A Few of My Favorite Things
My main attraction to jazz has to do with improvisation and interplay, but I also love a good tune. There are several old standards I dig, a perennial favorite being “On Green Dolphin Street” - I just like hearing what players do with it. (“Without a Song”, “Blame It On My Youth”, and several Berlins and Porters come to mind as well.) As for original compositions, I first have to separate the Thelonious Monk bounty:
Fave Monk:
“Ruby My Dear”
“Played Twice”
“Coming on the Hudson”
“Reflections”
“Crepuscule with Nellie”
“Monk’s Dream”
“Work”
“Skippy”
“Criss Cross”
“Brilliant Corners”
Other favorite jazz originals:
“Black Narcissus”, “Punjab” - Joe Henderson
“Now He Sings Now He Sobs” - Chick Corea
“Nefertiti” - Wayne Shorter
“Isfahan” - Billy Strayhorn
“Joshua”, “Seven Steps to Heaven” - Victor Feldman
“Speak Like a Child” - Herbie Hancock
“Walkin’ Up” - Bill Evans
“Red Clay”, “Intrepid Fox” - Freddie Hubbard
“Four Winds”, “Homecoming” - Dave Holland
“Vashkar”, “Seven” - Carla Bley (as played by Paul)
“Directions” - Joe Zawinul
“Ambleside” - John Taylor
“Blue Fable” - Jackie McLean
“Spiral Dance”, “Southern Smiles” - Keith Jarrett
“Beyond All Limits” - Woody Shaw
“Central Park West” - John Coltrane
“Nardis” - Miles Davis, owned by Bill Evans
“Rising Sun” - Dave Brubeck
“The Blessing” - Ornette Coleman
“Back Home”, “Thandiwa” - Grachan Moncur
“Cyclic Episode” - Sam Rivers
I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting at the moment. I’ll bypass Andrew Hill, Herbie Nichols, and Charles Mingus, because they each (like Monk) inhabit their own worlds. I hear almost every Andrew Hill composition as another passage in a larger, interrelated symphony.
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