Songs & Goals for Beginning Combos

Song Selection Criteria 

• Limited to one or two key centers (or tonalities) within a song 
• Can be improvised on with major, minor, or blues scales
• Songs that use common keys
• Harmonic motion primarily one chord per bar or longer
• Medium swing, shuffle, blues, bossa nova, funk, R&B, and traditional styles encouraged. Avoid ballads, overly “unique” feels, or fast tunes unless agreed upon by the whole band. 
• We advise against So What, Impressions, Little Sunflower, and the like, for Level 1 combos
• We recommend riff blues songs with I, IV, V blues changes

Examples:

Song Title	Style	Composer	Model Recordings
In A Sentimental Mood	Ballad	Duke Ellington	Duke Ellington & John Coltrane - Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
Polka Dots And Moonbeams	Ballad	Burke & Huesen	Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery Lester Young - Verve Jazz Masters 30: Lester Young Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol 2 Chet Baker - Chet Baker in New York Lou Donaldson - Gravy Train
Summertime	Ballad	George Gershwin	Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Pure Ella Oscar Peterson - Mellow Mood
Back At The Chicken Shack	Blues	Jimmy Smith	Jimmy Smith - Back At The Chicken Shack
Bags Groove	Blues	Milt Jackson	Miles Davis - Bag's Groove Oscar Peterson - Night Train
Blue 'N' Boogie	Blues	Charlie Parker	Miles Davis All-Stars - Walkin'
Blue Monk	Blues	Thelonious Monk	Thelonious Monk - Thelonious in Action
Blues For Gene	Blues	Milt Jackson	Milt Jackson - Soul Route
Blues Walk	Blues	Clifford Brown	Clifford Brown and Max Roach
C Jam Blues	Blues	Duke Ellington	Duke Ellington - Blues in Orbit Red Garland - Groovy
Centerpiece	Blues	Edison & Tennyson	Milt Jackson & John Coltrane - Bags & Trane
Dejection Blues	Blues	Milt Jackson	Milt Jackson - Soul Route
Freddy Freeloader	Blues	Miles Davis	Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Groove Blues	Blues	Steve Turre	Steve Turre - Rainbow People
Mr. PC	Blues	John Coltrane	John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Now's The Time	Blues	Charlie Parker	Charlie Parker - Now's the Time Charlie Parker - The Essential Charlie Parker Charlie Parker - Live at Storyville Charlie Parker: Ken Burns Jazz: Definitive Charlie Parker
Sonnymoon For Two	Blues	Sonny Rollins	Sonny Rollins - Lust for Life Sonny Rollins - The Very Best
The Blues Walk	Blues	Clifford Brown	Clifford Brown & Max Roach
Trane's Slow Blues	Blues	John Coltrane	John Coltrane - Traneing In
Black Orpheus	Bossa Nova	Luiz Bonfa	Hank Jones, Mads Vinding & Billy Hart - Standard Collection Vol. 2
Blue Bossa	Bossa Nova	Kenny Dorham	Joe Henderson - Page One
Autumn Leaves	Med Swing	Johnny Mercer	Cannonball Adderly - Somethin' Else
Bye Bye Blackbird	Med Swing	Ray Henderson	Miles Davis - 'Round About Midnight
Honeysuckle Rose	Med Swing	Waller & Razaf	Ben Webster - King of Tenors
Lullaby Of Birdland	Med Swing	George Shearing	Sarah Vaughan & Clifford Brown - Desert Island Disks: Sarah Vaughan
Satin Doll	Med Swing	Duke Ellington	Dexter Gordon - Dextrose Dexter Gordon - Billie's Bounce Bud Powell - Bud Powell in Paris McCoy Tyner - Nights of Ballads and Blues Ben Webster - The Soul of Ben Webster
Take The "A" Train	Med Swing	Billy Strayhorn	Duke Ellington - A Portrait of Duke Ellington Duke Ellington - Never No Lament Clifford Brown and Max Roach - Study in Brown Oscar Peterson - Plays the Duke Ellington Songbook Joe Henderson - Lush Life
Work Song	Med Swing	Nat Adderly	Cannonball Adderly - Greatest Hits

Goals For All Instruments

• Learn two songs per quarter, preferably at least one song learned aurally
• Discuss the music being learned, its composer(s) and performers, and their musical and life experiences
• Play in sync rhythmically is a primary goal at all time 
• Demonstrate basic melodic phrasing - question and answer - singability
• Form and chord progression of all tunes in repertoire memorized
• Has control and awareness of dynamic levels in the context of the ensemble and as a soloist, in terms of balancing instruments and shaping arrangement 
• Developing swing and straight 8th/bossa feels through the class repertoire
• Awareness of “Do” (the root of a song’s key) at all times in all tunes in the repertoire

Goals By Instrument

Drums

• Work on playing a basic swing beat with 2 and 4 on the hi-hat, quarter notes on the ride symbol, and a cross-stick on beat 4 when appropriate
• Further develop basic fills leading into and out of sections
• Experiment with small off-beat accents (and of 4 and the and of 2) on the snare drum both with the melody and during solos
• Get some experience trading 8s, 4s, or soloing over a short song form
• Develop strategies to keep the form of all tunes in repertoire, alterations to the part/fills/form marking   
• Work on keeping the hi-hat going on 2 and 4 during solo
• For soloing and fills, use of 8th note triplet based ideas on a swing groove, 16ths on a straight groove
• Ability to use rhythms of a tune’s melody as basis for soloing
• Basic Bossa Nova and Latin feels 

Bass

• Can play roots and fifths in time using constant quarter notes along with a swing groove, ideally root, third, fifth, and basic passing or approach tones 
• Can play reasonably in tune if playing upright/fretless bass
• Can execute a blues scale, pentatonic scale, and major/minor scale in 8th notes at a med tempo for improvisational purposes, relative to tunes being played
• Can keep the form all tunes being played with bass line alone

Guitar

• Has at least one voicing memorized for every chord in all tunes being played, ideally shell voicings rather than barred chords
• Can execute a blues/pentatonic scale, and major/minor scale in 8th notes at a medium tempo for improvisational purposes, relative to tunes being played 
• Can play at least one major, minor, dominant, min7(b5) voicing from any root (moveable)
• Has experience comping in an improvised rhythmic structure as well as in a groove based structure
• Can “chunk” quarter notes with the high-hat and bass player 
• Can keep the form of all tunes being played with chords alone
• Can play the full melody of at least one tune in the band repertoire 

Piano

• Has at least one left-hand voicing memorized for all chords in all tunes being played
• Can execute a blues, pentatonic, and major/minor scale in 8th notes, in the right hand, at the tempo of the tune being played. Multiple octaves is ideal
• Can play at least one tune, from the repertoire, with chords in the left hand and the melody in the right hand
• Has experience comping in both an improvised rhythmic structure as well as a groove of some kind
• Can accurately comp on off-beats consistently, and of 2 and 4 primarily. 
• Can keep the form of all tunes in repertoire with chords alone 

Melody Instrument

• Has all melodies memorized to all tunes being performed in a quarter 
• Can execute several scales including blues, pentatonic, major, minor, etc.. in 8th notes, in time, as related to the music being performed. 
• Can play the roots of the chords in order and in time to songs being performed, from memory
• Can play melodies in tune and with at least a small degree of expression

You can learn more about Jazz Night School levels by reviewing our Student Skill Levels Matrix.