Jazz Standards

Whisper Not, written by Benny Golson in 1956, is one of those tunes where the melody immediately feels good under your fingers. It’s logical, sits well on the guitar, and flows naturally, which makes it fun to play. Benny Golson played tenor saxophone and was a key composer during the hard bop era. He wrote

Moment’s Notice is a hard bop jazz standard composed by John Coltrane. It was recorded for the album Blue Train (1957) in Rudy Van Gelder’s studio in Hackensack. The song is played uptempo (225 BPM) and built on fast-moving ii-V-I progressions that cycle through multiple key centers. Blue Train was Coltrane’s only session as a

Four is a 1954 jazz standard first recorded and arranged by Miles Davis and released on his album Miles Davis Quartet. In this lesson, you’ll learn the melody of Four. Although the composition is officially credited to Miles Davis, saxophonist Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson claimed that he wrote the tune and that it was later purchased

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to play Four on Six, a jazz standard written by Wes Montgomery. The tune was first recorded in 1960 on Wes’s album The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, which also introduced another classic Wes composition, West Coast Blues. In this lesson, I’ll walk you through the iconic intro

Nardis is a jazz standard written by Miles Davis for Cannonball Adderley’s album Portrait of Cannonball, which also featured a young Bill Evans. Strangely enough, Miles never recorded it himself, but the song became a signature piece for Bill Evans, who played it regularly with his trio. There’s a bit of controversy about who actually

Arthur Hamilton composed Cry Me a River in 1953. The tune gained wide attention when Julie London recorded it two years later, with Barney Kessel on guitar. It has since become a jazz standard, recorded by Joe Pass, Diana Krall, and many others. In this lesson, you will learn a chord-melody version played over a

Blues Connotation (aka P.S. Unless One Has) is the opening track of Ornette Coleman’s fifth studio album This Is Our Music (1960). In this lesson, you will learn how to play the melody on guitar. It’s a fun tune to play and sits easily under the fingers, making it very approachable on guitar. Blues Connotation

Matador is the title track from a session Grant Green recorded in 1964, though it wasn’t released until 1979 on the Japanese Blue Note label. It was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s well-known Englewood Cliffs studio, and although the album went unnoticed for years, it features some of Green’s best playing. The album has a

Alone Together is one of the great minor-key jazz standards, written by Arthur Schwartz in 1932 for the Broadway show Flying Colors. Over the years, it has become a favorite for jazz musicians, with notable recordings by Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Jim Hall, and Pat Martino. The song was first recorded in 1932 by Leo

Duke Ellington wrote and recorded In a Sentimental Mood in 1935. Over the years, it has become one of the most recorded jazz ballads and a favorite among musicians for its rich harmony, lyrical melody, and flexible phrasing. In this lesson, you will learn to play the melody of In a Sentimental Mood and a

Groovin’ High was written by Dizzy Gillespie in 1945. It became his best-known composition and one of the first famous bebop recordings. In this lesson, you will learn how to play the melody of Groovin’ High combined with chord hits. Groovin’ High is a contrafact of Whispering, first recorded in 1920 by bandleader Paul Whiteman

Ronny Jordan’s acid-jazz cover of So What (Miles Davis) was the first single of the late English jazz guitarist. His version was released in 1992 on his debut album The Antidote, and became a worldwide hit. In this jazz guitar lesson, you will learn how to play Ronny Jordan’s version of So What. The lesson

Fly Me to the Moon was written by composer Bart Howard in 1954 and recorded by singer Kaye Ballard in the same year. The song was originally titled “In Other Words” until Peggy Lee, who made the song popular after her performance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1963, convinced Bart Howard to change it

White Christmas, written by Irving Berlin in 1940, is one of the most popular Christmas songs. The title track of the featured movie “Holiday Inn”, starring Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby, has become a standard tune for Christmas. In this lesson, you will learn how to play a chord melody arrangement of this great song.

All of Me was written in 1931 by Seymour Simons and Gerald Marks and later became a jazz standard. It’s especially popular with gypsy jazz players, but it works in any style. The harmony of All of Me moves slowly (most chords last two bars), which makes it a good tune for beginners. In this

Days of Wine and Roses was written by Henry Mancini in 1962 for the movie of the same name. The tune quickly became a jazz standard and a favorite among jazz guitarists, with memorable recordings by Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Bill Frisell, and many others. The most famous jazz guitar version is Wes Montgomery’s recording

(Meet) The Flintstones is the theme of the ’60s television series The Flintstones (from season 3 on) and is one of the most recognizable theme songs ever. It was composed by Hoyt Curtin in 1961 and recorded with a big band and the Randy Van Horne Singers. In this lesson, you will learn how to

Take the “A” Train, composed by Billy Strayhorn in 1939 and first recorded in 1941, became the signature song of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The title refers to the A subway line that had recently opened and ran from Brooklyn to Northern Manhattan, the center of the jazz world at that time. In this lesson,