Your Favorite Standard!

[Funky Chicken]

Everyone post your favorite jazz standard!
It's a hard choice, But I'm sure you have one...

[Tenorsaxer]

Can't choose just one. I like most of em.

[woodwindmaster06]

Stan Getz

[Howlin]

Desafinado - Jobim da man! 8)

[Carl H.]

Pete Barbutti is THE man when you talk jazz broom, and he doubles a mean cigar.

[Wailin']

It appears you mean "standard" and not 'standart"...quite a few...my teacher started me on "Song for my father" from the Aebersold book ...now I roll it out of my head without looking at the book..."Body and Soul"..."Satin Doll"..."St. Thomas"..."Don't blame me"...list goes on.

[phathorn]

My One and Only Love....with My Funny Valentine and Summertime as close seconds.....Geez do I look like a hopeless romantic!

[Billy The Fish]

"Standard" has come to mean different things to different people. Some definitions would now include as a Standard any jazz piece that has been played more than twice :P . Nothing wrong with that - who would argue with the wonderful Desafinado (chosen above) being classed as a Standard, particularly given the huge number of different versions that have been recorded since the Jobim original 8)

However, I wil limit my selection to "The Great American Songbook", in a more traditional way. The two Standards I love to play are "I've Got A Crush On You" and "The Way You Look Tonight". Add me to the "hopeless romantic" category too :D .

Billy The Fish.

[hannibal]

Heard a version of 'Softly as in a Morning Sunrise' by Nick Brignola recently that was neither soft or anything you wanted to hear first thing in the morning- man, he tore that song all up!!! It's been in my head ever since and must be my current fave...

[jazzcat]

I'll Remember April
Love the way Helen Merril sings it but I prefer to do it more up tempo than as a ballad

[kevvieg]

It varies with my mood, but I'd say my favourite ballad is "Darn That dream"
and my favourite non-ballad is "It's Ewe or No one". Of course that can change to "Polkadots & Moonbeams" and "I should Care" at my whim. Too many great tunes to have a fave.

Every time I hear Nick Brignola play a standard it becomes my favourite.

[hannibal]

kevvieg

Have you ever heard Pharoah Sander's play 'Polkadots & Moonbeams'? I thought the guy was all fire and brimstone but he plays that song ssswwweeeeeeeeet.

[Funky Chicken]

Whoops
I meant Standard, or in other words your favorite jazz tune..:-)

[Minatar12]

It seems like most tunes Sonny Rollins wrote are considered standards...
St. Thomas, Oleo, Blue Seven, Tenor Madness, Airegin, Doxy...

[colibri]

I Got Rhythm, Satin Doll, All Of You

[miles_ahead_music]

1) 'Round Midnight

2) Night In Tunisia

3) Take 5

4) A Train

[Funky Chicken]

mine are anyway-

Oleo, Billie's Bounce, I mean you, Rhythm-a-ning, St. thomas,and the beautiful ballad- Misty. 8)

[jazzbluescat]

My current fav is Monk's Ruby, My Dear.

[benjamin1979]

harlem nocturne.

[BayviewSax]

Can't do it. I'll tell you my current favorite, though:
The End of a Love Affair

http://www.smilies.org/basesmilies3/yaisse.gif

[Birdman]

Doxy and Tenor Madness definitely.

-Birdman

[Hotspur]

Birdland definitely

[hakukani]

Smoke on the Stairway to Freebird.

[playitfunky]

blue bossa

[dburlone]

Changes from time to time and mood to mood... Tenor Maddness, Donna Lee, St. Thomas.

[sonnymobleytrane]

Star Eyes

[sopranosaxman]

Body and Soul

[Perry Cobb]

Lush Life

[SAXISMYAXE]

I absolutely refuse to name a #1, or even a top 5 or 100 for that matter. There are SO many great ones.

I will throw one recording out there in particular that warrants a listen by everyone, but likely most have not heard:
Don Byas' rendition of "They Say That Falling In Love Is Wonderful"......... and so was his performance and interpretation of that ballad. Very lush and romantic without being maudlin, and a perfect example of keeping it simple.

Although I play as much Bop and later material as anything, most will agree that nothing is greater, or harder, than successfully making a traditional ballad your own. Tone and phrasing wise, no one topped Byas on Tenor.

You can hear it on my Myspace tribute page to Don Byas, it's the third and last MP3:
http://www.myspace.com/donbyas

You can tell by the friend adds on that page that the Europeans, in particular, have the decidedly good taste to really love Don Byas. So do I.

[porbem]

I consider every Monk tune as a standard:

Just take a look at Green Chimneys, Ugly Beauty, Ruby my Dear, Blue Monk, Monk’s Mood, Pannonica, Brilliant Corners, Bemsha Swing, and of course Round Midnight.

However, among them shines this rhythmic pearl and his own musical signature: Epistrophy.

I never get tired of listening to this tune.

[augustgarage]

There is a lot I haven't heard, and there are several pieces that I love that are not "standards," but my current shortlist is:

Willow Weep For Me
Lush Life
Close Your Eyes

[Reedsplinter]

There is a lot I haven't heard, and there are several pieces that I love that are not "standards," but my current shortlist is:

Willow Weep For Me
Lush Life
Close Your Eyes

Do you mean favorite for listening or favorite for playing? In my case, two different things. . . .

[jrvinson45]

"Little Girl Blue"

[brianincairo]

My One and Only Love

[RS]

Embraceable Ewe.

[bjornblomberg]

Pink Panther :-)

[thejoyofsax]

Skylark, What a Difference a Day Made

[renaissance_man]

Like some others, I can't choose just one. However, here are a few that I've been listening to and playing a lot here lately:

Stella By Starlight (Young)
Love For Sale (Porter)
In A Sentimental Mood (Ellington)
Sophisticated Lady (Ellington)
Infant Eyes (Shorter)
I'm A Fool To Want You (Wolf/Herron/Sinatra)
I'm Glad There Is You (Dorsey/Madeira)
Nardis (Davis)
This Is For Albert (Shorter)

And for the record, I'd say that any song composed by Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein III, Jerome Kern, Lorenz Hart, and, certainly, Sir Duke automatically deserve to be standards. After all, Duke Ellington himself single-handedly (or double-handedly, if you include Billy Strayhorn) composed about 85% of non-classical Western music. :wink: