Most Requested Jazz Songs

[gtrhead]

I lead a quintet (alto sax, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums) and am always looking for more tunes to add to the repertoire that we can get the most mileage out of. Let's face it, not every tune in the Real Book is going to get requested. Whether you love a certain tune or hate it, if it gets requested at a paid gig, you better know it.

So with that in mind, what jazz tunes in everyone's experiences either...

• get requested the most
• get the most applause
• get the biggest reaction of recognition from the audience

Here are some tunes I've always found to be winners among mixed audiences in my own experiences:

• The Girl from Ipanema (Jobim)
• Morning Dance (Spyro Gyra)
• Besamé Mucho (Velazquez)
• Autumn Leaves (Mercer)

[ksjazzguitar]

"Morning Dance"? Maybe it's a regional thing.

I think that people like songs that they recognize. I find luck with things like "Misty," "Witchcraft," "Satin Doll," "Over the Rainbow," "Summertime," etc. Anything they know the words to is a good bet.

Jazz Standards, Jazz History, Musicology, Biographies and Books is a site that lists jazz standards and ranks them by how often they've been recorded. It's an interesting list.

Peace,
Kevin

[gtrhead]

Thanks, Kevin. Yeah, I consider "Morning Dance" to be more of a pop tune, but it's worked well with mixed audiences, such as people who don't listen to much jazz, or people who are more familiar with more contemporary "fu-zac" type of jazz (i.e. Spyro Gyra, Chuck Mangione, Kenny G, etc.). Like you pointed out, it's a tune that folks recognize.

Anyway, I'll check out that list. Thanks for your input.

[GodinFan]

The large amount of stuff that no one ever calls is the reason I don't use the Real Book for our jam sessions.

We had a violinist sitting in last Sunday, and he called "Don't Get Around Much Anymore". Very positive crowd response to the tune and his playing.

[Tom Karol]

Here's a few I almost always run into:
Autumn Leaves
Days of Wine and Roses
Georgia on my Mind
Girl From Ipanema
Misty
One Note Samba
Over The Rainbow
Satin Doll
Summertime