The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire

by Ted Gioia

Overview

An updated new edition of Ted Gioia's acclaimed compendium of jazz standards, featuring 15 additional selections, hundreds of additional recommended tracks, and enhancements and additions on almost every page.

Since the first edition of The Jazz Standards was published in 2012, author Ted Gioia has received almost non-stop feedback and suggestions from the passionate global community of jazz enthusiasts and performers requesting crucial additions and corrections to the book. In this second edition, Gioia expands the scope of the book to include more songs, and features new recordings by rising contemporary artists.

The Jazz Standards is an essential comprehensive guide to some of the most important jazz compositions, telling the story of more than 250 key jazz songs and providing a listening guide to more than 2,000 recordings. The fan who wants to know more about a tune heard at the club or on the radio will find this book indispensable. Musicians who play these songs night after night will find it to be a handy guide, as it outlines the standards' history and significance and tells how they have been performed by different generations of jazz artists. Students learning about jazz standards will find it to be a go-to reference work for these cornerstones of the repertoire. This book is a unique resource, a browser's companion, and an invaluable introduction to the art form.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199937394
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/06/2012
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	544
Sales rank:	1,087,317
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Ted Gioia is a pianist, critic, scholar, historian and educator. He is author of 11 books, including The History of Jazz and Delta Blues—both honored by the New York Times on their list of 100 notable books of the year. His three books on the social history of music—Work Songs, Healing Songs, and Love Songs—have each been honored with the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. Gioia holds degrees from Stanford and Oxford, and previously served on the faculty of Stanford's Department of Music. Praised as one of the leading music historians of our day, Gioia is a preeminent guide to songs of the past, present, and future.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: What Are the Jazz Standards? 1

After You've Gone 4

Ain't Misbehavin' 6

Airegin 8

Alfie 10

All Blues 12

All of Me 13

All of You 15

All the Things You Are 17

Almost Like Being in Love 19

Alone Together 21

Along Came Betty 23

Angel Eyes 25

April in Paris 26

Autumn in New York 28

Autumn Leaves 30

Bags' Groove 32

Basin Street Blues 34

Beale Street Blues 36

Bemsha Swing 38

Billie's Bounce 39

Birdland 41

Blue Bossa 42

Blue in Green 44

Blue Monk 45

Blue Moon 47

Blue Skies 49

Blues in the Night 51

Bluesette 53

Body and Soul 55

But Beautiful 57

But Not for Me 59

Bye Bye Blackbird 61

C Jam Blues 64

Cantaloupe Island 65

Caravan 67

Chelsea Bridge 69

Cherokee 70

A Child Is Born 72

Come Rain or Come Shine 74

Come Sunday 76

Con Alma 78

Confirmation 80

Corcovado 82

Cotton Tail 84

Darn That Dream 86

Days of Wine and Roses 88

Desafinado 89

Dinah 91

Django 93

Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me 94

Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans 96

Dolphin Dance 98

Donna Lee 100

Don't Blame Me 102

Don't Get Around Much Anymore 104

East of the Sun (and West of the Moon) 107

Easy Living 108

Easy to Love 110

Embraceable You 111

Emily 113

Epistrophy 115

Everything Happens to Me 117

Evidence 119

Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye 121

Exactly Like You 123

Falling in Love with Love 126

Fascinating Rhythm 128

Fly Me to the Moon 130

A Foggy Day 132

Footprints 134

Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You? 137

Georgia on My Mind 138

Ghost of a Chance 140

Giant Steps 142

The Girl from Ipanema 144

God Bless the Child 147

Gone with the Wind 149

Good Morning Heartache 151

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat 152

Groovin' High 154

Have You Met Miss Jones? 156

Here's That Rainy Day 158

Honeysuckle Rose 159

Hot House 162

How Deep Is the Ocean? 164

How High the Moon 166

How Insensitive 168

How Long Has This Been Going On? 170

I Can't Get Started 172

I Can't Give You Anything but Love 174

I Cover the Waterfront 176

I Didn't Know What Time It Was 178

I Fall in Love Too Easily 180

I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) 181

I Got Rhythm 183

I Hear a Rhapsody 186

I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart 188

I Love You 189

I Mean You 191

I Only Have Eyes for You 193

I Remember Clifford 195

I Should Care 197

I Surrender, Dear 198

I Thought about You 201

I Want to Be Happy 202

If I Should Lose You 204

If You Could See Me Now 205

I'll Remember April 207

I'm in the Mood for Love 208

Impressions 210

In a Mellow Tone 212

In a Sentimental Mood 214

In Your Own Sweet Way 216

Indiana 217

Invitation 220

It Could Happen to You 222

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) 224

It Had to Be You 226

It Might as Well Be Spring 227

It Never Entered My Mind 229

I've Found a New Baby 231

The Jitterbug Waltz 234

Joy Spring 236

Just Friends 237

Just One of Those Things 239

Just You, Just Me 241

King Porter Stomp 243

Lady Bird 246

The Lady Is a Tramp 248

Lament 250

Laura 252

Lester Leaps In 254

Like Someone in Love 255

Limehouse Blues 257

Liza 259

Lonely Woman 261

Lotus Blossom 263

Love for Sale 265

Love Is Here to Stay 267

Lover 269

Lover, Come Back to Me 271

Lover Man 273

Lullaby of Birdland 275

Lush Life 277

Mack the Knife 280

Maiden Voyage 282

The Man I Love 284

Manhä de Carnaval 286

Mean to Me 287

Meditation 289

Memories of You 291

Milestones 293

Misterioso 295

Misty 296

Moanin' 298

Moment's Notice 299

Mood Indigo 301

Moonlight in Vermont 303

Moose the Mooche 305

More Than You Know 307

Muskrat Ramble 309

My Favorite Things 310

My Foolish Heart 312

My Funny Valentine 314

My Heart Stood Still 316

My Old Flame 318

My One and Only Love 320

My Romance 322

Naima 325

Nardis 327

Nature Boy 329

The Nearness of You 331

Nice Work If You Can Get It 332

Night and Day 334

Night in Tunisia 336

Night Train 338

Now's the Time 340

Nuages 341

Oh, Lady Be Good! 344

Old Folks 346

Oleo 348

On a Clear Day 350

On Green Dolphin Street 352

On the Sunny Side of the Street 353

Once I Loved 356

One Note Samba 357

One o'Clock Jump 359

Ornithology 361

Out of Nowhere 363

Over the Rainbow 365

Peace 368

The Peacocks 370

Pennies from Heaven 371

Perdido 373

Poinciana 375

Polka Dots and Moonbeams 377

Prelude to a Kiss 378

Rhythm-a-ning 381

'Round Midnight 383

Royal Garden Blues 386

Ruby, My Dear 387

St. James Infirmary Blues 390

St. Louis Blues 392

St. Thomas 395

Satin Doll 397

Scrapple from the Apple 399

Secret Love 400

The Shadow of Your Smile 402

Skylark 403

Smile 405

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes 407

So What 409

Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise 412

Solar 414

Solitude 415

Some of These Days 417

Someday My Prince Will Come 419

Someone to Watch over Me 421

Song for My Father 423

The Song Is You 424

Sophisticated Lady 426

Soul Eyes 428

Speak Low 430

Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most 431

Spring Is Here 434

Star Dust 435

Star Eyes 438

Stella by Starlight 440

Stolen Moments 442

Stompin' at the Savoy 443

Stormy Weather 445

Straight, No Chaser 447

Struttin' with Some Barbecue 449

Summertime 451

Sweet Georgia Brown 454

'S Wonderful 456

Take Five 458

Take the A Train 460

Tea for Two 462

Tenderly 464

There Is No Greater Love 465

There Will Never Be Another You 467

These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You) 469

They Can't Take That Away from Me 470

Things Ain't What They Used to Be 473

Tiger Rag 474

Time after Time 477

Tin Roof Blues 479

The Very Thought of You 482

Waltz for Debby 485

Watermelon Man 487

Wave 489

The Way You Look Tonight 490

Well, You Needn't 493

What Is This Thing Called Love? 495

What's New? 497

When the Saints Go Marching In 499

Whisper Not 501

Who Can I Turn To? 502

Willow Weep for Me 503

Yardbird Suite 506

Yesterdays 508

You Don't Know What Love Is 510

You Go to My Head 511

You Stepped Out of a Dream 513

You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To 514

Notes 517

Index 527

Editorial Reviews

Jazz pianist and historian Gioia (Delta Blues) surveys 250 influential 20th-century compositions, including Broadway show tunes, movie songs, and original pieces by Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and other composers. Each two-page entry serves up a chatty, fact-filled review of the tune’s birth pangs—Louis B. Mayer almost cut “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz!—and a breezy analysis of its musicological mojo. (“Someone to Watch over Me,” the author avers, draws its wistful warmth from the all-black-keys pentatonic scale.) But Gioia is interested less in a melody’s first incarnation than in its afterlife as a template for jamming, riffing, and free-form stylistic variation, epitomized by John Coltrane’s saxy reinvention of “My Favorite Things.” He therefore includes critical appreciations of each standard’s best and most emblematic arrangements, along with a list of recordings. Gioia writes with an endearing blend of erudition and opinionating—”Come Rain or Come Shine”’s spare tune “isn’t a melody, it’s a musical starvation diet”—that makes the book both a delightful browse and a handy reference and roadmap for jazzophiles. (July)

Publishers Weekly

…richly informative…Calling them "the soundtrack of my own life," [Gioia] takes the reader through hundreds of songs, rounding out each entry…with a list of his recommended versions. His main criterion for selection is "significance in the jazz repertoire of the current era," and though I missed a few favorites…it's hard to quarrel with Gioia's seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of what's still hot and what's not…The Jazz Standards…is awfully nice to dip into.
—Dennis Drabelle

The Washington Post

"Gioia brings his deep knowledge of jazz to bear when comparing how a wide variety of artists approached a given tune and does not shy away from voicing his opinions about the good, the bad, and the ugly." — J Farrington, CHOICE

"If you look up just one title in The Jazz Standards, before you realize it you will have spent an intriguing hour or two learning fascinating and new things about old songs that you have known most of your life." — Dave Brubeck

"Which is best: interpretation or song? In any case, jazz and standards are forever locked in loving embrace. A finely researched work." — Sonny Rollins

"Mr. Gioia's is the first general-interest, wide-ranging and authoritative guide to the basic contemporary jazz canon." — Will Friedwald, Wall Street Journal

"In virtually every instance, Gioia delivers." — The Atlantic Monthly

"One man's repertoire may be another man's B-list, but when the man is Ted Gioia, one tends to listen - in both senses. Gioia, among the most lauded of jazz writers, has chosen more than 250 songs. He tells the story behind each....Compulsively readable, and belongs on the shelves of every jazz lover, or jazz-lover wannabe." — Toronto Globe and Mail

"This book should be in the library of every gigging jazz musician and every serious jazz fan." — Library Journal

"What a useful and informative book The Jazz Standards is! Explaining the jazz repertory in a way that is accessible for the jazz beginner yet stimulating for the aficionado, Ted Gioia shows once again why he is one the best jazz writers around today." — Gerald Early, Editor of Miles Davis and American Culture

"Warning: This book is addictive....Putting together a compendium like this must involve prodigious research and an encyclopaedic memory. Fortunately Gioia...wears his learning lightly and conveys it with wit and insight, and a minimum of musicological jargon." — Dallas Morning News

"The book is wise, often funny—and it always accomplishes the highest mission of writing about music, which is to send you back to the music with wide-open ears." — Kansas City Star

"Ted Gioia's The Jazz Standards is an interactive joy. It's a book you can have fun with while learning from it and it can also serve a companion anthology and reference guide." — Steven Cerra , Jazz Profiles

From the Publisher

Jazz historian and pianist Gioia (The History of Jazz) here focuses on the most recognizable and iconic compositions known to and performed by jazz musicians. He details more than 250 pieces—some written by jazz musicians, some part of Broadway musicals, and some pop songs of their day, but all among the must-know repertory of the gigging jazz musician. Gioia presents a brief historical sketch of each composition, including information on its writer(s), significant recordings, and its popularity over the years as jazz styles have evolved. Although there is simply not enough room for the author to provide exhaustive notes on all of the prominent recordings of these jazz standards, he manages to mention a fair number of recordings and provide several salient details about each. The brief discography for each piece is helpful, but more detailed release information would have been nice. Gioia's writing style is friendly and easygoing, suggesting the way in which one jazz performer might rap with another about the tunes. VERDICT This book should be in the library of every gigging jazz musician and every serious jazz fan; to the extent that these 250-plus pieces remain in the repertory, it will be relevant for years to come.—James E. Perone, Univ. of Mount Union, Alliance, OH

Library Journal