Favorite Standards

(14 posts)

  1. Colonel Trane
    Member

    I'm looking to expand my current repitoire so I'm wondering what standards everyone digs playing/plays a lot with others/learned something from.

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  2. Sandemose
    Member

    "Never will I mary" (I certainly hope NOT!) is a beutiful tune that I dont hear often played. I love it though :)

    Best, Sandemose

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  3. Anonymous

    My Ideal, Stella by Starlight, Prelude to a Kiss, Conception, Celia, Turn out the stars, Darn that dream

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  4. Alvin
    Member

    I really like "Here's that rainy day"

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  5. jazzbum
    Member

    "Soul Eyes" by Mal Waldron! Plus:

    I really like - "I Cover the Waterfront"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIIZ3hQEsqs

    There is also a really great version on the Lester Young trio album with Nat Cole and Buddy Rich.

    Another one that is really rarely played is "You're the Top" by Cole Porter. I got turned on to this by Anthony Wilson, he recorded it on Savivity his second Organ trio Record. On the first one, Our Gang he does a killer version of "Luck Be A Lady."

    "Little White Lies" is a great Standard Kurt played on East Coast Love Affair.

    There are so many great standards that are ripe for interpretation. "Who Can I Turn To." I first heard this on a Live Recording of the Bill Evans Trio with Eddie Gomez and Paul Motian. Here is a similar recording (though I think the album version is bit more swinging):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHRvkpsQCA0

    Lastly, A standard I was surprised to really enjoy is "When You Wish Upon a Star." I inherited my Grandmother's sheet music collection and have subsequently learned some interesting things about chord changes in these standards. According to the Sheet I have the bridge to this tune has an interesting F minor (or Abmaj7) to Cmaj transition, very beautiful, makes a great intro.

    The last thing I will say about standards is: Don't trust the real book to give you the original chord changes. Listen to early vocal recordings to get a feel for the real chord changes. Especially in the New Real Books it's as if they have subbed in all of these Bill Evans chord changes. Either that, or wherever you see a V chord they insert it's ii chord as if it is just assumed. Find minimalist versions, so you can make those choices for yourself. I think it's also important to get the original intent of the composer to really plumb these tunes for emotion. Learn the lyrics.

    Sorry for the long post, I just really had a long year of learning standards and I realized how often people cover them without emotion. How often do you cry when you hear a standard? It can be done.

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  6. Anonymous

    i've been playing around with "sweetheart of all my dreams". fun tune.

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  7. animitta
    Member

    jazzbum: Soul Eyes it's great : )

    I will also suggest: Falling Grace - an amazing Steve Swallow's tune with a marvellous melody.

    All the Best
    Animitta

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  8. jazzbum
    Member

    I totally forgot about Falling Grace, what an amazing tune! Steve Swallow is one of my heroes for sure. He has a bunch of his leadsheets posted on his website.

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  9. Anonymous

    "Little White Lies" to me seems like a nod to Sonny Rollins (St. Thomas). I like that tune, the whole album is great. Someone mentioned "Who Can I Turn To" -- Peter Bernstein, another great guitar player, does a wonderful version of it on his CD, "Earth Tones" with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart.

    I love so many standards; pretty much anything Keith Jarrett chooses for his trio. :-) Getting into "All Or Nothing At All" -- great KR version of that, actually as well as many others. "Nobody Else But Me" isn't played a lot, great standard - check out versions by Brad Mehldau and Peter B.

    Wayne Shorter tunes -- Yes or No, Infant Eyes, Miyako -- also played a little less, fantastic. Monk -- Ruby, My Dear, Pannonica. I like Freddie Hubbards compositions, e.g. Up Jumped Spring, Little Sunflower. Horace Silver - Peace. "Beatrice" by Sam Rivers, what a tune.

    So many good tunes - I Hear a Rhapsody, Like Someone in Love, My Foolish Heart, It Could Happen to You.

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  10. nateroberts
    Member

    Crystal Silence & What Was (Great Chick Corea tunes)
    Very Early (or pretty much any Bill Evans waltz, there are so many - Alice in Wonderland, Waltz for Debbie, the list goes on)
    Skylark
    Round Midnight
    Dolphin Dance
    Minority
    Scrapple from the Apple & Dewey Square (favorite bebop heads)
    Recorda-Me (if you want to throw in some straight eighths)
    Unity Village (can Metheny tunes be considered standards)
    Nardis

    . . . and a hundred more but those ones come to mind off the top of my head.

    - nate
    http://www.naterobertsmusic

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  11. jbroad
    Member

    boo boo's birthday- monk
    darn that dream
    round midnight
    alone together
    windows
    the oracle- dave holland (not a standard but a great tune)
    beautiful love
    i can't get started
    deluge- wayne shorter
    eiderdown- steve swallow
    nardis
    i'll close my eyes
    pinocchio- wayne again

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  12. Anonymous

    Falling Grace

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  13. silverwater
    Member

    Right now, I'm into:

    Beatrice
    Inner urge
    Monk's Dream
    Nardis
    Confirmation
    Dewey Square (first heard it on Kurt's standards album, people don't seem to have heard it when I call it??)
    Darn that Dream
    How Insensitive
    Solar
    Falling Grace
    El Gaucho (I suck at this one)
    Fee Fi Fo Fum
    Ju-Ju

    etc etc

    • Posted 2 years ago
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  14. hitdoggie
    Member

    sorry guys wrong thread

    I like the tune "pee wee"

    • Posted 2 years ago
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