Welcome to Repertoire!

This is the place where we take a look at some of the most commonly played jazz standards. If it’s your first time on the page, then please download a PDF of your choice and watch the video introductory video; where I explain how everything works.

The repertoire is separated into different ‘levels’ of difficulty, mainly based on the harmonic concepts used in the pieces.

In the true tradition of jazz music, I recommend transcribing the melodies for the tunes from a recording that you like the sound of. Every jazz standard has multiple melodic (and sometimes harmonic) interpretations - so there are no rights or wrongs! There’s a Spotify playlist with a couple of versions of each tune in to get you started.

Level 1

Looking for somewhere to start - ‘Learn the Blues’ covers the most common chord sequence in jazz, starting with a simple, three chord blues before adding in the all important ii-V-I progression. After you’ve mastered this, feel free to check out any of the other tunes in this level (you’ll start to notice similarities!

Harmonic concepts covered:

• The Major ii V I.

• The 12 bar blues.

• The dominant 7 chord.

• The minor 7 chord.

• The major 7 chord.

Level 2

If you’re comfortable with your major ii V I’s then why not try some tunes from Level 2. These focus on the minor ii V I, with one or two other surprises along the way.

Harmonic Concepts Covered:

• The m7b5 as mode ii of the harmonic minor.

• The 7b9b13 as mode V of the harmonic minor.

• The minor ii V I.

• The Secondary Dominant.

• The iii VI ii V turnaround.

• Common Modulations including; relative major/minor, subdominant and by semitones.

Level 3

Happy with your functional harmony? Got your ii V I’s, secondary dominant and common modulations down? Then here are some more challenging tunes to get stuck into 😉