Tunes I Claim I Know

[PMB]

Very cool! I've been trying to learn melodies/heads by ear for a couple hours a day as its good ear training. Consulting the ireal app there's like 1300 jazz tunes there so I'm going through them all in alphabetical order as I want to keep track of things from where I last left off. First tune to learn by ear... 26-2 (yikes!) but yeah for now I'm going to be doing tunes with the titles starting with the letter 'B'. By now I already forgotten most of the tune titles starting with the letter 'A' (its a lot of tunes!) but I'm sure if I listen to them again I can probably play it more easily. My favorite tune of the bunch I went through so far is A Child is Born... good stuff

This may seem like a logical approach but it's actually pretty random. I feel your practise time would be better served by learning a single composer's tunes as a group (Richard Rodgers might be a good place to start as his melodies are often quite diatonic) or concentrating on a form (blues, rhythm changes) or even songs featuring a particular chord sequence, eg, minor ii-vs descending by a tone (Woody n' You, Dreamsville).

The most practical approach may be tackling the most popular numbers called at local jam sessions. Here's a pretty good list of vocally-based tunes (you'd want to mix in some instrumental ones as well):

Jazz Standards Songs and Instrumentals Contents

Peter's advice is also solid - learn songs that you like, ideally with different keys and feels so that you can work towards playing a set or two.

New organ trio album:
A Passing Instant | PMB3

[jazznylon]

This may seem like a logical approach but it's actually pretty random. I feel your practise time would be better served by learning a single composer's tunes as a group (Richard Rodgers might be a good place to start as his melodies are often quite diatonic) or concentrating on a form (blues, rhythm changes) or even songs featuring a particular chord sequence, eg, minor ii-vs descending by a tone (Woody n' You, Dreamsville).

The most practical approach may be tackling the most popular numbers called at local jam sessions. Here's a pretty good list of vocally-based tunes (you'd want to mix in some instrumental ones as well):

Jazz Standards Songs and Instrumentals Contents

Peter's advice is also solid - learn songs that you like, ideally with different keys and feels so that you can work towards playing a set or two.

New organ trio album:
A Passing Instant | PMB3

Yeah I changed my approach a while ago lol I've seen the error of my ways. For now I'm just sticking to one tune (the more common easier ones first) for at least a week at a time but really dig deep into it. But your suggestions are actually pretty helpful I'll keep it mind thanks!

[Christian Miller]

Some dude on the internet said there’s an ski lift

[pamosmusic]

Some dude on the internet said there’s an ski lift

You mean instead of a ladder?

[pamosmusic]

Next installment:

Monk again … “We See.”

The head on this one is pretty tricky with all the counter-melody and chord punches. The changes aren’t too crazy, but I always find those static chord bridges he likes (a la Monk’s Dream) to be kind of tough. Hard to know where to go with those.

I’ve also been working a lot on double time — some of which lands. Some of which, not so much.

[pamosmusic]

Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeext.

Lullaby of Birdland.

I don’t know why I’ve always found this one hard. I know it was one of the first tunes I ever tried to learn and my guess is I was trying to play all the written changes, rather than simplifying them a bit … it’s pretty easy just to boil it down to one chord a measure and makes a lot more sense that way. Anyway … still working on some double time stuff, but also getting into some diminished passing chord stuff that was very handy for this one.

[pamosmusic]

Another one … Well You Needn’t.

Never cared for this tune. Always found those vampy sort of progressions hard to get around for some reason. But I had to brush up on it for a gig recently and enjoyed it more than I remembered.

[AllanAllen]

Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeext.

Lullaby of Birdland.

I don’t know why I’ve always found this one hard. I know it was one of the first tunes I ever tried to learn and my guess is I was trying to play all the written changes, rather than simplifying them a bit … it’s pretty easy just to boil it down to one chord a measure and makes a lot more sense that way. Anyway … still working on some double time stuff, but also getting into some diminished passing chord stuff that was very handy for this one.

I've been rehearsing with a really talented piano player, he's been helping me a lot simplifying charts. Cutting out approach chords and ii V's. Now I can slide into a Dom7 or add in my own ii V if a chord goes for a few bars. Instead of trying to add approach chords or turnarounds in a lead sheet that's already got them in there.

I guess I didn't realize the lead sheets already have subs and embellishments. We don't need to jazz up Real Book changes, they're already jazz.

[pamosmusic]

I've been rehearsing with a really talented piano player, he's been helping me a lot simplifying charts. Cutting out approach chords and ii V's. Now I can slide into a Dom7 or add in my own ii V if a chord goes for a few bars. Instead of trying to add approach chords or turnarounds in a lead sheet that's already got them in there.

I guess I didn't realize the lead sheets already have subs and embellishments. We don't need to jazz up Real Book changes, they're already jazz.

Yeah simplifying stuff a bit really opens up a lot of doors.