The Greatest Jazz Standards or Charts

Many of us often wonder how big bands, combos, and soloists choose the charts they perform. For those of us who are musicians, it is common to practice with or even perform from fake books, copies of artists transcriptions, and standards books. The better jazz musicians go beyond this, committing many works to memory by learning the basic melodies and improvising within them.

For local big bands and combos, a band book of 200 charts is a considerable play book. Many groups work with less than 50 tunes in their entire repertoire. Out of curiosity, I have reviewed numerous fake books, standards books, and books of artists transcriptions to determine what are truly the most standard of the standards. These are the tunes almost every jazz musician would like to be familiar with, for everyday performances. The literally thousands of other jazz tunes, which will not appear here until they can be further analyzed, often provide the working musician with their most interesting musical challenges and pleasure in playing.

From a listeners standpoint, the following 150 charts comprise the essential core of standards they may frequently hear. These charts appeared in 10 or more standards, fake, and transcriptions books for musicians.

A Fine Romance
A Night In Tunisia
A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
Ain't Misbehavin'
Alice In Wonderland
All Blues
All Or Nothing At All
All The Things You Are
Alright, Okay, You Win
April In Paris
Autumn In New York
Autumn Leaves
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
Bewitched
Blue Skies
Body And Soul
But Beautiful
Bye Bye Blackbird
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
Caravan
Cheek To Cheek
Cherokee (Indian Love Song)
Come Rain Or Come Shine
Cry Me A River
Dancing On The Ceiling
Darn That Dream
Day By Day
Do Nothin' Till You 8 May, 2004Miss New Orleans
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)
Easy Living
Everything Happens To Me
Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
Falling In Love With Love
Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)
Georgia On My Mind
Girl Talk
God Bless' The Child
Good Morning Heartache
Harlem Nocturne
Have You Met Miss Jones?
Hello, Young Lovers
Here's That Rainy Day
Honeysuckle Rose
How Deep Is The Ocean (How High Is The Sky)
How High The Moon
I Can't Get Started With You
I Could Write A Book
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)
I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
I Hear Music
I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
I Remember You
If I Were A Bell
I'll Be Seeing You
I'll Remember April
I'm Beginning To See The Light
I'm Old Fashioned
Imagination
In A Sentimental Mood
In The Mood
In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
Indiana (Back Home Again In Indiana)
Isn't It Romantic?
It Could Happen To You
It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
It Might As Well Be Spring
It Never Entered My Mind
It's All Right With Me
It's Only A Paper Moon
I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
I've Got The World On A String
I've Got You Under My Skin
June In January
Just In Time
Just One More Chance
Lazy River
Let's Get Away From It All
Like Someone In Love
Little Girl Blue
Long Ago (And Far Away)
Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
Lush Life
Makin' Whoopee!
Manhattan
Midnight Sun
Misty
Mood Indigo
Moonglow
Moonlight In Vermont
My Favorite Things
My Funny Valentine
My Heart Stood Still
My Old Flame
My One And Only Love
My Romance
My Silent Love
Nature Boy
Old Devil Moon
On A Slow Boat To China
On The Sunny Side Of The Street
Out Of Nowhere
Polka Dots And Moonbeams
Prelude To A Kiss
Rockin' Chair
'Round Midnight
Route 66
Satin Doll
Skylark
Slightly Out Of Tune (Desafinado)
Small World
So What
Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
Solitude
Sophisticated Lady
Speak Low
Stardust
Stella By Starlight
Stompin' At The Savoy
Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All The Time)
Sweet And Lovely
Take The 'A' Train
Tangerine
Tenderly
That Old Black Magic
The Best Things In Life Are Free
The Blue Room
The Girl From Ipanema (Garota De Ipanema)
The Glory Of Love
The Lady Is A Tramp
The Nearness Of You
The Surrey With The Fringe On Top
The Touch Of Your Lips
The Very Thought Of You
The Way You Look Tonight
There Will Never Be Another You
There's A Small Hotel
This Can't Be Love
What's New?
When I Fall In Love
When Sunny Gets Blue
Where Or When
Willow Weep For Me
Yesterdays
You Are Too Beautiful
You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me
You Took Advantage Of Me
You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To