His version of Mack The Knife is a down-tempo swinger showcasing his raw and bluesy yet precise improvisational style. This 1990 album entitled African Exchange Student is an early release from alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett around the time he was touring with Miles Davis. Recommended modern version of Mack The Knife: Kenny Garrett Recorded in Berlin, it not only showcases her trademark treatment of a classic jazz standard, it’s also notable for the fact she forgets the lyrics and improvises new ones on the spot! Perhaps the best version is the 1960 live take from Ella Fitzgerald. Nonetheless, it’s made its way to the heart of the jazz songbook, with swinging versions by everyone from Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson to Bobby Darin and Dick Hyman. Written by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in 1928, Mack The Knife isn’t the usual story of romance or lost love it’s based on the story of an 18th Century English thief! Here he sets Waller’s music to modern grooves, with bassist/vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello and other collaborators. Inventive modern jazz pianist Jason Moran has recorded a huge range of repertoire from jazz history and beyond and paid tribute to Fats Waller on his 2014 album ‘All Rise: An Elegy For Fats Waller’. Waller’s 1934 recording captures his beautiful piano arrangement and mischievous vocals (‘The Essential Fats Waller’ and other collections). The song was published in 1929.īeyond its popularity as a song, many jazz musicians use the beginning of the melody line as a ‘lick’ or component in their improvisations. Honeysuckle Rose – Fats WallerĪ popular song from the 1930s, ‘Honeysuckle Rose’ was composed by pianist, singer and entertainer Fats Waller, with lyrics by Andy Razaf. So, without further ado, here’s our round up some of the best-loved jazz songs in history… 25. There are thousands of recordings of jazz musicians playing or singing these kinds of songs, and one of the remarkable things about the music is that great players are able to bring new and exciting elements to extremely familiar tunes.
They were often written as songs for musical theatre shows, films, or simply as the popular music of the day, but their harmony and structures meant that they also worked perfectly as vehicles for jazz improvisation. Many of these pieces are taken from what we call the Great American Songbook: a selection of tunes that were written (broadly speaking) during the first half of the 20th Century by composers like Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin. In this article, we’ve chosen a selection of the most famous or, dare we say it, best jazz songs of all time with a classic and modern listening tip for each. There may be hundreds of ‘classic’ jazz songs out there, but most jazz fans and musicians would agree that a select group of those appear more often than most.
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