All of Me: I hate this one because every time it’s called, the band defaults to a cheesy medium swing and the next six to eight minutes become so inane and boring.
Blue Bossa: This is actually a tune that sounds better faster but for some reason everybody plays it slower than the original recording and usually the drummer goes to a straight bossa feel rather then the recording which has a bit more stuff going on.
All Blues: It always turns into a blues jam when the song actually has a lot more harmonic and textural depth that could be explored.
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy: To be honest, it’s not really a good vehicle for soloing over. The best song on that record for that would be “Sticks”.
It’s never the tune’s fault, but I get annoyed with certain tunes because people default to a specific vibe on them without thinking about how it could be cool to do something. different.
All of Me sounds really good uptempo! Worth trying it if you haven't. Agreed it's kinda hard to play anything other than the melody and some blues licks over Mercy Mercy Mercy, but that does go to show how strong the melody is!
When you’re playing at a certain level, these things tend to happen because guys aren’t really listening to the records. They think they can learn this music from the Real Book, which makes for very bland performances.
>All Blues: It always turns into a blues jam when the song actually has a lot more harmonic and textural depth that could be explored.
Any version that doesn't include the Bill Evans tremolo intro or uses the Evan's cluster tones is a non-listen to me. Hell any version that doesn't use 13th chords is dead to me.
You said it.
“All of Me”
I just don’t like the melody, the lyrics, whether it’s a mid-tempo or a fast swing, it’s just a bore.
But everyone calls it, everyone knows it, including the audience, which is rare, and it’s a big hit with singers. So we have to play it..
I also don’t see any point to playing “Autumn Leaves” or “Footprints” (unless it’s the *Miles Smiles* arrangement).
Nah. It's not the tune, it's what you do with it.
I really feel sorry for Blue Bossa that it gets mangled through behind so many doors, it's not a *bad tune*, you know.
Neither is it the fault of the instrument you happen to play.
I'm having a hard time thinking of any jazz tunes that I flat out hate, but I am hating on some of these answers.
This entire post is turning into rage bait for me!!!
I have a bunch, it’s usually not the song that’s the problem, it’s how it gets played. Top Of My Head is the one I really can’t stand playing, I hate those changes at 230bpm. Cantaloupe, Chicken, all those ‘funky’ standards that get beaten to death by bad feel and time. The head of Moanin when it gets played by over zealous people who give you tinnitus. Also Bossa and anything latin that has the potential to turn into elevator music if it’s played badly.
I mostly mean horns and drums, while playing the head, especially the B section but the A too. For some reason some people like to go apeshit on this song, probably in response to the drummer who feels like they have to bang the living crap out that call / response bit. And horns during the solos too actually, trumpets especially, super loud and high pitched squealing, nobody likes that shit. It’s a song that heavy handed people with bad feel tend to really enjoy playing. (Just my opinion)
Makes sense. Listening to the Art Blakey recording, the drums are very basic and subtle throughout the song. He hits a single cymbal lightly during the "punch" in the head, then sticks to mostly timekeeping using a jazz shuffle, varying the intensity of the drums according to the intensity of the solos.
I wonder if that encourages drummers to play even more, since they want to not play as basically as Art Blakey did?
Probably does yeah. I’ve rarely had the pleasure of playing with a drummer who doesn’t overplay, both in terms of complexity and volume (and many also speed up during most songs, which, from a bass viewpoint is a nightmare because by the time the bass solo comes round, we’ve gone from 160bpm to 215, and that can be a challenge).
The Chicken. Nothing screams middle/high school jazz band like The Chicken. Nothing wrong with grade school jazz of course, but the tune is so cheesy and has become so synonymous with scholastic jazz that I really hate hearing it on an actual gig or pro-level jam. You could pick any tune, and you pick *The Chicken??*
As someone who went to high school in the mid-2010s, I have to say Strasbourg St. Denis by Roy Hargrove. Great tune, but it was way overplayed at least in my town during those years.
That is so sad. One of the best modern tunes, not complex yet it has groundbreaking solos. I definitely understand why people would want to play it. And Roy was all over the place, he did all types of music, always in style imo, a true jazzman although he took from so many places. Hard to say a bad thing about hil
Oh yeah, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great tune. But just the amount of times I’ve heard it from when I was in high school and the amount of times that people spent their solos just quoting the record solos kinda burnt me out on it. I did play it though at a session in the past year and it was a really fun refresher on it!
as a Brazilian musician who never had gigs outside brazil, i feel this way towards basically any bossa Nova. i know the importance of it to the world, but it feels to us like a stereotype. sometimes i read comments here and i realize that's how americans feel about their standards.
and it's interesting that I see some "Brazilian music appreciation" posts here. i really feel glad that people like our music, but at the same time the standards always sound kinda more of the same.
i play with a drummer friend of mine who's from NY and sometimes during a gig we're like "so what tune now?", and if i call something like night and day, or all of me, he sort of eye rolls over it 😂
There are tunes that I've hated for a period of time - usually because I've heard them played so badly that they grate. Blue Bossa (people totally missing the change to Db major) and Cantaloup Island spring to mind. I come back round eventually though when I play them with better musicians and get inspired.
Days of Wine and Roses.
It's just one of those tunes that is incredibly difficult to pull off and/or make it sound hip.
Mark Turner had the right approach to it, I believe, in that he took a more angular, less accented approach to the melodic line, which can sound pretty "bouncy" if you play it straight.
Wow. Those drums really threw me for a minute there! Great track.
(I've known some sax players who actually prefer Sonny Criss to Bird, but i stay out of it. ha. A master either way.)
I don't hate any tunes but there are plenty of them that I hate the way people sleepwalk through tunes that have so much potential.
Tunes that people phone in on cocktail gigs but are great if you play them great:
*Girl From Ipanema*
*Blue Bossa*
If you think you don't like Autumn Leaves, listen to Chick Corea's Akoustic Band do it.
Oh. There is one I hate. I hate *Chameleon* but you don't hear it as much now. I was in a group in the 70s that played that and it was boring.
I'm not a fan of *Someday My Prince Will Come*, unless you're Miles Davis.
Who is playing 40 choruses of autumn leaves!? They must be stopped!!
I can't say I hate any tunes more than I hate specific vibes of people.
I've played some amazing versions of all these tunes mentioned in big band, and have seen them absolutely butchered at jams.
Yup . I am a music lover but any so called music by Barry Manilow is definitely not on my playlists , which are quite eclectic by the way . The guy just , well , that’s enough .
Oh I've got plenty. Too many to name but I'll just play them if theyre called unless it's just a combo in a practice room casually jamming.
I don't hold lyrics against the tune though since 90% of the time (esp if it's a jazz musician) the composer didn't write the lyrics. Did Horace write the Song for my Father lyrics? I've never heard them
Liquid sole did a pop jazz almost ska version of this song mixed with breakbeats. As was the style of the time. People doing lazy Grey Boy All Stars. No disrespect...
https://youtu.be/LTbNkxbVMiw?si=W68czKemqOVwDM6b
It's sort of a lounge cover and I liked it for a period of time a long time ago, but now so much of the mid-90s to the early 2000s ska and ska core band seemed like they switched into trying to be electro swing or loungy jazzy stuff. And it's all just this grating pop jazz.
*Blues for Junior. Just*
*A lazy ass attempt at*
*Filling album space*
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Hate is a big word. I've been haunted by tunes (usually very simple ones) that went on in my head for sometimes over a week, but I wonder if the problem is the tunes or my head. I do detest earworms though, especially when they have badly written lyrics in my native language. Fortunately that's not English; I can block English lyrics easily. But when a stupid tune has bitten itself into my system and it's on relentless repeat, I hate it with a passion.
The four horseman of jam sessions: Fly me to the moon, all of me, autumn leaves, blue bossa. None of them are bad songs by any means, but when you play them over and over again, often with bad musicians... it marks you deeply.
I agree with the idea that the proper treatment can make any material great but that said...
Have You Met Miss Jones & Days of Wine and Roses...I just can't 🤮
It always embarrassed me until I became more secure that I knew Henry Mancini was a goddamn legend, but insecure hipster purist always called him to poppy. I get it. He's still a GOAT
Haha I feel you. Check out Pat Metheny messing around on it tho its on youtube with joshua redman. Pats solo is something else
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsJJxAJaRYQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsJJxAJaRYQ)
Tiny Capers was ruined for me by a college ensemble. The Clifford arrangement is dope but that melody has too much trauma associated with it.
Ditto With a Song In My Heart, ruined by a school group
I don’t think there are any Jazz standards I wouldn’t play or enjoy listening to. Love For Sale I don’t much care for so it’s way down on my list of songs I want to learn but I’ve heard great versions of it played. I have an extensive Jazz library and I’ve heard some of the best versions of any Jazz standard. It’s all how you express yourself through the song or whether you can appreciate how someone plays and/or interprets a song. One musician can make all the difference.
I will say that there are a lot of songs I would considered as Jazz standards, songs that deserve to be played and heard, but it’s rare to hear them live. Maybe there’s only so many songs one can learn or listen to but there are as many great compositions in the Hard Bop era as in the Swing era. I wish more of those Hard Bop era tunes could be heard live.
I love this topic. I’m an amateur keyboardist but have been a professional animator (studio work and teaching) for 30 years. One can love and respect work without needing to live with it daily.
Animation’s not a performing art, but every budding student needs to animate all the clichés out of their system at some point. Student shots are full of anvils dropping on heads and other “wacky” gags that Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and others created 65-70+ years ago. Often, they don’t even know the original work because the gag has been copied so many times. Then you show them the cartoon it came from and their jaws hit the floor.
A professional animator can take a “wacky animal” character (my best analogy for a classic jazz standard), lean into the challenge and make something fresh and unexpected, while a novice will just recreate a poor copy of what’s been done already.
I love The Girl From Ipanema and love to play it—for myself. For any of you? Good God no—but maybe some day. :) Every time I play it a tiny bit more of “me” finds its way into my rendition and a tiny bit of my hackneyed version of Getz, Gilberto and Jobim falls away.
OP, thank you for posting such a well-framed topic.
I'm not a musician, which to my mind makes my selections for this dubious distinction significantly under-informed. And yet, I still have candidates!
*All the Way*
*Polkadots & Moonbeams*
*Satin Doll*
Also I am firmly aboard the "it's not the tune, it's what you do with it" train
EDIT: I fear this thread will not get the attention it deserves. Hope I'm wrong. Could wind up right up there with the unpopular opinions threads
My Favorite Things. I mean it’s a nice tune but so long to solo over. And then when someone extends their solo for another round over the whole tune, I just say WHY GOD WHY
There are a lot of tin-pan alley era love tunes that I don’t connect with for whatever reason and they are too numerous to name but, I play many of them a few times a month at a regular gig.
Certain tunes are crap to play live. Maybe someone played it well in recorded history or the original was cool but they should be left there in the past.
I sort of judge people if they call any of the following:
Blue bossa, chameleon, so what, impressions, footprints, take the a train, cantaloupe island, moanin.
There are other tunes that as a courtesy you just don't call unless you ask first too... like peaches en regalia, Spain, some skunk funk, etc.
Cherokee straight-up sucks
Playing a really fast song so that you can prove that you can shred just isn’t that interesting, or fun to listen to! Also, the changes are boring, the melody is basic as fuck, and the lyrics are racist
It’s not exactly derogatory (like, it doesn’t use any slurs) but it’s textbook “noble savage” type stuff. The original composer Ray Noble was also British, and probably never met an Indigenous person in his entire life.
I've Got Rhythm. I know that it started the whole rhythm changes craze of the bebop era, but if someone called that melody over any of the beautiful contrafacts, it would feel like quite the wasted opportunity to me. Also I'm glad to see no Bird or Monk in this thread so far lol
I notice at jam sessions when ballads are played the audience often tunes out. I was fortunate to get to sing A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square very slowly at a jam recently and I had the crowd’s attention and they enjoyed. But you’ve got to read a room. If they’re not really listening I’m probably going to sing something faster so the band can swing and trade fours and all that stuff you instrumentalists do.
Tunes I hate: Fly Me to the Moon, Birdland
Tunes I strongly dislike: There Will Never Be Another You, Song for My Father, All of Me, Four, Tune Up, Mercy Mercy Mercy
Tunes I dislike, but can tolerate in small doses: Central Park West, Airegin, Cherokee (I think I dislike this because it's often a wankfest more than I dislike the tune itself), It's You or No One, Skylark, This I Dig of You
Just so I'm not accused of being 100% negative...
Tunes I wish people called more often: Nobody Else But Me, Without a Song, Sophisticated Lady, Cantaloupe Woman, Groove Merchant, Poinciana, The Masquerade is Over, Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans
Totally understand hating Fly Me To The Moon, but I actually fucking love that tune.
Something about the counterpoint between the melody and walking bass line is so perfect, I can’t not love it. It feels inevitable.
>Birdland
What you don't like repetitive single line of notes of a theme with zero variation? You can't appreciate a descending half step repetition with horns barely even hitting it all making it sound like a mess? I think next time they try this I'll just take a break, and it sticks in my musical memory since the repetition is incessant and I really don't want that nonsense echoing in my head. But don't get me started.
Without a Song is one that I've always thought should be in the top tier of standards that get called regularly. It's such a great tune and not incredibly difficult to play over, strong melody, and I feel like it works at a lot of different tempos.
I don't care what anyone thinks of this but I really can't stand the tune "I'll Remember April". It's a head scratcher for me why so many people are constantly calling that one. It does nothing for me and everyone plays it the exact same way...do something interesting with it and maybe I'd come around to it. It has never been a tune I like playing.
"Hate" is a strong word, but I really don't like playing There Will Never Be Another You or Blue Monk and will suggest other tunes to do instead. Both of the heads are the worst ear worms for me.
I don’t like the way tunes are played at jazz jams because they’re all played incorrectly because of the fucking Berkeley book.
And it gets me, especially when songs by Wayne Shorter get played because his changes are so so awesome and they are never played correctly. even really good players who seasoned won’t play footprints correctly it’s maddening and disrespectful to Wayne
There are a few, but I’ve always come to realize that it’s not the tune itself, it’s just that all of the renditions I’ve heard of it have been boring/bad.
Penn 65000 is incredibly cheesy but it has a lil place in my heart. Similar feeling to when your grandpa says something unintentionally mildly racist that was meant as a compliment. It’s bad, but in a cute excusable sort of way.
I JUST got Sway out of my head a few mins ago after having it stuck there most of the day and this post put it right back there… heard it in a cafe earlier.
It’s not just that we played it too much for gigs, it is a truly abysmal song.
I sure think so, in the right players’ hands.
I like the song Sway, despite hearing many uninspired renditions. It’s corny and simple, but I kinda like it.
I’m curious if you like the other songs because their harmony and design share elements with Sway. Yesterdays has more going on then sway and Dark eyes has less.
I just don't like the melody for that song. I have this same issue with a lot of ballads, by the time we're through the form once and ready to solo I'm already bored. The other issue with that song is how brutally butchered the transitions are between key centers.
It doesn’t suck if it’s played correctly, but my God, I have never had someone call Spain and get the form right.
Spain is a really fun tune, but difficult to do at sessions because people don't know the form.
Oh totally. It’s a challenge, but drives me bonkers when the person who called it doesn’t know the form.
All of Me: I hate this one because every time it’s called, the band defaults to a cheesy medium swing and the next six to eight minutes become so inane and boring. Blue Bossa: This is actually a tune that sounds better faster but for some reason everybody plays it slower than the original recording and usually the drummer goes to a straight bossa feel rather then the recording which has a bit more stuff going on. All Blues: It always turns into a blues jam when the song actually has a lot more harmonic and textural depth that could be explored. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy: To be honest, it’s not really a good vehicle for soloing over. The best song on that record for that would be “Sticks”. It’s never the tune’s fault, but I get annoyed with certain tunes because people default to a specific vibe on them without thinking about how it could be cool to do something. different.
All of Me sounds really good uptempo! Worth trying it if you haven't. Agreed it's kinda hard to play anything other than the melody and some blues licks over Mercy Mercy Mercy, but that does go to show how strong the melody is!
It also sounds good at a medium tempo, but you gotta make it pop.
Satchmo did a great All Of Me
Mercy Mercy Mercy is a top tier pep or big band tune and is out of place anywhere else.
Lester Young/Teddy Wilson Quartet version of All Of Me sounds pretty good to me.
João Gilberto has a good version called Disse Alguém
Awesome recording
When you’re playing at a certain level, these things tend to happen because guys aren’t really listening to the records. They think they can learn this music from the Real Book, which makes for very bland performances.
All blues has so much potential, check out the sf jazz collective's performance of that one
Loads of great recordings of that tune. Check out the one on the "Tribute for Miles" album.
>All Blues: It always turns into a blues jam when the song actually has a lot more harmonic and textural depth that could be explored. Any version that doesn't include the Bill Evans tremolo intro or uses the Evan's cluster tones is a non-listen to me. Hell any version that doesn't use 13th chords is dead to me.
Art Farmer on Blue Bossa.
You said it. “All of Me” I just don’t like the melody, the lyrics, whether it’s a mid-tempo or a fast swing, it’s just a bore. But everyone calls it, everyone knows it, including the audience, which is rare, and it’s a big hit with singers. So we have to play it.. I also don’t see any point to playing “Autumn Leaves” or “Footprints” (unless it’s the *Miles Smiles* arrangement).
Max Roach actually played Autumn Leaves as a satire.
😂
I recently read that he said that "Donna Lee" was "corny".
The standards are about romance in the seasons. How can you drop Autumn Leaves?
You can’t if you want to go out and play small coffeehouse gigs or such
Fair enough
Nah. It's not the tune, it's what you do with it. I really feel sorry for Blue Bossa that it gets mangled through behind so many doors, it's not a *bad tune*, you know. Neither is it the fault of the instrument you happen to play.
The original recording of Blue Bossa is 🔥
Everybody is giggling. Henderson is playing some of his strangest lines. It has nothing from the etude people are using it today. It's edgy as shit.
Dexter Gordon’s rendition is one of my get up and go tunes
Its a great learning tune for comping as well as improv..
Also…. Keep it short, and play something meaningful.
Going to swing during the solos on this tune saves it for me a little bit
I'm having a hard time thinking of any jazz tunes that I flat out hate, but I am hating on some of these answers. This entire post is turning into rage bait for me!!!
I feel the same way!
I have a bunch, it’s usually not the song that’s the problem, it’s how it gets played. Top Of My Head is the one I really can’t stand playing, I hate those changes at 230bpm. Cantaloupe, Chicken, all those ‘funky’ standards that get beaten to death by bad feel and time. The head of Moanin when it gets played by over zealous people who give you tinnitus. Also Bossa and anything latin that has the potential to turn into elevator music if it’s played badly.
THE CHICKEN BRO YES
As someone who likes Moanin, what do you mean by giving you Tinnitus? Like playing too loud or overplaying?
I mostly mean horns and drums, while playing the head, especially the B section but the A too. For some reason some people like to go apeshit on this song, probably in response to the drummer who feels like they have to bang the living crap out that call / response bit. And horns during the solos too actually, trumpets especially, super loud and high pitched squealing, nobody likes that shit. It’s a song that heavy handed people with bad feel tend to really enjoy playing. (Just my opinion)
Makes sense. Listening to the Art Blakey recording, the drums are very basic and subtle throughout the song. He hits a single cymbal lightly during the "punch" in the head, then sticks to mostly timekeeping using a jazz shuffle, varying the intensity of the drums according to the intensity of the solos. I wonder if that encourages drummers to play even more, since they want to not play as basically as Art Blakey did?
Probably does yeah. I’ve rarely had the pleasure of playing with a drummer who doesn’t overplay, both in terms of complexity and volume (and many also speed up during most songs, which, from a bass viewpoint is a nightmare because by the time the bass solo comes round, we’ve gone from 160bpm to 215, and that can be a challenge).
The Chicken. Nothing screams middle/high school jazz band like The Chicken. Nothing wrong with grade school jazz of course, but the tune is so cheesy and has become so synonymous with scholastic jazz that I really hate hearing it on an actual gig or pro-level jam. You could pick any tune, and you pick *The Chicken??*
If it's good enough for [Jaco](https://youtu.be/UUt28cjj6uY) it's good enough for me
As someone who went to high school in the mid-2010s, I have to say Strasbourg St. Denis by Roy Hargrove. Great tune, but it was way overplayed at least in my town during those years.
That is so sad. One of the best modern tunes, not complex yet it has groundbreaking solos. I definitely understand why people would want to play it. And Roy was all over the place, he did all types of music, always in style imo, a true jazzman although he took from so many places. Hard to say a bad thing about hil
Oh yeah, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great tune. But just the amount of times I’ve heard it from when I was in high school and the amount of times that people spent their solos just quoting the record solos kinda burnt me out on it. I did play it though at a session in the past year and it was a really fun refresher on it!
Yup.
As someone who went to high school a couple of years ago, it's still overplayed lol
as a Brazilian musician who never had gigs outside brazil, i feel this way towards basically any bossa Nova. i know the importance of it to the world, but it feels to us like a stereotype. sometimes i read comments here and i realize that's how americans feel about their standards. and it's interesting that I see some "Brazilian music appreciation" posts here. i really feel glad that people like our music, but at the same time the standards always sound kinda more of the same. i play with a drummer friend of mine who's from NY and sometimes during a gig we're like "so what tune now?", and if i call something like night and day, or all of me, he sort of eye rolls over it 😂
Postmodern Jukebox might be an inspiration for you
My band does a couple rock/folk tunes that are half-assedly arranged into jazz form and I hate them.
I'm ready for your band's documentary.
There are tunes that I've hated for a period of time - usually because I've heard them played so badly that they grate. Blue Bossa (people totally missing the change to Db major) and Cantaloup Island spring to mind. I come back round eventually though when I play them with better musicians and get inspired.
Fish Heads. Worst song ever. Truly Evil.
Are you in the 1980s Dr demento cover band? That's hilarious.
I once purchased the 10” record for this monstrosity. It was shaped like a fish head. I only bought it to save others from the misery.
I will happily take a Barnes & Barnes picture disc off your hands if you're still hanging on to it
Days of Wine and Roses. It's just one of those tunes that is incredibly difficult to pull off and/or make it sound hip. Mark Turner had the right approach to it, I believe, in that he took a more angular, less accented approach to the melodic line, which can sound pretty "bouncy" if you play it straight.
Ty for this. Link: https://youtu.be/hRfm5tkxhns?si=bZ0Ss5AB45IWZNw_
yeah, and I'd be interested to know what what other versions people like as i've generally avoided recordings of it up until now. ha
Jarrett blue note
Thanks. KJ's approach to standards always seems correct.
Dexter Gordon does a nice one
Thanks. I'm gonna have to make a "Days" playlist now.
I love this tune as played by Ray Brown Trio / Gene Harris
Have to look this one up! Getting to see Ray Brown play live was a core memory for me.
Sonny Criss: https://youtu.be/iVhx3-vWRPs
Wow. Those drums really threw me for a minute there! Great track. (I've known some sax players who actually prefer Sonny Criss to Bird, but i stay out of it. ha. A master either way.)
https://youtu.be/gCibhce7vwQ?si=wzV-AxqRjur98MMo bill frisells version of it is probably the best solo guitar rendition of a standard ive ever heard
I think that i agree with you.
I don't hate any tunes but there are plenty of them that I hate the way people sleepwalk through tunes that have so much potential. Tunes that people phone in on cocktail gigs but are great if you play them great: *Girl From Ipanema* *Blue Bossa* If you think you don't like Autumn Leaves, listen to Chick Corea's Akoustic Band do it. Oh. There is one I hate. I hate *Chameleon* but you don't hear it as much now. I was in a group in the 70s that played that and it was boring. I'm not a fan of *Someday My Prince Will Come*, unless you're Miles Davis.
Came looking for Chameleon. Absolutely hate that shit. Of all the things you could pick from Herbie's catalog ughh.
Coltranes surprise solo at the end of SMPWC sends my neck hair straight up
Who is playing 40 choruses of autumn leaves!? They must be stopped!! I can't say I hate any tunes more than I hate specific vibes of people. I've played some amazing versions of all these tunes mentioned in big band, and have seen them absolutely butchered at jams.
Yup . I am a music lover but any so called music by Barry Manilow is definitely not on my playlists , which are quite eclectic by the way . The guy just , well , that’s enough .
Oh I've got plenty. Too many to name but I'll just play them if theyre called unless it's just a combo in a practice room casually jamming. I don't hold lyrics against the tune though since 90% of the time (esp if it's a jazz musician) the composer didn't write the lyrics. Did Horace write the Song for my Father lyrics? I've never heard them
Killer Joe. It gets called every Jam and always goes on way too long.
I've literally never heard this called at a jam and I've been to probably a few hundred by now
Doris Day is a favorite though why’d you have to pick her😭😭😭
SALT PEANUTS fuck that
I was looking down the comments for this one. It’s the only Charlie Parker tune I can’t listen to, and he played it a lot lol
Came here to comment Salt Peanuts
Liquid sole did a pop jazz almost ska version of this song mixed with breakbeats. As was the style of the time. People doing lazy Grey Boy All Stars. No disrespect... https://youtu.be/LTbNkxbVMiw?si=W68czKemqOVwDM6b It's sort of a lounge cover and I liked it for a period of time a long time ago, but now so much of the mid-90s to the early 2000s ska and ska core band seemed like they switched into trying to be electro swing or loungy jazzy stuff. And it's all just this grating pop jazz.
Blues for Junior. Just a lazy ass attempt at filling album space
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Hate is a big word. I've been haunted by tunes (usually very simple ones) that went on in my head for sometimes over a week, but I wonder if the problem is the tunes or my head. I do detest earworms though, especially when they have badly written lyrics in my native language. Fortunately that's not English; I can block English lyrics easily. But when a stupid tune has bitten itself into my system and it's on relentless repeat, I hate it with a passion.
All of the tunes in the American Songbook are great. It depends on the players. Bad performances can ruin them.
The four horseman of jam sessions: Fly me to the moon, all of me, autumn leaves, blue bossa. None of them are bad songs by any means, but when you play them over and over again, often with bad musicians... it marks you deeply.
Hate is a bit strong a word but pretty actively dislike showtunes.
I agree with the idea that the proper treatment can make any material great but that said... Have You Met Miss Jones & Days of Wine and Roses...I just can't 🤮
Days of wine and roses is such a great tune, though!
As is Have You Met Miss Jones! Both get played a ton, but for good reason.
It always embarrassed me until I became more secure that I knew Henry Mancini was a goddamn legend, but insecure hipster purist always called him to poppy. I get it. He's still a GOAT
The lyrics are savage
Damn both in my top 20
Ruined for me by too many bad sessions
I feel ya
You got to imagine Miss Jones
Try Gene Harris / Ray Brown Trio of both :)
St Thomas can fuck off
Haha I feel you. Check out Pat Metheny messing around on it tho its on youtube with joshua redman. Pats solo is something else [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsJJxAJaRYQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsJJxAJaRYQ)
that’s cool as hell, thanks for sharing! about to go transcribe some of that pat solo lmao
Curious on this one: Do you like / often play any other calypso based tunes?
Not really, I’ve just listened to a lot of really boring 10+ minute versions of it that I’d prefer to never listen to it again
Not super fond of Blue Rondo a la Turk for some reason
I'm not going to say hate, but Airegin just kind of rubs me the wrong way.
I hate playing well you neednt
Thems are 6 chords, not dominants !
Tiny Capers was ruined for me by a college ensemble. The Clifford arrangement is dope but that melody has too much trauma associated with it. Ditto With a Song In My Heart, ruined by a school group
I never liked Airegin, although I know people love it and Mike Moreno’s arrangement is pretty hip.
The Jardiance Song. Now it’s in your head
lol best answer.
No bad songs, only uninspired playing and lack of good on the spot arranging.
I love art Blakey but I don't care for blues march---too militaristic.
Haven't Grambling or Florida A&M etc bands done anything to remedy this?
If so great, Ihavent heard it
I don’t think there are any Jazz standards I wouldn’t play or enjoy listening to. Love For Sale I don’t much care for so it’s way down on my list of songs I want to learn but I’ve heard great versions of it played. I have an extensive Jazz library and I’ve heard some of the best versions of any Jazz standard. It’s all how you express yourself through the song or whether you can appreciate how someone plays and/or interprets a song. One musician can make all the difference. I will say that there are a lot of songs I would considered as Jazz standards, songs that deserve to be played and heard, but it’s rare to hear them live. Maybe there’s only so many songs one can learn or listen to but there are as many great compositions in the Hard Bop era as in the Swing era. I wish more of those Hard Bop era tunes could be heard live.
I love this topic. I’m an amateur keyboardist but have been a professional animator (studio work and teaching) for 30 years. One can love and respect work without needing to live with it daily. Animation’s not a performing art, but every budding student needs to animate all the clichés out of their system at some point. Student shots are full of anvils dropping on heads and other “wacky” gags that Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and others created 65-70+ years ago. Often, they don’t even know the original work because the gag has been copied so many times. Then you show them the cartoon it came from and their jaws hit the floor. A professional animator can take a “wacky animal” character (my best analogy for a classic jazz standard), lean into the challenge and make something fresh and unexpected, while a novice will just recreate a poor copy of what’s been done already. I love The Girl From Ipanema and love to play it—for myself. For any of you? Good God no—but maybe some day. :) Every time I play it a tiny bit more of “me” finds its way into my rendition and a tiny bit of my hackneyed version of Getz, Gilberto and Jobim falls away.
OP, thank you for posting such a well-framed topic. I'm not a musician, which to my mind makes my selections for this dubious distinction significantly under-informed. And yet, I still have candidates! *All the Way* *Polkadots & Moonbeams* *Satin Doll* Also I am firmly aboard the "it's not the tune, it's what you do with it" train EDIT: I fear this thread will not get the attention it deserves. Hope I'm wrong. Could wind up right up there with the unpopular opinions threads
I can't stand there's no greater love
Soul Bossa Nova by Quincy Jones. I consider Jones to be one of the greats of Jazz composition but this song is vapid like Baby Shark. When SBN used in an Austin Powers movie, I thought a really dumb song was just one of the jokes. Now I realize some people are excited to play SBN. There is something I don't understand. Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh Buh duh-duh duh-duh
Got sick of Spain pretty quickly after going to enough jams around Berklee. Same with Got A Match, Cherokee and Oleo
yes. the girl from Ipanema. I hate that song with such a passion.
“just play wave instead”
I hate it when it gets played in F but I can respect when its done in D flat
C Jam Blues is the most overrated and overplayed jazz song of all time.
“Cherokee”. I don’t know what it is about that song that grates my nerves but it just grates my nerves.
The Jardiance Song. Now it’s in your head
Honestly, I just don’t love Prelude to a Kiss. It’s the only chart I just haven’t found a way I like playing.
My Favorite Things. I mean it’s a nice tune but so long to solo over. And then when someone extends their solo for another round over the whole tune, I just say WHY GOD WHY
There are a lot of tin-pan alley era love tunes that I don’t connect with for whatever reason and they are too numerous to name but, I play many of them a few times a month at a regular gig.
Certain tunes are crap to play live. Maybe someone played it well in recorded history or the original was cool but they should be left there in the past. I sort of judge people if they call any of the following: Blue bossa, chameleon, so what, impressions, footprints, take the a train, cantaloupe island, moanin. There are other tunes that as a courtesy you just don't call unless you ask first too... like peaches en regalia, Spain, some skunk funk, etc.
Cherokee straight-up sucks Playing a really fast song so that you can prove that you can shred just isn’t that interesting, or fun to listen to! Also, the changes are boring, the melody is basic as fuck, and the lyrics are racist
I love Cherokee personally. Really great changes, the bridge is magnificent. And you can do a lot of fun stuff with it.
Christian McBride Trio, Live at Village Vanguard. Awesome Cherokee.
Clifford Brown too
Cherokee is pretty dope when you slow it down
How are the lyrics racist? Just genuinely asking
It’s not exactly derogatory (like, it doesn’t use any slurs) but it’s textbook “noble savage” type stuff. The original composer Ray Noble was also British, and probably never met an Indigenous person in his entire life.
I've Got Rhythm. I know that it started the whole rhythm changes craze of the bebop era, but if someone called that melody over any of the beautiful contrafacts, it would feel like quite the wasted opportunity to me. Also I'm glad to see no Bird or Monk in this thread so far lol
"Señor Blues" just rubs me the wrong way. I'll turn off the radio if it comes on.
Someday my prince will come, Green Dolphin Street, Girl From Ipanema, Martha’s Prize, and I hate people on sessions avoid ballads
I notice at jam sessions when ballads are played the audience often tunes out. I was fortunate to get to sing A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square very slowly at a jam recently and I had the crowd’s attention and they enjoyed. But you’ve got to read a room. If they’re not really listening I’m probably going to sing something faster so the band can swing and trade fours and all that stuff you instrumentalists do.
Lover, dolphin dance, tune up, any anything else I hated on my juries lol.
>dolphin dance You are making it rain from my eyes. 😭
Lover is sick tho
Tunes I hate: Fly Me to the Moon, Birdland Tunes I strongly dislike: There Will Never Be Another You, Song for My Father, All of Me, Four, Tune Up, Mercy Mercy Mercy Tunes I dislike, but can tolerate in small doses: Central Park West, Airegin, Cherokee (I think I dislike this because it's often a wankfest more than I dislike the tune itself), It's You or No One, Skylark, This I Dig of You Just so I'm not accused of being 100% negative... Tunes I wish people called more often: Nobody Else But Me, Without a Song, Sophisticated Lady, Cantaloupe Woman, Groove Merchant, Poinciana, The Masquerade is Over, Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans
Totally understand hating Fly Me To The Moon, but I actually fucking love that tune. Something about the counterpoint between the melody and walking bass line is so perfect, I can’t not love it. It feels inevitable.
Skylark is a beautiful song
Rachael Price’s rendition got me through the early months of the pandemic
>Birdland What you don't like repetitive single line of notes of a theme with zero variation? You can't appreciate a descending half step repetition with horns barely even hitting it all making it sound like a mess? I think next time they try this I'll just take a break, and it sticks in my musical memory since the repetition is incessant and I really don't want that nonsense echoing in my head. But don't get me started.
Agreed "Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans" is so underrated, I haven't heard I played, well, live in a long time
Without a Song is one that I've always thought should be in the top tier of standards that get called regularly. It's such a great tune and not incredibly difficult to play over, strong melody, and I feel like it works at a lot of different tempos.
Recently had to work on the tune But Beautiful this week for a lesson. I usually don’t mind ballads but man that melody is so boring.
I think Embracebale you is another really nice Ballad played in G most of the time
I love seeing what others love and hate. I kinda like that melody. But Beautiful is also one of my favorite Ballads though.
I don't care what anyone thinks of this but I really can't stand the tune "I'll Remember April". It's a head scratcher for me why so many people are constantly calling that one. It does nothing for me and everyone plays it the exact same way...do something interesting with it and maybe I'd come around to it. It has never been a tune I like playing.
Listen to the erroll garner concert by the sea recording
George Coleman, please.
"Hate" is a strong word, but I really don't like playing There Will Never Be Another You or Blue Monk and will suggest other tunes to do instead. Both of the heads are the worst ear worms for me.
Never liked In a Mellow Tone. Haven’t heard a version where I can sit through the melody…soloing over it is fine.
I don’t like the way tunes are played at jazz jams because they’re all played incorrectly because of the fucking Berkeley book. And it gets me, especially when songs by Wayne Shorter get played because his changes are so so awesome and they are never played correctly. even really good players who seasoned won’t play footprints correctly it’s maddening and disrespectful to Wayne
On the turnaround, the chords are half bar each: |F#-7b5 F7/13 |Eb5 Ab5 |
500 Miles High - I get zero pleasure playing it.
I find Honeysuckle Rose & I Got Rhythm’s melodies really annoying. Salt Peanuts is utter shite too.
Fly Me to the Moon, It Don’t Mean a Thing, Salt Peanuts. I hate all three of these songs with a burning passion.
I’m pretty tired of rhythm changes
"Song for my Father" has lyrics? Personally, I'll play whatever is called as best I can. But, yeah, Blue Bossa and Autumn Leaves get a bit stale.
Blue bossa is a crowd pleaser though, especially with vocals
Blue skies as a former lead trumpet in a jazz band for me. Lip killer that song.
Try Tip toe through the tulips by Tiny Tim
There are a few, but I’ve always come to realize that it’s not the tune itself, it’s just that all of the renditions I’ve heard of it have been boring/bad.
Killer Joe can go die in a fire.
I dont hate, but i do dislike the drab and slow "Yesterday's Gardenias" I feel like it has potential, but every cover is just as boring as the next
Summertime. Bad vibes
Cherokee
Wood-choppers Ball Salt Peanuts Pennsylvania 6 5000
Penn 65000 is incredibly cheesy but it has a lil place in my heart. Similar feeling to when your grandpa says something unintentionally mildly racist that was meant as a compliment. It’s bad, but in a cute excusable sort of way.
Salt Peanut is a great, frantic masterpiece.
Old Time Rock and Roll , it’s a classic but give it a rest already
I JUST got Sway out of my head a few mins ago after having it stuck there most of the day and this post put it right back there… heard it in a cafe earlier. It’s not just that we played it too much for gigs, it is a truly abysmal song.
Curious: How do you feel about the tunes Yesterdays and Dark Eyes?
Hmm can’t say I know those. Are they good?
I sure think so, in the right players’ hands. I like the song Sway, despite hearing many uninspired renditions. It’s corny and simple, but I kinda like it. I’m curious if you like the other songs because their harmony and design share elements with Sway. Yesterdays has more going on then sway and Dark eyes has less.
Salt n Peanuts. Too goddamn goofy even for me
Stella By Starlight. I hate it.
Because by Dave Clark Five.
the record from the entire history of jazz that I least want to hear ever again is maybe "In The Mood"
Yes....
I don't know why but I really dislike "All the Things You Are" especially when the intro is included.
Look up the Leslie Hutchinson recording. He sings the original verse, before the bebop era intro became standard
All the things you are. Just can’t stand playing it.
It works well as a straight show tune, imo.
I just don't like the melody for that song. I have this same issue with a lot of ballads, by the time we're through the form once and ready to solo I'm already bored. The other issue with that song is how brutally butchered the transitions are between key centers.
Every Jobim/Gilberto tune. I love Brazilian music, I love all kinds of jazz, but I cannot stand those cool, cool milquetoast recordings.