The blues has always played a central role in jazz music from the very beginning and is without a doubt one of the most important forms in jazz.
It’s important for every jazz musician to know a good handful of blues heads, and even variations on the typical 12 bar form.
The blues has so much to teach us about jazz harmony. In fact, I often suggest to jazz beginners to learn a blues first.
Spend a lot of time on the blues and you are guaranteed to have an unfair advantage with all the rest of jazz improv!
The other great thing about the blues in a jazz context, is there are many variations of the chord progressions.
There is, of course, a basic I-IV-V blues, but jazz musicians add a variety of different substitutions and additions to the progression. You’ll find that different blues heads sometimes have different changes.
Here’s a video I did on 3 main blues forms you see come up often in jazz.
There are many different blues heads that have become popular among jazz musicians over the years, but this is a great list to help you get started!
I would consider each one of these to be essential to have in your repertoire.
Of course, these are great tunes, but if you really want to start mastering a jazz blues it’s going to require so much more.
Be sure to sign up for my free masterclass “Boost Your Jazz Blues” and I’ll help you take your improv abilities over these tunes to the next level.
28 Jazz Blues Tunes You Need to Know:
- All Blues– blues in 3/4 by Miles Davis
- Au Privave– bebop blues head by Charlie Parker
- Bag’s Groove– easy blues head in concert F
- Billie’s Bounce– bebop blues head by Charlie Parker
- Birk’s Works– easy minor blues head
- Blue Monk– classic Thelonious Monk blues
- Blues for Alice– a “bird blues” using alternate changes
- Blues In The Closet– easy blues head
- C-Jam Blues– easiest blues head of all time. Literally only two notes!
- Cheryl– awesome blues head by Charlie Parker in concert C
- Chi Chi– another great “bird blues” head
- Cool Blues– Simple blues head by Charlie Parker
- Equinox– John Coltrane minor blues head
- Footprints– a variation of a minor blues
- Freddie Freeloader– classic blues head with a variation on the last chord
- Freight Trane– awesome “bird blues” from the Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane album
- Mr. P.C– entry level John Coltrane minor blues
- Now’s The Time– Charlie Parker blues head with an iconic solo
- Relaxin’ At Camarillo– classic Charlie Parker blues head
- Route 66– singer blues tune
- Sandu– Clifford Brown blues head in concert Eb
- Sonnymoon For Two– classic Sonny Rollins blues head
- Straight No Chaser– simple Thelonious Monk blues head
- Take The Coltrane– blues by Duke Ellington for John Coltrane
- Tenor Madness– Sonny Rollins blues head and his only recording with Coltrane
- Things Ain’t What They Used To Be– entry level blues head
- Watermelon Man– Herbie Hancock variation on a blues
- West Coast Blues– Wes Montgomery blues head in 3/4
All of these blues heads are excellent to learn. I would suggest picking 3 you don’t know and learning them.
In my free jazz blues masterclass I talk about using blues heads as a tool for learning jazz blues language.
Something simple you can do to start taking great jazz blues solos right away is to take themes from blues heads and apply them over different parts of the form.
I talk about this in more detail in this video.
Of course, sign up for my free masterclass, because learning blues heads and applying them to your improv is only a small piece of the puzzle.
Jazz blues is a great way to get emersed into the language of jazz and start developing your jazz skills.
Use this this list as a starting point and start applying the lessons you can learn from them.
Have any more jazz blues heads you’d like to add? Feel free to leave a comment below!
A great list, but no Isotope??? Isotope by Joe Henderson is the 12 bar jazz blues, that helped change the atomic structure of jazz blues!!!
Impressive! Thanks for sharing this.
Jazz is like a business! You need to clearly know where to risk hitting the wrong note, but where it is better to follow the learned path. If you want to improvise, it’s best to consult with a professional before you fail and are afraid to pick up the saxophone. https://euristiq.com/top-it-outsourcing-company-in-ukraine-2020/
Hi Brent, I am trying to order the Jazz Blues program but have not had a reply via email. There is nothing in my promotions or trash or spam. Are you abe to help with this?
Allan [email protected]
Hi Brent, great suggestions! Are there any there you would recommend for solo jazz guitar by the way? Thanks so much, Nick
I’ll certainly check out some of your suggestions. But how about Turnaround (Ornette Coleman) and Nothing Personal (Don Grolnick) ?
Yeah, Mike! There are plenty of great blues heads out there.
Great post! Here are four more blues heads, a bit more off the beaten path:
Blues for Philly Joe – Sonny Rollins
Bird's Mother – Jackie Byard
Raise Four – Thelonius Monk
Blues for Wood – Woody Shaw
Best wishes,
George
Blues for Wood – Stellar track. This track features my fave rave alto sax solo by the great Gary Bartz. Although Woody’s trumpet solo’s very strong, Gary’s sax solo is off the scale good…
Another thing that’s really good about Blues for Wood, is that it doesn’t follow the normal chord progression for a minor blues – Instead of going i – iV like a normal minor blues, the minor chord on the fourth has been substituted by the flat 6 chord (D7), a bit like Cantaloupe Island. Very cool sound…