50 Jazz Standards - The Songs You Need To Know

Jazz Standards are the songs you need to know to learn to play Jazz. I always say "Learn Jazz - Make Music" in my videos and the Jazz Standards are the songs that play when you make that music.

This video is a list of 50 Standards that are really useful to have in your repertoire, songs to check out when you learn jazz standards. I have split them up in some different categories because that is practical for when you are playing. You don't want to play 5 medium swing songs in F major next to each other in a set, you might find yourself playing the wrong theme at the end (true story!) Having variation in a set is very useful.

Exercises for learning Standards:

5 Ingredients Of The Best Jazz Phrases

You can get a PDF on my website:

Content:
0:00 Intro
0:57 Easy Standards
2:03 Intermediate Standards
2:23 Don't be like AC/DC!
2:37 And it goes for Jazz as well...
3:23 Difficult Standards
3:47 Ballads
4:05 Don't be like Dutch Audiences
4:18 Samba & Bossanova
4:45 Jazz Latin (and a little modal)
5:14 Blues
5:45 Waltzes
6:27 Jazz Standards in a minor key
6:56 Bebop Themes
7:27 Is your favourite missing?
7:42 My favourites (that I couldn't put on the list)
9:08 Like the video? Check out my Patreon page!

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My name is Jens Larsen, Danish Jazz Guitarist, and Educator. The videos on this channel will help you explore and enjoy Jazz. Some of it is how to play jazz guitar, but other videos are more on Music Theory like Jazz Chords or advice on how to practice and learn Jazz, on guitar or any other instrument.

The videos are mostly jazz guitar lessons, but also music theory, analysis of songs and videos on jazz guitars.

Edited by Luciano Poli

My Gear:

[JensLarsen]

7 Easy Jazz Standards In Minor You Need To Know : @

Minor songs are a great place to learn several things that you need in Major as well, so it is a great idea to really dig into studying some minor songs.

[jz]

Thank you Jens!

Easy
* Autumn Leaves (Gm)
* Pent Up House (G)
* Blue Bossa (Cm)
* Lady Bird (C)
* Take the A Train (C)
* Perdido (Bb)
* Satin Doll (C)
* Cantaloupe Island (Fm)
* Summertime (Dm)
* All of Me (C)

Intermediate
* There Will Never Be Another You (Eb)
* There Is No Greater Love (Bb)
* It Could Happen To You (Eb)
* Have You Met Miss Jones (F)
* All The Things You Are (Ab)
* How High The Moon (G)
* Just Friends (F)
* Out Of Nowhere (G)

Difficult
* Stella By Starlight (Bb)
* Cherokee (Bb)
* Giant Steps (Eb)

Ballads
* Polka Dots and Moonbeams (F)
* Body And Soul (Db)
* In A Sentimental Mood (F)

Samba and Bossanova
* Girl From Ipanema (F)
* One Note Samba (Bb)
* Corcovado (C)
* Triste (Bb)
* So Danco Samba (C)

Jazz Latin
* I'll Remember April (G)
* Recorda Me (Am)
* Green Dolphin Street (Eb)
* Night And Day (C)
* Love For Sale (Bbm)

Blues
* Billie's Bounce (F)
* Au Privave (F)
* Turnaround (C)
* Tenor Madness (Bb)
* Straight No Chaser (F)
* Mr PC (Cm)

Waltz
* Bluesette (Bb)
* Someday My Prince Will Come (Bb)
* Footprints (Cm)

Standards in Minor Key
* Softly As In A Morning Sunrise (Cm)
* Yesterdays (Dm)
* Alone Together (Dm)
* Solar (Cm)

Bebop
* Scrapple From The Apple (F)
* Anthropology (Bb)
* Oleo (Bb)

Jen's Favourites (Uncommon)
* I'll Be Seeing You
* Very Early
* I Heard You Cried Last Night
* Milestones
* Ugly Beauty

[NickC]

“The reason why I can be considered an expert in some of these things is that I’ve made pretty much all the mistakes” That literally sums up the learning journey!

[JHS]

Your teaching and direction to learn Jazz standards is the best on the internet. For instance, within the first two minutes you provide a list of ten Jazz standards in their original key. To play in the original key is sacred for professional Jazz Musicians. Thank you for your help.

[reneperrin]

Every time I want to learn a new tune, I come back to your list. It has great suggestions. The one I find missing... Caravan. Other than that... Very much a list of must have. Another 100 years of practice and I'll have most of them under my fingers. Thanks for the great suggestions, Jens.

[sannaxjcjf]

Stella by Starlight was the very first jazz standard I learned thanks to my maestro, and it made me love jazz. Stella will always be my favorite

[arielle]

Wonderful advice! I really needed to hear about standards to learn as a beginner. Thank you! And I especially appreciated about learning pieces in different keys. I still love AC/DC even though they are frequently criticized for playing everything in one chord. (Last year when I decided to seriously start learning music again — raised around it and learned some in childhood — I narrowed down my music interests to two possibilities, heavy metal or jazz. Jazz won. ) You have quite a few of my fav’s on your list. Autumn Leaves has been one of my very favorites since I was a teen. So I am thrilled that it will be one of the firsts I will learn.

[RCSmiths]

Definitely an important lesson I'd say. Knowing the most fundamental songs of the genre is pivotal to understanding it

[Scott_works]

There are so many standards. This is a good list. Thanks.

[Lcschleich]

Crazy, I was just doing some looking yesterday on which standards I should start with. It was overwhelming, but it looks like you were one step ahead. Thank you!

[JensLarsen]

What songs would you like on the list?
Content:
0:00 Intro
0:57 Easy Standards
2:03 Intermediate Standards
2:23 Don't be like AC/DC!
2:37 And it goes for Jazz as well...
3:23 Difficult Standards
3:47 Ballads
4:05 Don't be like Dutch Audiences
4:18 Samba & Bossanova
4:45 Jazz Latin (and a little modal)
5:14 Blues
5:45 Waltzes
6:27 Jazz Standards in a minor key
6:56 Bebop Themes
7:27 Is your favorite missing?
7:42 My favorites (that I couldn't put on the list)
9:08 Like the video? Check out my Patreon page!

[kbkesq]

Such a great list. I used to play in NYC and this is a great approach and list. Also good to divide by tempo. All too often people play way to many medium up tunes. Another tip learn how to play very slow blues! This is entirely skipped by today’s players and you can’t fake it. Don’t play a slow head and then just go to double time 😂. If you want to hear how masters play slow blues check out Sonny stitt After Hours on the Dizzy Gillespie album with Sonny Rollins. Wes Montgomery has more than a few slow blues recordings. It’s one of the hardest things to learn to do right and best learned playing with veterans who’ve mastered the blues idiom.

[tunahanbulutu]

Tears, Nuages, Estate, Desafinado, My Foolish Heart, Autumn Leaves, Cantaloupe Island, Little Person (Michael Wollny version) on my list. Now i'm working on "Stolen Moments".

[dendijohn]

Good advice. I liked it when you mentioned that it's best to have a definitive recording of these to call to mind. Hear the great versions in your head, and then bust out away from them, which can be unbelievably hard to do LOL. So many times I saw YouTube artists that have a whole new approach to something and they are so beautiful to hear.

[MrJazzohjazz]

Wonderful video. Thank you. I always like Willow Weep for me and That’s All.

[landervast]

I play alot of those, but also enjoy playin' "I thought about you", "invitation", "Alice in wonderland", "How deep is the ocean", "A Foggy day", etc...

[PIANOSTYLE]

Jens..I am a woodworker..All self taught. I built many thing in my youth..They all were bad. So I didn't do any more woodworking until 50??.But like you..somewhat.(.I don't consider myself an expert)
Just bought the.kreg310 jig. It actually worked. Always learning.
I got good. Musically because I know what doesn't work and (years of music lessons). Even jazz piano and jazz guitar. Even today I learn what.my teachers where talking about..AC6 in a Amin7..At the time that didn't make sense.
Even though I played Bass guitar..I never knew what rootless voicing were. Along came You tube and I learned about altered scales etc..
I let my. Grandchildren sit beside me and play..they just hit the blackest.They carry already learning the altered scales. Real altered. The best.

[domukaz]

The YouTube convention of using a black-and-white shot of the speaker to indicate that they're speaking as a skeptical viewer always makes me laugh. Good video!

[vickiignaszak]

This video made me really want to get back into playing jazz. I was making decent progress when I was a teenager and studying with a teacher and playing with a band and combo but once I went off the college and wasn't studying music I guess I kinda fell out of practice. I still play guitar, but I really should get back into jazz. I still have a few of the melodies for standards memorized but I should really find my real book and review it all.

Sidenote, I love that 2 of 3 bebop standards you listed were just Charlie Parker songs. I mean, I get why, scrapple from the apple and anthropology were two of the first bebop tunes I learned, but it's interesting how his music has become the standard for introducing bebop.

[leonsangala]

min 1:26 - 1:36 <3 <3 <3 This is why i love Jens, he takes his Sharing-Is-Caring game to another level, dropping this kind of experTsonal gems*. Simple, humble and HARDWORKING dude ! . May his WILL always be blessed, cuz we LEARN - A - L.O.T. from this man.