Jazz Guitarists playing Pop songs

**wintermoon** · 07-22-2022, 01:14 AM

On our weekly Fri gig we play a number of 60s through 80s pop tunes like More Today Than Yesterday, This Guy's In Love, Never Can Say Goodbye etc. It's a mostly younger crowd that likes to dance so we don't play too much hardcore jazz, but mix it up w pop and soul tunes to keep people interested. After all these years I've gotten pretty good at reading a crowd so if I sense there might be a little lull I'll call something familiar and energetic. A lot of those tunes are fun to solo on too.

**Marinero** · 07-22-2022, 08:36 AM

Hi, J,
You ask an interesting question and I would guess you're a younger person. I was fortunate to grow up in a time when every corner tavern in Chi had live music on the weekends: R@R, Jazz, R@B. And, the majority of songs were "pop songs" since if you tried to play originals . . . you'd probably lose your audience and your job. People went out on the weekends to forget about their dull work weeks and wanted to have fun, drink, and dance. And, the good working bands brought top dollar for the musicians. Today, in most areas, the only clubs that book live music feature Rock and Roll Bands since . . . you can have fun, drink, and dance. Although, unquestionably, one of the most creative periods in Jazz was the Bop Revolution, it also served to destroy the mainstream popularity of Jazz where it morphed from recognizable songs to an esoteric Art form. Here's Wes:
Marinero

**Blackguard53** · 07-23-2022, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by jazzkritter

Sure…
check out our forum member Jake Reichbart. He has an incredible number of educational videos of all sorts of pop songs, as well as the old war horse standards and ‘proper jazz’. Decent guy, plays beautifully.
DVDs/downloadable guitar lessons

Search on him here, he frequently posts new songs he’s worked up. And he often runs sales on his videos.
Anyone who gigs with blue tape covering the absent bridge pup on a down line Ibanez to me is a monster.

good luck!

jk

Jake is a beast, him and Time Lerch are great working jazz guitar guys that have tons of great YT content and insight along with being highly accomplished jazzers.

**2bornot2bop** · 07-23-2022, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by sgosnell

Jazz standards were pretty much all pop tunes before they became jazz sandards. The Great American Songbook was the pop music of the time. Pop music has been incorporated into the jazz vocabulary since before there was "jass", and continues today. Examples are all over the place.

Which makes the outrage against Wes recording pop tunes total nonsense, doesn’t it?