Changes - part one



New Project:

• Put together a list of about a hundred standard tunes. Specifically, mid twentieth century popular songs, show tunes and movie themes historically favored by jazz musicians for form and function.

• Relearn these standards and their harmonic variations aurally from exemplary sources.

• Transcribe and log the harmonic outlines.

• Adopt this as a personal canon for both focused study and practical repertoire.

• Repeat this method for the Jazz Standards and again for the Brazilian music which has become part of the American jazz repertoire.


All of You
(Cole Porter; Silk Stockings, 1954)

All the Things You Are
(Jerome Kern; Very Warm for May, 1939)
More interesting stuff about "All the Things You Are" here

But Beautiful
(Jimmy Van Heusen; Road to Rio, 1947)

But Not for Me
(George Gershwin; Girl Crazy, 1930)

Bye, Bye Blackbird
(Ray Henderson, 1926)

My Foolish Heart
(Victor Young; My Foolish Heart, 1949)

I'm Old Fashioned
(Jerome Kern; You Were Never Lovelier, 1942)

Invitation
(Bronislau Kaper; Invitation, 1952)

While My Lady Sleeps
(Bronislau Kaper, Chocolate Soldier, 1941)

I Thought about You
(Jimmy Van Heusen, 1939)

The Touch of Your Lips
(Ray Noble; 1936)

You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To
(Cole Porter; Something To Shout About, 1942)

My One and Only Love
(Guy Wood, 1952)

Speak Low
(Kurt Weil; One Touch of Venus, 1943)

Ironic that, when speaking of songs, "form" is understood by musicians to mean its structure from a technical point of view whereas "function" by its utility - because of its beauty.

Posted: Sun - January 6, 2008 at 10:03 PM          

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