Personal Favourite Standards that Few Have Heard Of

[jamiehenderson1993]

...

[mr. beaumont]

I feel like "Only Trust Your Heart" and "I Should Care" should get played more often. I love those tunes.

[joe2758]

I'll Never Smile Again

and as for the song...hmm...

[pcjazz]

Home (When shadows fall) — that’s my pick this week. Last week it would have been Emaline. Next week, who knows?

[joe2758]

I feel like "Only Trust Your Heart" and "I Should Care" should get played more often. I love those tunes.

I love I Should Care...I am surprised to hear it's not played much (it was in my small repertoire of maybe 20 tunes)

[Tal_175]

It's not an obscure tune but I don't think it gets played enough:

[pamosmusic]

I love I Should Care...I am surprised to hear it's not played much (it was in my small repertoire of maybe 20 tunes)

I feel like it’s niche. I love it and have been in settings where everyone knows it. I’ve been in others where no one knows it.

no in between

[gitman]

- Si tu vois ma mere (Lonely) - Sidney Bechet
- Tin tin deo - Dizzy
- When lights are low - Benny Carter

[Jimmy blue note]

An old chestnut with great changes is "A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square" and at one time it was on the radar. Now it's considered obscure, but I love it and play it solo.
Two great uptempo tunes are "Freight Trane" by Tommy Flanagan and Bud Powell by Chick Corea. Nice changes on all of these.

[wolflen]

The Long Good Bye..Johnny Mercer lyric John Williams music Movie sound track Jack Sheldon singing

[ScottM]

I love singing Let's Get Lost. The first time I did it, an older (than me) guy who was in attendance was pleasantly surprised. He made it sound like nobody EVER does that song. Not sure that's true, but I thinks its a good tune with good words.

[John A.]

- Two for the Road - Metheny does it, but I don’t think I’ve heard any other jazz versions. Peggy Lee’s version is great.
- Long Ago and Far Away
- All of You - used to be fairly common (e.g., Miles, KB), but people don’t seem to know it anymore.
- Delilah - ditto.

[John A.]

I love I Should Care...I am surprised to hear it's not played much (it was in my small repertoire of maybe 20 tunes)

I just did it on a gig with a pianist (her call). I’ve played it a couple of times before that at jams with singers, but never shedded until this gig. Great tune.

[grahambop]

Yes that’s a good tune, Jim Hall did some nice versions.

[lawson-stone]

I love Dizzy's "That's Earl, Brother" Joe Pass played it a lot, but almost nobody else even seems to have heard of it.

[AllanAllen]

I feel like "Only Trust Your Heart" and "I Should Care" should get played more often. I love those tunes.

Any time you want to sit in, we can play these tunes

[sully75]

Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most to me is as good as Lush Life or better. It shows up in strange places, Rickie Lee Jones, Stan Getz, Melissa Aldana.

[RLetson]

As nice as the tune/changes of "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" are, it's really a vocalist's song--and not an easy one. But the lyric is brilliant, and with the combination of the verse and the tricky melody, it comes across as an American lied.* Mark Steyn, of all people, has a nice essay on it and its lyricist, Fran Landesman.

Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most: Steyn's Song of the Week :: SteynOnline

I don't recall being familiar with "I Should Care," but it's part of the repertory of my current playing partner (a Benedictine monk), and I've come to really enjoy the changes. They make me want to work up a chord-melody version.

* When she heard the lines "College boys are writing sonnets / in the tender passion they're engrossed," my-wife-the-Shakespeare-professor's response was, "Yeah, sure."

[brent.h]

Chinatown, My Chinatown
I Must Have That Man
I'm Coming Virginia
It's A Sin To Tell A Lie
Poor Butterfly
Some Of These Days

[SierraTango]

- Two for the Road - Metheny does it, but I don’t think I’ve heard any other jazz versions. Peggy Lee’s version is great.
- Long Ago and Far Away
- All of You - used to be fairly common (e.g., Miles, KB), but people don’t seem to know it anymore.
- Delilah - ditto.

My guitar/trumpet duo opens the first set with Long Ago and Far Away up-tempo. It's a great Kern melody. Our second set has All of You, and I vocal it.
Funny how those lyrics were considered "racy" when the song came out (thank you Mr. Porter) and got the song banned in some places.
Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most is also in our book, we do it occasionally with no vocals (it's way out of my vocal skills) just to play those delicious changes and melody. I'll add some from our book:

Happy Little Sunbeam
Strollin'
I Remember Clifford
My Shining Hour
Ceora
You're My Everything
Daahoud

[AllanAllen]

After trying to call A Smooth One a few times just to have people suggest ballads I quit with the esoteric tunes.

[pcjazz]

After trying to call A Smooth One a few times just to have people suggest ballads I quit with the esoteric tunes.

It’s a terrific tune with unusual changes (especially the A section with its descending bassline). We play it frequently, most recently this afternoon!

[David B]

Some lesser-known tunes, popular in London straightahead circles:

George Coleman's 'Blues Inside Out' (also known as 'By George')
Sam Jones' 'Del Sasser'
Freddie Roach's 'Lots of Lovely Love' (also known as 'Loads of Love' as sung by Shirley Horn)
Randy Weston's 'Saucer Eyes'
Blue Mitchell's 'Fungii Mama'

[AllanAllen]

It’s a terrific tune with unusual changes (especially the A section with its descending bassline). We play it frequently, most recently this afternoon!

I agree but the title of the song leads to an Abbott and Costello routine so I chucked it.

[jamiehenderson1993]

Some fantastic tunes here - thanks so much everyone.

I also love Isn't It Romantic - the Tal Farlow version - he kicks off his solo with artificial harmonics and it sounds incredible.