Hi,

what are your Top 10 Real Book Jazz Standarts?


Cheers

I haven't even played 5 on the stick yet, but here are some of my attemts:
-Over the Rainbow (worked out nicely transposed over A major on the standard tuning, grand stick)
-Footprints (never competed the arrangement)
-Girl from ipanema

Then there's a list of stick favourates that everyone seems to be doing:
-take 5
-my favourate things
-autums leaves... list goes on.

As a hint: try a jazz waltz! the 3/4 signature seems to be very common with stick players, maybe there's some science to it why people have a tendency to play 3/4 or 6/8 probably without noticing it.. I'll have to start a new discussion on that

Hi,

Yeah, the bass-side-"waltz" thing. I am pretty sure why Stickplayers like to jump on that train, because mostly 3 notes chords (P1-P5-M3 or P1-M3-M7..) are played...3 notes + 3 beats = you're ready to go. It's easy and sounds nice right from the start

Thanx so far.

I will grab my old Real Book at home and post my list later that day.

See ya

Ah, i guess for me there are two categories of real book standards.

1. those you must have in the tool kit
2 those you play 'cause you love them

some I love

Here's that rainy day - the reharm in the original real book with the chromatic bass
Autumn Leaves - its been done but i still love the tune
Confirmation - a challenge for sure but fun to play
Stella by starlight - just great harmony
Oleo - rhythm changes baby
Everything happens to me- great tune
Bright size life - always a fav
So what - made for the stick
All the things you are - again much played but timeless
Blue bossa _ i gotta learn some more jobim as well, but this tune is fun


so many others to play and to learn

Brett

Most of the things you love are hard to achieve Isn't it allways like that in live

Great Tunes, Thanx

"All the things you are" is one of my favs too
It's a hard progression to keep up and improvise tastefully on top! Here is a guy called Tom Slusher who playes it great.. Unreal playing! Not playing a Stick, but still tapping! in the vain of Stanley Jordan.. Check him out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Ohe12jwbM

Great technique!

Ah, The Real Book.
My thoughts on using it as a learning tool and for repertoire:
Realize there are tunes represented by basically two kinds of composers:

1- the American Song Book dudes who wrote for the stage not for the jazz player. These include Cole Porter, Rogers and Hart/Hammerstein, Gershwin etc. These guys didn't write jazz tunes, they wrote songs with words for Broadway. etc. and jazz players adapted the songs for jazz because the chord progressions were a challenge to improvise on with all the key changes and such

2-The second set of comosers are players like Mingus, Ellington, Parker, Wes etc who wrote to play. Different agenda resulted in different flavor.

There are crossovers where jazz players would borrow the progression of a standard and write a different melody:
How High The Moon is Ornithology
Home in Indiana is Donna Lee
Half Nelson is Lady Bird

I would suggest taking 1 or 2 tunes in the various genres from the book:
American Song Book, Bebop, Bossa Nove, Pop etc

And BTW-Autumn Leaves is never played at a session in the Real Book key which is Em/GMaj. For practical purposes learn it in Gmi/BbMaj

And get a grasp on what ii V l is. It's the basic fabric of the entire book.

Then there's the fishing manual called The Reel Book,

Guy Dinglite

Hi Michael,

It's hard to think of a top 10 as I don't play many of these tunes any more. Here are the first 10 tunes I learned to play on The Stick from the Real Book, mostly for restaurant gigs some of them are still tunes I like to play:

Maiden Voyage
All Blues
Blue Bossa,
Goodbye Porkpie Hat
Autumn Leaves
My Favorite Things
Manha de Carival (Black Orpheus)
Equinox
Girl from Ipanema (for the tapas bar gig)
Footprints

Other tunes I've played on occasion:
So What
Impressions
Contemplation
Joy Spring
All of Me
A Call for all Demons
Four
Blue Trane
Jinrikisha
Fables of Faubus
Straight no Chaser
Milestones

A fair number of these are totally modal and so relatively easy once you get the head down.

Of course, I'm not walking like Steve and Brett can, so I do my best to keep the rhythm and harmony outlined with much less happening bass parts (though I try to keep it interesting), focusing more on the melody and soloing.

Thanks to everyone giving input so far,

Yeah, the Real Book...You start to make a list and you just can't stop to put songs on it. My list got a little bigger. It's a "Top 44" list now. Here it, from A to Z (well actually Y )

A Night In Tunisia
All Blues
Alfie
All Of Me
As Time Goes By
Autumn In New York
Bewitched
Black Orpheus
Body And Soul
Bright Size Life
Could It Be You
Dolphin Dance
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
E.S.P
Four On Six
Freddie Freeloader
Good Bye Porkie Pie hat
Green Dolphin Street
Have You Met Miss Jones
How High The Moon
I Could Write A Book
I Love You
Isn't It Romantic
It Don't Mean A Thing
Lullaby of Birdland
Misty
My Funny Valentine
Night And Day
Oleo
'Round Midnight
Satin Doll
Scrapple From The Apple
Seven Steps To Heaven
Solar
Someday My Prince Will Come
Sophisticated Lady
So What
Stella By Starlight
Stomping at the Savoy
Take The A Train
Tune Up
West Coast Blues
When Sunny Gets Blue
You Don't Know What Love Is

Real Book 5th Edition. Now You can buy a legal Copy anywhere on the internet. I bought mine 25 Years ago from my bass teacher...As Time goes buy. I played a lot of those tunes, as an Electric Bassist in various (dinner) Jazz bands and Cover bands. I love that mixture between Broadway Hits, Standards and the Bebop Tunes (Yeah right, most of them are "remixed" Standards of that period plus the "newbies" like Pat Matheny's Bright Size Life).

II-V is the key progression. I agree. They are actually easy to play on both sides of the Stick. Up a P4 or down a P5 - It's logical, it's the Chapman Stick geometry. Soloing over II-V's is another challenge I am working on II-V's a lot and Steve is absolutley right about it.

A Bossa Bass is one thing - A good Walking Bass on the Stick is tougher. But that is another thread, Greg opened.

Guys, do me a favor, invest some of your time and please build 3 Groups of those songs. Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced in perceptive of performing those tunes on the Chapman Stick®.

I think this would be interesting and inspiring for everyone in this forum.

This is only for my private studies. I am not planning to write a book about Arranging Jazz Standarts for the Stick in the near future. Having said that it might be a geat project for 2011 or 2012 - Wouldn't it?

Well anyway, before that I gotto practise and learn and "digest" a lot more...

Thanks in advance. I am looking forward to your answers.

Till then

Hi,

another thing came to my mind: I really dig the Jamey Aebersold Playalongs and use them (Beside Band in a Box) working on my Electric Bass and Chapman Stick® chops a lot.

Any Body else? What are your tools "of the trade"

All the best