

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My Funny Valentine

July 24, 2010 in Jazz Standards

My Funny Valentine was written by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart (before there was Rogers and Hammerstein).  It’s from “Babes In Arms,”  a 1937 musical from which the standards “Where or When” and “The Lady is a Tramp” also originated.  The musical was made into a film starring Judy Garland and 19-year-old Mickey Rooney, in 1939, although they cut My Funny Valentine out of the movie.  What were they thinking? Judy Garland, who should have sung My Funny Valentine in the original film. This is one of the most common standards of all time, and it seems to transcend jazz. [...]

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Do Your Jazz Solos Meander? Guest Post by Rob Walker, with Mumbles by Clark Terry

July 1, 2010 in Learning Jazz

The dictionary defines meandering as moving aimlessly and idly without direction.  Does that sound like your jazz solos?  When teaching high school and even college aged students, the biggest criticism I have of their playing is what I call meandering.  If you surveyed all the jazz improvisation materials on the marketplace, you would probably be led to believe that chord scale knowledge or ii-V7 licks are the prime deficiencies in the developing jazz player.  I would disagree, observing that rambling and meandering are the most important problems to overcome. Many young players are first attracted to jazz by the sheer [...]

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There Is No Greater Love

June 24, 2010 in Jazz Standards

I love this tune! The Real Book has the third chord as an Ab7, though the majority of recordings I’ve found seem to prefer a D-7. I wouldn’t say the Ab7 is necessarily “wrong” though, as several some recordings use the Ab7. Learn to navigate both, and use your ears at jam sessions! There Is No Greater Love pdf There Is No Greater Love-C Instruments (.pdf) There Is No Greater Love-Bb Instruments (.pdf) There Is No Greater Love-Eb Instruments (.pdf) There Is No Greater Love-Roman Numeral changes Reputable Players Playing There Is No Greater Love Amazon.com Widgets It’s cool to [...]

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Solo Transcriptions

June 16, 2010 in Solo Transcriptions

I post new songs and articles 6 days a week, taking Sunday off. I’ll try to post one at least one transcription a week, done by myself or someone else. Please submit transcriptions! If you have a solo, share it with the community! Click here to submit a transcription Transcriptions done by www.Learnjazzstandards.com Miles Davis-So What Click here to practice So What (includes transcription) Charlie Parker-Blues for Alice Click Here for the Transcription Sonny Rollins-St. Thomas Click Here for the Transcription User Submissions Miles Davis-Freddie Freeloader-Submitted by Brent Vaartstra Miles Davis Freddie Freeloader Solo Click here to practice Freddie Freeloader

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44 Essential Jazz Recordings-Guest Post by Brent Jensen

June 10, 2010 in Jazz Recordings

Brent Jensen is the Director of Jazz Studies at the College of Southern Idaho.  He is also an amazing saxophonist and recording artist for Origin Records.  Here is his first of several upcoming guest posts by Prof. Jensen on our site. Brent has websites you can go check out! I’ve included the links right under his post. 44 ESSENTIAL JAZZ RECORDINGS By Brent Jensen ESSENTIAL JAZZ RECORDINGS (.pdf) The recordings listed here are taken from a comprehensive statistical survey of jazz critics, record stores and popular polls. Miles Davis Kind of Blue (Legacy 64935) John Coltrane Blue Train (Blue Note [...]

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So What-with Miles Davis Solo Transcription

June 9, 2010 in Jazz Standards

This jazz standard is the first tune on Miles Davis’ classic record, “Kind of Blue.”  It’s the top jazz album of all time as measured by sales.  It’s sold over 20 million copies, and still sells about 5,000 copies a week.  And it was recorded in 1959.  You should listen to it.  A lot.  It’s one of the most important jazz albums in existence, perhaps the most important.  It even made Rolling Stone’s list of top albums (at #12 all-time).  Rolling Stone can hardly be known for paying attention to jazz, and so it’s an amazing testament to Miles’ album [...]

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Freddie the Freeloader

June 8, 2010 in Jazz Standards

This is a great standard tune by Miles Davis from his “Kind of Blue” album, which is touted by many to be the top-selling jazz album of all time. Rolling Stone rates this classic album as the #12  all-time greatest album of all time of any genre. This album definitely transcends jazz. This is the only song from that album in which Wynton Kelly plays the piano. Miles uses Bill Evans for all the other tracks. This is a blues form that goes around twice (24 bars total). It uses a bVII chord in the last two bars the first [...]

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