Other jazz standards like these jazz standards
July 18, 2017 3:39 PM   Subscribe

I am learning piano for the purpose of playing standards and singing them (at the same time!) and having a swell time with it though I'm no Art Tatum. I'm looking for a certain kind of song.

I'm not an accomplished musician. The level of playing I'm doing right now is playing a bass note and a chord with not much embellishment beyond that, though I'm getting better at finding the right inversion and stuff.

Songs that seem to work well and that are fun, well...I'm currently doing "Bewitched" and it seems to suit me. I sometimes blunder through "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" or "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" (apocryphal someone asked Fran Landesman for a one sentence summary of the beginning of The Wasteland and that quip was what she and Tommy Wolff set so exquisitely.)

The general theme seems to be something like wryly rueful, sophisticated in sensibility, and maybe slightly camp. (I also printed out "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did" but am making a hash of it.)

Any songs come to mind in this vein? Particularly ones that are not fiendishly difficult? Which is partly to say: I love Sondheim but it ain't gonna happen. Thanks for any suggestions!
posted by Smearcase to Media & Arts (13 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
"April in Paris" will be very difficult, but worth it.

"Don't Get Around Much Anymore" comes to mind also.
posted by amtho at 4:37 PM on July 18, 2017 [2 favorites]


A few songs off the top of my head that might fit the bill: When the Sun Comes Out, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Cry Me a River, The Shadow of Your Smile, When Sunny Gets Blue, Fly Me to the Moon.

Also: I'm a huge Barbra Streisand fan (STAY WITH ME!) and most of her early albums feature songs from this genre. You might hop onto Spotify and peruse/sample some of her albums from the 1960s, especially The Third Album (1963) and Simply Streisand (1967).
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 5:32 PM on July 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


Best answer: I love "Spring can hang you up the most" and it reminds of "But not for me" as well.
Just in the wry/melancholy mindset:
My Funny Valentine: Very easy chords + melody
Autumn Leaves... so many versions pick your favorite and skip the solos.
Desafinado (better with Ella, as always)
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:08 PM on July 18, 2017 [3 favorites]


Great American Songbook is a loose term that kind of defines the genre I think you're going for. Almost everything you'll find in any listing or collection under that umbrella is:

- not too difficult (at least in a basic arrangement)
- in a fairly accessible key (usually)
- in a pretty conventional structure for learning technique, improv, etc.
posted by randomkeystrike at 6:09 PM on July 18, 2017 [4 favorites]


If you haven't already, get a copy of the Ultimate Jazz Fakebook and spend time idly flipping through it and humming the tunes while noting how fast the chords are flying by. (Or browse through it at a place like this.)

I'll start at "A" and pick the first half-a-dozen songs that I think might fit your description:

All of Me
A Beautiful Friendship
Button Up Your Overcoat
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
Don't Take Your Love From Me
Exactly Like You
Falling In Love With Love

Another great thing about the fakebook is that it has contents by song, composer, and artist. So if you find something you like - say "Bewitched" by Rogers and Hammerstein - you can look up their other songs to see if you might also like "People Will Say We're In Love" or (the already mentioned) "My Funny Valentine" or "This Can't Be Love".
posted by clawsoon at 6:41 PM on July 18, 2017 [4 favorites]


Best answer: Beautiful Love is a great standard, and a good one to practice your ii-V-Is on the piano.
I also like Have You Met Miss Jones, but that's going to be a little trickier to play, I think.
posted by rossination at 7:13 PM on July 18, 2017


Another favourite of mine: You Go To My Head, though the chords might change a little fast.
posted by clawsoon at 7:14 PM on July 18, 2017


Seconding the fakebook recommendation!
posted by iffthen at 2:01 AM on July 19, 2017


Was just coming in to recommend You Go To My Head, and I'll also add What's New? to the pile.
posted by saladin at 6:25 AM on July 19, 2017


Days of Wine and Roses
posted by metaseeker at 4:41 PM on July 19, 2017


"My Funny Valentine" or "This Can't Be Love"

Those (and "Bewitched") are Rodgers and Hart, not Hammerstein. Lorenz Hart is really the lyricist who most hits that mordant, sophisticated tone. Additional Rodgers and Hart: try Have You Met Miss Jones, I Could Write a Book, I Didn't Know What Time It Was, It Never Entered My Mind, I've Got Five Dollars, Little Girl Blue, Spring is Here, There's a Small Hotel, Where or When.

[NOTE: I'm not specifically endorsing any of those recordings, just trying to hit a mix of singers and arrangements]

Hammerstein could sometimes be a bit gushy. All the Things You Are (written with Jerome Kern, not with Richard Rodgers) is pretty good lyrically, but probably a bit complex harmonically (chromatic shifts, tritones in the melody, etc). Some Enchanted Evening is a bit more straightforward harmonically, but the lyrics are less urbane.

Let's see, who's next?

Harold Arlen? It's Only a Paper Moon (lyrics: Yip Harbourg), Let's Fall in Love (Ted Koehler), This Time the Dream's on Me (Johnny Mercer)

Irving Berlin: How Deep Is the Ocean (okay, if Hammerstein is gushy I have to say so is this one), Isn't This a Lovely Day (To Be Caught in the Rain)

Gershwins? Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did, But Not For Me, Embraceable You, How Long Has This Been Going On?, I Was Doing Alright, They Can't Take That Away from Me, Who Cares? (ooh, on second thought, that one might be a little tricky melodically).

Jerome Kern? A lot of his stuff gets a little twisty, but try I'm Old Fashioned (lyrics by Johnny Mercer), or You Couldn't Be Cuter (lyrics by Dorothy Fields, probably the second most mordant lyricist, if that's a thing, after Lorenz Hart).

Cole Porter? Try All of You (oh my God I've never heard the song she sings to him first; actual song starts at 1:55), I Get a Kick Out of You, You Do Something To Me.

N.B. If you ever want your fingers tied in knots try Skylark (Hoagy Carmichael / Johnny Mercer).
posted by fedward at 6:49 PM on July 19, 2017 [3 favorites]


Just want to chime in and mention two songs I love that i think might suit you which somehow haven't gotten mentioned in the above excellent comments, In A Sentimental Mood (Ellington) and Georgia On My Mind (Hoagy Carmichael).
posted by doteatop at 12:21 PM on July 20, 2017


Thanks to fedward, I remembered "I can't get started (with you)" ( lyrics by Ira Gershwin). Very urbane, and range agnostic.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 8:55 PM on July 20, 2017


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