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As a hobby Jazz Guitar player, my philosophy is that it's better to know 10 songs very well, than a 100 songs not very well.
Last edited by GuyBoden; 04-12-2025 at 12:55 PM.
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04-12-2025 11:11 AM
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I'll put my money where my big, over opinionated mouth is -
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This doesn't sound too bad but when we got to Unit Seven and Green Dolphin Street, the wheels had fully come off!
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I only listened to St Thomas and thought it sounded great!
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Some years back, I did a few gigs with the highly regarded Bay Area guitarist Mimi Fox. It seemed to me that Mimi did not have the large repertoire of tunes that cats I have played with like Bruce Forman and Howard Alden do (of course, compared to those cats, who does?). But the tunes that Mimi knows, she has mastered to an extent that is truly impressive.
Originally Posted by GuyBoden
As a hobby Jazz Guitar player, my philosophy is that it's better to know 10 songs very well, than a 100 songs not very well.
As a working pro jazz guitarist, I often got gigs as a sideman where I was expected to know a lot of standards, so there are many tunes that I know, but just barely. I have done hundreds of solo gigs and on those gigs, I had the opportunity (and necessity) to learn many tunes very well. Perhaps not at the Joe Pass/Mimi Fox level, but well enough to be comfortable playing those tunes in any context and in many cases in any key.
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Mimi is a killer. Really great guitarist. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
interesting how different folks operate.
Yotam Silberstein claims to know 700-800 tunes. So many that he’s not sure exactly. A buddy of mine studied for a long time with Peter Bernstein and said he probably knows upwards of 1200.
Cecil Alexander says “I know whatever I need for my next few gigs.” Which I think is self deprecating, but still.
Just interesting how objectively exceptional musicians approach it differently.
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None of this jazz guitar thing is one size fits all. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
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I took a solo guitar class from Mimi a few years ago.
She's a great, great player.
I was especially impressed with her super snappy time feel. She attributed it, in part, to the fact that her first instrument was drumset.
I was also impressed with her extensive repertoire of ideas for varying the heads of tunes for solo guitar.
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Recent set list included Brazilian tunes which aren't so well known, at least around here.
Caminho De Casa
Bala Com Bala
Dindi
Muito A Vontade
Estamos Ai
E Preciso Perdoar (I just put a version in the Showcase subforum).
In an effort to play something an audience might recognize, we added some vocals on American tunes.
Another You
Ain't Misbehaving
Everything Happens to Me
Just One of Those Things
Just The Two Of Us (Ok, it's not jazz)
and I'm planning on including As Time Goes By on the next gig.
And, we're playing them American style, not putting them to Brazilian grooves.
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Trio gig last night with some tunes I haven’t called in a while (and some I have)
1.
No. 1 Green St
It Could Happen
So Danco Samba
If I Loved You
Rhythm a Ning
2.
Blues Five Spot
Beautiful Love
If I Loved You
Stella By Starlight
Solar
Steeplechase
3.
Beatrice
Think of One
I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face
Yardbird Suite
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Are these hour sets? We’re going to start doing Yardbird Suite. Did you get any recordings of the gig?
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Also, Saturdays set. Trumpet player sang 4, 11, 17.
At this point the set is there so we don’t have to decide on stage what to play. We go off list almost every gig.
4 Spry 08.16
1 - So What (D-)
2 - Moonglow (G)
3 - Caravan (F-)
4 - All Of Me (C) Vocal
5 - Blue Moon (Eb)
6 - Afro Blue (solo minor blues) (F-)
7 - Blue Trane (E-)
8 - Topsy (D-)
9 - Sugar (C-)
10 - Well You Needn't (Miles Davis Bridge) (F)
11 - Autumn Leaves (G-) vocal
12 - Let's Fall In Love (C)
13 - Summertime (Allan) (A-)
14 - All The Things You Are (Ab)
15 - Recordame (A-)
16 - Oleo (Bb)
17 - Take The A Train (C) Vocal
18 - Perdido (Bb)
19 - Billie's Bounce (F)
20 - In A Mellow Tone (In A Mellotone) (Ab)
21 - Killer Joe (C)
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three 50 min sets maybe? First two were a bit longer than the last. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
Three hour gig with two breaks.
I did not get any recordings of the gig. I'm terrible about pulling my phone out. It's partly intentional -- I don't like thinking about that instead of thinking about what I should be thinking about. But also I need to do that.
It was a really good night though. Second hit with the same drum and bass and was really loose in all the good ways.
Also add Happy Birthday for an eight year old to the beginning of the second set.
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I use one of these to record. Does a good job. I’m eventually going to post Saturdays version of ATTYA to James’s thread. Once I get to it.
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I like my Access-to-this-Page-is-Denied recorder too. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
Are you using the built in microphones or added external ones?
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Built in, I don’t see a reason to upgrade. It’s got higher fidelity than most of the music I listen to.
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Great set list, many of my favorite tunes therein! I especially love playing Sugar, Well You Needn't (and also use the Miles Davis bridge), Killer Joe. Sounds like a very enjoyable gig. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Very nice, and leading off with No. 1 Green Street! Beautiful Love and Stella are fun to play and are oft-heard around here. Beatrice is one of my favorite tunes, never tire of it. Bravo! Originally Posted by pamosmusic
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Nice set, must be very enjoyable to play. Around here, we refer to tunes like "Just the Two of Us" as "crossover standards," treading the territory between pop and jazz ("Feel Like Making Love," Stevie Wonder tunes, etc). I love Dindi, and although it's usually done as a ballady vocal tune, I found that it works nicely as an instrumental medium tempo bossa. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
Last edited by JazzPadd; 08-20-2025 at 08:53 PM.
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Another great crossover standard, on my list of songs to learn. Originally Posted by JazzPadd
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You all got some interesting set lists, your audiences are lucky to have you at the helm!
I haven't gigged regularly in decades, but your set lists remind me of those experiences.
Nowadays I just do a couple of one off solo sets and as many combo sets annually, mostly just for fun. There's a solo guitar set in September and a street jazz festival gig in October.
Here's the set list for the September solo set, and with some of my thoughts on the tunes:
1) Tired of Waiting for You. I worked this one up over the past few years into a 10 minute piece, exploring the melody and harmony in a various ways, and using a looper for ad-lib.
2) Beatles Suite. It started as a two tune medley a couple of years ago. Every time I do it, I add another tune. Last March, at a community center event in a medium size auditorium, I played four tunes in the suite for an audience of 120. For the upcoming gig, as part of an event at a local live house, I now have five tunes. Here's the current performance order:
Yesterday
Free as a Bird
Blackbird
Lucy in the Sky
In My Life
It'll likely run about 15-20 minutes. I'm partly inspired by how Bill Frisell arranges pop tunes, strong focus on the melody, hinting at the harmony, playing in various ways and different registers. But the most interesting part of this for me is coming up with ways of linking the tunes into a continuous, cohesive whole. I sometimes use a short transitional section with elements of the surrounding tunes. No ad-lib or looper used for these. The new addition to the suite this time is Yesterday, transposed to G for access to open strings and harmonics.
Free as a Bird by the reconstituted Fab Four is not my favorite Beatles tune, but I use the John Lennon demo, which appears to have been incomplete, as my guide. I also use the Adrian Belew cover of that demo, which he did on a synth guitar with vocals around the same time that the Beatles were working on their full arrangement of the song. A friend suggested I do something similar with Now and Then, but that seemed too incomplete.
3) Killer Joe. This is always a fun tune to play in a combo setting, one of my favorites, and I've decided to include it for the first time in the solo set. I'm still working out the details of an arrangement, including some ambient structured meandering and an ad-lib section with a looper. I've been experimenting with using a POG2 for that. The other day, messing with a variation of the C7 - Bb7 vamp, I was stretching out with the POG2, and when I stopped the Mrs. was clapping. She knows virtually thing none about music, but said it sounded great. I wasn't sure myself, but maybe there's some wisdom to heeding views of casual listeners!
For the October street jazz festival gig, I usually perform as part of a sextet, doing a 45 minute set. This is a city wide live jazz event, in which cafes, restaurants and shops also take part. The organizers set up about a dozen or so stages throughout the city center, and on each stage there's a rotation of perhaps 3-4 acts throughout the weekend. I've done this for the past several years, joining a bassist and drummer that I play with regularly at jam sessions, and there is usually also a pianist, vocalist and a horn player. The performers and 2025 set list will be worked out in September at our monthly jam session, which will also be something like a rehearsal. In the past, each member brings one tune to the set list, which provides enough for a set. Previously, I brought Sugar and You and the Night and the Music to the mix. Last year the trumpeter contributed Strollin'. There's usually a different vocalist each year, and they have done standards like Tea for Two. This year, a vocalist is floating the idea of doing Caravan. I'm thinking of an old style swing number, something like Makin' Whoopee or If I Had You, done as an instrumental. They'd be great with a clarinetist, but this is still a work in progress so the set list and personnel have not been finalized for the gig. I enjoy this event, and before or after the set that I play in, I walk around to the other stages, many of which include people I know from jam sessions. It's got a community vibe.
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I love this! Never heard that record before. Definitely gonna check out the whole thing. Thank you for posting it! Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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Yeah, there are quite a number of pop and r&r songs with enough melodic meat to lend themselves to chord-melody guitar. I'm not much of a guitarist compared to a lot of the people on this site, but a few of the ones I try to play chord-melody style include:
alfie (bacharach)
all about you (stones)
and i love her (beatles)
celluloid heroes (kinks)
fly me to the moon
for no one (beatles)
god only knows (beach boys)
because/golden slumbers/you never give me your money (beatles)
good vibrations (beach boys)
here there and everywhere (beatles)
i can't make you love me (bonnie raitt)
if i fell (beatles)
i'm only sleeping (beatles)
your song (elton john)
jamaica farewell (belafonte)
little wing (jimi hendrix)
mcarthur park
michelle (beatles)
my favorite things
over the rainbow
old friends (paul simon)
sad-eyed lady of the lowlands (dylan)
scarlet ribbons
she's leaving home (beatles)
strawberry fields forever (beatles)
the first time ever i saw your face
the girl from ipanema
the look of love
walk away renee
wear your love like heaven (donovan)
what the world needs now is love (bacharach)
while my guitar gently weeps (harrison)
yes it is (beatles)
young girl blues (donovan)
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Here's the set list from last weekend's gig at a regional street jazz festival here in Japan:
Killer Joe
If I Had You
Dear Old Stockholm
Well You Needn't
More Than You Know (vo)
New York State of Mind (vo)
Caravan (vo)
It was a 45mn set, one of about 60 sets performed by various groups throughout the day on 9 outdoor stages throughout the city center. Held annually, it was one of many street jazz festivals throughout the country. This weekend, a nearby city is having its street jazz festival. These are regional affairs that attract all manner of players in a variety of genres.
The group I played in was a trio (guitar, upright bass, drums), joined by a vocalist on three tunes with a tenor sax player joining on a couple of tunes. The leader is a bassist I know through local jam sessions and we've been practicing together for the past few months.
There were several other possible numbers for the set list, including Armando's Rhumba, but I wasn't able to get that up to tempo in time. The vocalist had other tunes in mind, but settled on the three listed above for the short gig. In addition to those listed, we also had Straight No Chaser in reserve, in case there was some extra time to fill, but there wasn't.
My favorite tune is If I Had You, and my take on it was inspired by Duke Robillard, while for Caravan I took a minimalist approach based on how Gabor Szabo might play it. I also like playing Killer Joe and Well You Needn't on which we were joined by the tenor player. It was a bit of a challenge being the only comping instrument, somehow both liberating and oddly constricting. That's just me, of course, I know others shine in such a format.
I used a 1970s Gibson Johnny Smith through a Henriksen Blu Six, miked into a PA.
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You just described why I like the role so much. Fun set, I started adding Well You Needn't back into my sets.It was a bit of a challenge being the only comping instrument, somehow both liberating and oddly constricting
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Thanks, and same here, I do like the role despite the seeming contradiction. And Well You Needn’t is definitely a blast to play in a trio! Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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