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 of a legendary session Grant Green recorded in 1964, though it wasn’t released until 1979 on the Japanese Blue Note label. It’s one of those albums that flew under the radar for a long time but holds some of Green’s strongest playing. The lineup on the record is great as

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