> After this month, my exams will be over (thank god for that!) and I'd
> like to spend more time learning some more tunes.
> What would you say are the "top-ten" standards that every player *must*
> know?
I came across this question a year or two ago. I was trying to work
out what tunes/sequences I was most likely to come across at a jam
session, and really needed to have at my fingertips. Trouble is, if
you ask a dozen people, you'll get a dozen lists and every one will
be different. I extracted the lists from various books such as Mark
Levine's, Scott Reeves', the various Real Books, Jamie Aebersold and
other playalongs, to find out how frequently various tunes turned up.
I extracted the blues and rhythm changes heads, and got the computer
to sort them into groups. There were twenty which turned up in almost
all the lists, as follows. I've put a * against my own nominations
for the ones I would nominate as the top ten.
I'll be putting all the lists (including the next 24, blues and Rhythm
heads &c) up on a web page at www.seismo.demon.co.uk whenever I've got
the materials together (hopefully in a week or two).
Russ
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* All the things you are
* Autumn leaves
* Blue Bossa
Blue in green
Cherokee
Confirmation
Donna Lee (cf Indiana)
I'll remember April
Lady bird
* [On] Green Dolphin Street
* Ornithology (cf How high the moon)
Recorda me
* Satin doll
Scrapple from the Apple (cf Honeysuckle Rose)
* Stella by starlight
* Take the A train
* There will never be another you
Tune-up (cf Countdown)
* What is this thing called love? (cf Hot House)
Woody'n you