For playing casual jazz gigs, where the audience is younger and not familiar with the traditional jazz standards repetoire (Satin Doll, Fly Me to the Moon etc.), it is helpful to be able to play pop tunes that are adaptable to a jazz combo.
Here's a few:
Yesterday (Beatles) Michelle (Beatles) Don't Know Why (Nora Jones) You've Got A Friend (Carole King) Sunshine of My Life (Stevie Wonder)
Could others add tunes to this list... as that list above is looking long-in-the-tooth, and others might have found recent tunes that work well.
I have found that when the target jazz song is known and loved by the age group in my audience, they really appreciate the performance. Not so much when the target song is one of the great old Standards known to a generation or two previous to my audience. I do try to still include a few of the old ones, though.
American Jazz Pianist Ramsey Lewis led the way, his "In Crowd" version is still quite popular. Here it is updated to the '90s, using "Wade in the Water" The Groove MASTER:
Extra Credit if you know who Ramsey Lewis original Jazz Drummer was, here's a hint:
Paul McCartney's Blackbird.
Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror.
I learned this one first on guitar from transcribing the mighty Tuck Andress.
Halfway through the process of defining my own guitar performance, I one day realized that this one makes a wonderful Shout Chorus on piano, Gospel Style. Goes over well almost everywhere. Key of G and Gospel Piano is way cool and rather easy. Piano Jazz Trio or Quartet, this performance makes the toddlers get up and DANCE. If you can hit the toddlers, you've hit everyone else in the room, man.
Then do the Faux Ending trick. Wait a bit, and start up that Shout Chorus stuff One Mo' Time...
Miles, of course, was always on the lookout for modern hit tunes that had enough interesting changes in them.
Time After Time:
I've gotten a bit of mileage out of The Police/Sting tune, "I'll Be Watching You" as Jazz Piano. Not many know that Sting first wrote the song at home on his Hammond A-100 organ as a jazz piece, recorded his organ playing as demo for the band, but the project got mired down in the studio until the guitarist went home and worked out that arpeggiatic signature guitar track. After that, One Take.
Here's Karen Souza, singing it as a Jazz tune:
Then there are the fantastic Reggae covers of Bob Marley that the man whom I've personally named the successor to Oscar Peterson's throne, Monty Alexander has done. Monty was the original studio pianist on many of Bob Marley's creations, also serving as the knowledgeable voice concerning arranging, chording, etc. - And Monty also held the House Piano position at Birdland for years. (!)
When I first encountered Monty's Jazz Piano Trio version of "No Woman No Cry" I immediately spent a pleasant afternoon working it out and it was on the setlist the very next day:
Nice "Builder" kinda thang, build it slow, then SHOUT CHORUS BABY! (Yeah, I had the tenacity to think that I could add to what Monty did with that one, but hey, it works, and if you are somewhere sometime where it isn't, don't shout it, just end the tune.)
Use that #9, man. Those in the know, check out Monty's quote near the end in this one. We can play newer tunes and also pay tribute to the classic Bebop/Modern Jazz while doing it.
"The Look of Love" always goes over with the 60's generation, especially the ladies, it seems. I, of course, play it as a Piano Ballad from time to time, since I can't sing like Diana Krall:
While we are talking about the great Canadian jazz musicians like Diana, let's not overlook the fantastic Michael Buble, who has taken the Jazz Tenor Male Singer up two notches by covering a lot of the newer tunes. "Save the Last Dance for Me":
Hey, we got Harry Connick Jr. stateside. He covers 60s and newer songs as well as the older standards. Here he is doing Stevie Wonder's "For Once in My Life". That's fellow Pittsburgher Ned Gould sittin' the Alto Sax chair, he and I used to gig together in local bands we'd both likely rather not be mentioned today *grin*. (No, Mike plays the Tenor Solo here:
Don't forget about the R&B tunes, either, many of which were darn near jazz anyway, since many of the Studio Session Players of that era were actually Jazz Musicians hired to backup the singers when the sun was shining.
Here's Monty Alexander again, I Got My Mojo Workin'" which is also much the same as the other hit from the same era, "High Heel Sneakers" (And wear yo' wig hat on yo' head..."
Monty Alexander, John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton Swingin' HARD at KPLU FM NPR:
Hey, you can even cover a Radiohead tune, (!) here's "Creep" as a medium slow jazz piano ballad:
I don't think anyone would have ever known the name of Jim Morrison if it wasn't for Ray Manzarek, who, after all was first and foremost a jazz pianist. Almost any of the Doors tunes can work out as a jazz tune, give or take:
Same song makes a marvelous jazz minor performance for those into Gypsy Jazz:
Even Eric Clapton's tunes aren't safe from us jazzers. Note the use of an old standard as an Intro. That trick alone can be both fun, and the surprise of the audience always works - Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" morphed into Eric Clapton's "Layla" -note the audience response, I find this trick useful if not overdone in the same set:
If you can't figure out anything else that works with it, by all means try a Bossa. Here's "Bossa in Beatles" covering The Beatles' "Hear Comes the Sun" and advancing that particular method very well:
"Oh Darling" -- this is nuthin' but a Blooz tune, which to any experience jazzer means the sky's the limit on what can be done. Even as a Jazz Ballad w/female singer: (If a pianist knows their Chicago Blues Piano stuff, have at it as an instrumental!:
Some listings from my own setlist include:
Beatles' "Get Back" as piano jazz. (After all, that was Billy Preston on the track, right?)
"Killing Me Softly"
"Another One Bites the Dust" -- I save this one for when there is a savvy Tenor (or Bari!) Saxophonist on the gig.
Try The Door's "Light My Fire" as a piano ballad, being certain to play Manzarek's signature Organ Intro part to it, as that is when the audience recognition kicks in, judging from all the raised faces and interrupted conversations when I play it. Slow Ballad is my present usage. Works.
(Once I Found) A Secret Love may in actuality be slightly pre 60's tune, but for some reason is known to all and the song and its changes can work well in anything from Organ Trio to full on bigband, and in between.
"More Today Than Yesterday" - Works every time its played. This one is now a Jazz Organ Standard, covered by many of the greats, don't hesitate to make it happen on your own instrument.
Okay, that's enough, likely too much, hey, did I mention that I LIKE covering the more modern good tunes with usably good changes as Jazz? It is entirely about Audience Response.
Work 'em until you've attained Strong Performance and they will work well for you too.
'The Bad Plus' are the go-to piano trio specializing in modern day pop song covers. They cover the whole spectrum of post 60's pop from Burt Bacharach to groups like Nirvana and even Abba. Each song's melody is respected yet given a substantial makeover in a very modern post bop/fusion idiom which can sound by turns as Elegiac as anything by Bill Evans or else tricky and abstract and played with a decidedly rock sounding attack and physicality.
Their interpretations of well known tune are as revelatory as they are idiosyncratic and you should check out the samples of their work on Amazon or youtube. A partial list of their cover versions includes
David Bowie : Life on Mars Abba : Dancing Queen Nirvana : Smells Like Teen Spirit Burt Bacharach : This Guy's in Love with You Rush : Tom Sawyer Black Sabbath : Iron Man Radiohead : Karma Police Blondie : Heart Of Glass Aphex Twin : Film Tears for Fears : Everybody Wants to Rule The World Longwave : Everywhere you Turn
Another artist in this vein is Brad Mehldau, one of the most gifted post-Bill Evans pianists of his generation. His covers are equally surprising in their source material but more within a typical Jazz piano trio vocabulary in their rendition. A partial list of his covers includes
Radiohead : Exit Music Radiohead : Everything in Its Right Place Radiohead : Paranoid Android Sufjan Stevens : Holland Neil Young : Harvest The Beatles : Blackbird Nick Drake : Things Behind the Sun Nick Drake : River Man Paul Simon : Still Crazy After All These Years
Nice list, Mac. If you go to jazz standards.com and sort their list by date, you get about 50 from the sixties and a handful from the seventies. Some of these the younger crowd won't be familiar with either but it' s a good selection (Bossa nova, Beatles, Stevie Wonder).
Here's The Bad Plus doing their slow-burn jazz version of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", live from a club in Sydney. Take a look at the shots of the audience.
I am not sure that the premise of this topic is absolutely correct because I think a basic of appealing to a younger audience is that you have to change the rhythm to something more familiar. When you drop 'swing' from the format, it then becomes debatable as to whether you are still playing jazz.
For instance, perhaps the most successful big band we ever had in Australia was the Daly Wilson Big Band. Warren Daly was fond of saying something like, "We are not a 'swing' band. We are a big 'rock 'n roll' band!" That always made me smile because they had some of the best jazz musicians in the world in that band (James Morrison etc.) and it could swing like crazy when it wanted to. Ed Wilson is these days perhaps Australia's most successful arranger and his charts are played by all the youngsters in their High School big bands, jazz bands and stage bands. This is one of the original Daly Wilson Big Band Charts but played by a young band:
Is it jazz? I confess I sometimes have doubts but I love it nonetheless! We certainly have to interest the younger musicians if jazz is to survive.
And so I have personally used Band-in-a-Box to explore a lot of ways of playing tunes other than jazz standards, but still retaining the basic elements of jazz. One of the easiest ways is to play Smooth jazz, but a diet of music all played in that style bores me to tears. Great for sitting in a coffee shop or restaurant but for real jazz improvisation and excitement for a live audience, perhaps not. It is a dilemma for we jazz fans and musicians.
Anyway, that is enough soapboxing. Here is my list of suggestions:
Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers The Air That I Breath by Albert Hammond & Mike Hazlewood Always On My Mind by Thompson, James & Christopher And I Love Her by Lennon and McCartney And I Love You So by Don McClean As Tears Go by Mick Jagger, Keith Riohard & Andrew Oldham Better Be Home Soon by Neil Finn Candle In The Wind by Bernie Taupin & Elton John Can You Read My Mind by John Williams and Leslie Bricusse Colour My World by James Pankow Crazy by Willie Nelson Crying by Roy Orbison & Bill Dees Don't Cry Out Loud by Peter Allen & Carole Bayer Sager Don't Know Why by Jesse Harris Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight by James Taylor Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying by Gerard Marsden, Les Chadwick & Les Maguire Endless Love by Lionel Richie Every Breath You Take by Sting Every Time You Go Away by Daryl Hall Have I Told You Lately by Van Morrison He Ain't Heavy.. He's My Brother by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell Hello by Lionel Richie How Can You Mend A Broken Heart by Barry & Robin Gibb How Deep Is Your Love by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb I Don't Know How To Love Him by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice I'd Rather by Sorry by Kris Kristofferson If by David Gates If I Fell by Lennon & McCartney If Tomorrow Never Comes by Kent Blazy & Garth Brooks If You Leave Me Now by Peter Cetera I'll Stand By You by Chrissie Hynde, Tom Kelly & Billy Steinberg Imagine by John Lennon In Dreams by Roy Orbison In My Life by Lennon & McCartney Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel The Long And Winding Road by Lennon and McCartney Long, Long Time by Gary B. White Love Has No Pride by Eric Kaz & Libby Titus My Love by Paul & Linda McCartney On And On by Stephen Bishop Please Don't Ask Me by Graham George Goble She's Out Of My Life by Tom Bahler Softly, As I Leave You by Hal Shaper & A. De Vita Sweet, Sweet Love by Russell Morris Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton & Will Jennings Through The Eyes Of Love by Marvin Hamlish & Carole Bayer Sager True Love Ways by Norman Petty & Buddy Holly Vincent by Don McLean We're All Alone by Boz Scaggs What I Did For Love by Marvin Hamlisch & Eward Kleban While My Guitar Gently Weeps by George Harrison Woman by John Lennon Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton Words by Gibbs Bros World Without Love by Paul McCartney You Are So Beautiful by Billy Preston & Bruce Fisher You Are The Sunshine Of My Life by Stevie Wonder You're The Inspiration by Peter Cetera & David Foster You Needed Me by Randy Goodrum You Raise Me Up by Rolf Lovland & Brendan Graham
Of course my taste in pop music might be a bit dated.
I also find that tunes played with a Latin rhythm (Bossa Nova, etc) tend to be liked by both old jazz fans and younger general audiences.
Then there is Funk and Ska with elements of pop and jazz built in.
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A few excerpts:
"The Tracks view is possibly the single most powerful addition in 2024 and opens up a new way to edit and generate accompaniments. Combined with the new MultiPicker Library Window, it makes BIAB nearly perfect as an 'intelligent' composer/arranger program."
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We hope you find some inspiration from this amazing collection of User Showcase Songs!
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