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).
Check out what Cassandra Wilson did with "The Wichita Lineman" and "Last Train To Clarksville." She could sing the phone book and I'd listen.
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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.
Last Chance! The Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac® Special Ends Today (May 31, 2026) at 11:59pm PDT!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Special Offers Extended Until May 31st!
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 is packed with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can transcribe an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®.
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202 New RealTracks Released with Band-in-a-Box 2026!
With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Funk & World (Sets 468-475):
Our new jazz, funk & blues RealTracks include a groovin’ collection of RealTracks and RealDrums! These include more requested “soul jazz” RealTracks featuring artists Neil Swainson (bass), Charles Treadway (organ), Brent Mason (guitar), and Wes Little (drums). There are new “smooth jazz” styles (4), which include a RealTracks first: muted trumpet, as well as slick new smooth jazz brushes options for drums. Blues lovers will be thrilled—there are more “classic acoustic blues” styles, including guitar (5), bass (4), and drums (10) with blues master Colin Linden, featuring understated and tasty background acoustic soloing, plus brushes drums and acoustic bass. There are also new electric blues RealTracks, including electric blues with PG favorite Johnny Hiland (3) and soulful electric slide guitar from Colin Linden (4). If you love funk & gospel, there are great new options this year, including gospel organ (3) from Charles Treadway, as well as new funk, tango, and rock ’n’ roll drums (3) and bass (1). And for big, bold arrangements, we have uptempo soul horns (4) featuring a three-part hip horn section with options for a full mix or stems of each individual horn — plus an accompanying rhythm section (4) of drums, bass, guitar, and electric piano!
Rock & Pop (Sets 476–482):
Our new rock & pop RealTracks bring a powerful mix of requested favorites, fresh genres, and modern chart-inspired styles! We have more of our popular “Producer Layered Acoustic Guitars (15)” featuring Band-in-a-Box favorite Brent Mason. We’ve continued our much-requested disco styles (10), and added new Celtic guitar (5) with a more basic, accessible approach than our previous Drop-D or DADGAD offerings. There are also highly requested yacht rock styles (17), inspired by the smooth, polished soft-rock sound of the late ’70s and early ’80s — laid-back grooves, silky electric pianos, warm textures, elegant harmonic movement, and pristine production aesthetics. Fans of heavier styles will love our new glam metal (13), capturing the flashy, high-energy sound of ’80s arena-ready guitar rock. We also have a set of rootsy modern-folk rock (18), with a warm, organic sound combining contemporary folk textures and driving acoustic strumming. And we’ve added lots of new modern pop styles (16) — the kinds of sounds you’re hearing on the radio today, featuring exciting new drums, synths, and cutting-edge RealTracks arrangements.
Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.
And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.
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2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App
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20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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