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

 Vocals

• Has all melodies memorized to all tunes being performed in a quarter. 
• Has all lyrics memorized to all tunes being performed in a quarter. 
• Can count off the band at the tempo and feel of the arrangement consistently.
• Can cue endings or breaks using hand signals consistently. 
• Can hear the form of the song during solos in order to determine when to come back in with the melody. 

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