Ethan Iverson’s 90 Common Practice Tunes from G.A.S.

**NSJ** · 02-27-2023, 02:11 PM

Ethan Iverson standards list: Common Practice Show tunes from the Great American Songbook (N=90): from his article: “Deepening Your Relationship to Musical Theatre”.

EXCERPT:

“There are a lot of standards, but not an infinite number. Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane were the most influential jazz musicians of the post-war era, so a good place to look would be in their discographies. Between the three of them they recorded about 90 pieces that I’d deem as “common practice” material. Most of these songs were written for a theatrical production of some kind: a revue, a show, a movie: Some kind of generous entertainment for a “couples night out” in mid-century, mid-brow American life. In order to shake hands with older jazz cats on the bandstand, you kind of need to know most of these 90 songs, partly because they might get dismissive if they call more than two or three standards in a row that you can’t instantly play. In my experience, once you learn 10 or 20 of them, the rest go easy. In the end, they are very similar, so all your brain needs to learn are the differences. After learning 50, almost any other standard can be learned in real time. You will never have to say, “I don’t know it,” again.”

N.B. Tunes with an * are included in my list

Honeysuckle Rose
Body and Soul*
I Got Rhythm*
Lady Be Good
Cherokee
Sweet Georgia Brown
Indiana
Embraceable You*
All the Things You Are
Autumn Leaves*
Lover Man
The Way You Look Tonight*
Out of Nowhere
After You’ve Gone
Memories of You
I Can’t Get Started
How High the Moon*
How Deep is the Ocean*
On the Sunny Side of the Street
My Old Flame
Don’t Blame Me
East of the Sun*
All God’s Children Got Rhythm
I Get a Kick Out of You
Just One of Those Things
Everything Happens To Me
April in Paris*
If I Should Lose You
Summertime*
I Didn’t Know What Time it Was
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Yesterdays*
What’s New*
Star Eyes
Just You, Just Me
Stardust
Limehouse Blues
My Melancholy Baby
Easy to Love
Laura*
I’ll Remember April
The Song is You
Lover
These Foolish Things
Pennies From Heaven
Strike Up the Band
Stella By Starlight
Autumn in New York
Night and Day
You Stepped Out of Dream
My Funny Valentine*
Isn’t It Romantic
Darn that Dream
Come Rain or Come Shine
It’s Only A Paper Moon
It Could Happen to You
You Don’t Know What Love Is
But Not for Me*
The Man I Love
Bye Bye Blackbird
There is No Greater Love
The Surrey with the Fringe On Top
When I Fall in Love
It Never Entered My Mind
All of You
A Foggy Day
If I Were A Bell
I Could Write a Book*
You’re My Everything
On Green Dolphin Street
Love For Sale
Someday My Prince Will Come*
Old Folks
I Thought About You
Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise
I Fall in Love Too Easily
All of Me
Sweet Lorraine
I Hear a Rhapsody
Speak Low*
They Can’t Take That Away from Me
Lover Come Back to Me
Invitation
My Ideal
Spring is Here
Like Someone in Love
Angel Eyes*
Three Little Words
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
Out of This World*
My Favorite Things*
Every Time We Say Goodbye
All or Nothing At All