How To Learn New Jazz Standards

Jazz Theory Discussion
1

Hi Hayden,
I have completed a couple of your jazz piano foundation course and thoroughly enjoyed them. I can now play misty, fly me to the moon, moon river, my foolish heart, and autumn leaves.
The problem i have is - if i now open my Real Book and try to put the theory into practice on new songs i just doesn’t seem to work. I struggle to find the right voicing and fluidity.
Am i trying to run before i can walk and should i just work through your beginner courses, or do you have any tips for trying to figure out new songs on my own?
Many thanks,
Russell

2

Hey @russellhuggins :wave:

Great question here!

Firstly, congrats on your progress with the handful of jazz standards that you have learnt. That’s a great start! With each new tune that we learn the easier it becomes to learn the next ones.

You will soon realise that the harmonies and chord progressions used in jazz standards are more similar than they are different.

For now, my main recommendation for you is to learn more jazz standards from the lessons on PianoGroove. When you get to around 10 to 20 tunes, you will be much more comfortable with interpreting lead sheets.

Based on the tunes you have already learnt, I suggest you learn these 5 tunes next because they will expose you to different harmonies to the tunes you mention above:

These arrangements are all taught by myself and are mostly beginner/early intermediate level.

It’s a very good idea to challenge yourself to arrange a jazz standard. This is something that we best learn from doing it. It is hard to start, but again with practice it becomes easier and easier.

Understand that arranging a jazz standard (particularly the first one that you arrange) is no small feat. It will take time, a lot of patience, and a lot of listening… as I explain below.

So to answer your question… I recommend to do both - continue learning the arrangements on PianoGroove and also set yourself a project to arrange a tune or 2 over the coming months.

Yes I can certainly share my process of learning a new jazz standard:

When starting a new tune, the first thing I do is search the song on Spotify, listen to the different versions available, and make a playlist of the ones that I like. I spend anywhere from a few hours to a week or so, before I look at the lead sheet. The goal is to hear how the song is commonly played, arranged, and interpreted.

It’s also important to find one or two vocal versions of the song, particularly if you don’t know the song’s lyrics - which is most often the case for me! :grin:

I recently started working on the jazz standard “It Could Happen To You” and I was actually away from my piano the past week which made this initial ‘listening phase’ easier as I didn’t have access to a piano.

Here’s the playlist I created:

There are a couple of great vocal versions in there (the Chet Baker and Monica Zetterlund recordings) and also a wide selection of players and playing styles.

These are mainly up-tempo recordings (as this tune is mainly performed up-tempo) but the recordings by “Atlantic Five Jazz Band” and “Bud Powell” are solo piano recordings. The former is more accessible.

I started arranging the song yesterday and I have a rough version together, I recorded it for you here:

The main point I’m trying to convey is that I wouldn’t have been able to pull together an arrangement so quickly without spending the past week just listening to many versions the tune.

One of the main benefits of the ‘listening phase’ is that it helps you hear and understand how the melody is phrased. What we see on the lead sheet is just a rough estimation of the melody, and it’s often inaccurate and lacks jazz phrasing and personality. In jazz we don’t typically play the melody exactly as it’s written, like one would do with a piece of classical music for example.

Yesterday, I searched on MuseScore for a lead sheet and then added a few chord substitution options, here’s the PDF:

Lead sheets are useful to visualise the harmony or when playing unfamiliar songs, but it’s best to commit tunes to memory as soon as possible. In a week or two I should have the tune’s harmony memorised and then I’ll go back to the playlist of recordings to gradually develop my understanding of the tune and how it can be interpreted.

That’s the process I follow.

When I was just starting learning jazz standards I had two ring-bound folders full of the lead sheets I was working on, because at that time it was hard for me to memorise them.

The more tunes we learn, the easier it becomes to learn new ones. As I mention the harmonies are very similar and so I hope that helps to give you some direction and some insights on how I go about learning new tunes.

To summarise:

  • Focus on the breadth of your repertoire as a priority - 5 songs isn’t enough. Keep learning new tunes for now to expose yourself to more ‘harmonic situations’.

  • For every song that you are learning, make sure you are listening to recordings of the songs regularly. Spotify is a great tool for organising songs into playlists.

  • Arranging your first song will be hard work, and it will take time, so be patient and enjoy the journey!

I hope that helps Russel and if you have any further questions don’t hesitate to get in touch.