How to study jazz — ten standards and one honest method
The conservatory route drowns beginners in scale theory. The working-musician route is older and better: learn tunes, steal vocabulary, play with people. Here is that route, sequenced.
The prerequisite
Be able to play a 12-bar blues without thinking, and comp a ii–V–I with shell voicings in two keys. That's the entry ticket — a week's work from the blues section.
The method: one tune at a time, completely
For each tune, in order: (1) learn the melody by ear and memorise it — sing it before you play it; (2) learn the roots, then shells, until you can comp the form from memory; (3) map the ii–Vs — circle them on paper once, then throw the paper away; (4) solo with chord tones and one transcribed phrase per A section; (5) play it with another human, or at minimum over a looped backing. A tune isn't learned until it survives memory, and ten tunes learned this way beat a hundred read from the page.
The first ten standards
| # | Tune | Why this one |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Now's the Time | Bird blues head — bebop vocabulary over a form you own |
| 2 | Autumn Leaves | The ii–V–I tune: major and minor engines in one 32-bar loop |
| 3 | Blue Bossa | Minor ii–V plus a key change, at a friendly tempo |
| 4 | Summertime | Minor blues cousin; every jam knows it |
| 5 | Take the A Train | Canonical AABA with one spicy chord (the II7♯11 in bar 3) |
| 6 | Fly Me to the Moon | ABAC form; circle-of-fifths harmony you can hear coming |
| 7 | All of Me | Secondary dominants doing all the work; sing-along test piece |
| 8 | So What | Modal: two chords, nowhere to hide — phrasing exam |
| 9 | Oleo | Rhythm changes at last; the bridge is the rite of passage |
| 10 | Misty | Ballad playing: rubato, chord-melody, taste |
Transcription — the non-negotiable
One phrase a week, by ear, from a record. Loop two bars at 75% speed, sing the phrase until you can't get it wrong, find it on the instrument, copy the articulation, then move it through three keys. Twenty weeks of this outperforms any book ever printed. (A note on lead sheets: the Real Book is a map, not the territory — its changes are frequently wrong. Trust the recording.)
Listening spine (one record per era)
- Count Basie — The Complete Decca Recordings — swing as a way of life
- Charlie Parker — The Savoy & Dial sessions — bebop, the source
- Miles Davis — Kind of Blue — modal; the best-selling jazz record for a reason
- John Coltrane — Giant Steps — harmony's outer limit (admire first, climb later)
- Wes Montgomery — Smokin' at the Half Note — the guitar summit
- Herbie Hancock — Maiden Voyage — the modern mainstream's source code