What is a Jazz standard?

Jazz standards are a pretty important part of the genre - but what is a jazz standard? And what makes a particular song a jazz standard? This video unpacks both those questions and a bunch of other stuff you didn't ask for.
This is the first in a series of videos I'm making called 'The Jazz Standards". Each goes into detail about a particular standard and features a couple of important recordings. Watch all the videos here: All my 'The Jazz Standards' videos: • The Jazz Standards
I'm Tim Beau Bennett, and I'm making videos about jazz history. Sometimes I talk about jazz musicians, sometimes the songs, and sometimes about genres. I play jazz guitar, though I would call myself a keen amateur, rather than a professional. These videos are a work in progress, but there are many more to come - so please subscribe and let me know what you'd like to see in the comments!
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[@DavidBennettPiano]

I would say that songs do become jazz standards today when modern jazz artists cover them a lot but that it would be misleading to call them “jazz standards” as that term now has a historical connotation to it.
I think tunes like Bacharach’s “Close To You”, Stevie Wonder’s “You are the sunshine” or even “Billie Jean” could be considered standards from a practical point of view.

[@TimBeauBennett]

I think I agree with that read. I feel like the number of modern jazz players who've covered smells like teen spirit or everything in it's right place makes those songs somewhat 'jazz standardized', but it would be pretty misleading to call them jazz standards.

[@locked797]

I think that jazz standrards should be what jazz musicians usually jam to. Like Strasbourg should definitely be considered a jazz standard, aswell as the others you mention. Great vid!

[@TimBeauBennett]

Thanks! But also how good is Strasbourg St Denis?

[@locked797]

@@TimBeauBennett it's a great song that is very comfortable to improvise over. Also easy to play/ learn, its usually the first song I show kids who want to play jazz.

[@TimBeauBennett]

That's a good call, only the one chord outside the scale, and incredibly hip.

[@sat1241]

@@TimBeauBennett A good topic for a video would be why have so few pop or Broadway songs 1970 to the present become standards. Another video what are some songs that are recent are good enough to be done by Jazz musicians maybe in each decade 1970 to present. Yes most is lacking in harmony but out of thousands there are some great harmonies.
And even more traditional forms in recent decade Broadway shows.
Maybe somebody should write a real book of this more recent stuff to attempt to codify it.
Some Stevie Wonders songs sometimes get done, Radiohead even, Beatles Blackbird, Fragile by Sting
An Adele song maybe?

[@josevalenzuela3477]

Them Changes by Thundercat could be considered as a jazz standard

[@TimBeauBennett]

Man that track slaps

[@JohnnyJohnathan]

But, NO

[@Phaseish]

DUDE YOURT HAT IS SO fire I need it!

[@conradgarrison6550]

You’re the best man thank you!

[@curtpiazza1688]

Great insights! Thanx!

[@JohnnyJohnathan]

Great content!!!! You should do a video in how the standards grow or decrease in popularity in certain epochs of jazz history, like when everybody's was recording All the things, but know people would think its almost corny if you record it.

[@TimBeauBennett]

I've been playing with some data that's kind of related to this actually, around which standards are actually been played at jam nights/recorded. Not the easiest thing to get numbers on though, so it's taking a while!

[@Aadi_sreekumar]

Amazing video, very well produced and super informative!

[@TimBeauBennett]

Cheers, thanks for watching!

[@mihirsingh7156]

Love your channel man! Keep it up

[@TimBeauBennett]

Cheers mate, much appreciated!

[@hansramirez6564]

here before a thousand subs. great work

[@TimBeauBennett]

Haha cheers Hans - appreciate the early support XD

[@muhammadryan654]

Very informative. Thanks, buddy. Have a nice day (or evening depending on when you read this).

[@TimBeauBennett]

11am right now, so I will try to have a great day - the same for you!

[@maximbelmont4641]

Russell Gunn rendition of Carl Thomas R&B classic I Wish could have been a new standard if he was sign to a major label.

[@carlito6038]

cantaloupe island modern one

[@carlito6038]

also take 5

[@FabrizioPeretti]

Is sunny a new standard?

[@TimBeauBennett]

I'd definitely call it a standard in some scenes, although it might be a stretch to call it new.
But in any case, Sunny is super dope

[@FabrizioPeretti]

@@TimBeauBennett it is man! I mean I come from the shred world and after Greg Howe did his thing on it I think it started to be considered a Jazzy-jamsession-standard tune by the rock players 🤠

[@TimBeauBennett]

Yeah it's my go-to tune at non-jazz jams, I like that there's some cross-genre awareness of it. The version I always re-watch is the YT vid with Pat Martino, John Scofield, and Joey Defrancesco, it's wild.

[@FabrizioPeretti]

@@TimBeauBennett damn it's been a while since i checked it last time! Let's see how i like it after all this practice :)

[@nikhiliyer9371]

Autumn leaves!

[@TimBeauBennett]

Yeah!

[@lionelmandela4367]

Isn't she lovely?