Showing posts with label Coleman Hawkins. Show all posts

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Jazz: Top 100 Songs of All Time

Jazz:

Top 100 Songs

This is an aggregate of 30 lists (see sources at the bottom of the page) focused on the best jazz songs of all time. Many of these were not originally jazz compositions and have higher-ranked versions in Dave’s Music Database. As such, the listings here are not necessarily the most popular versions of the song, but the one attributed specifically to a jazz artist.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong “Summertime” (1957)
2. Dave Brubeck “Take Five” (1961)
3. Duke Ellington “Take the ‘A’ Train” (1941)
4. Coleman Hawkins “Body and Soul” (1940)
5. Thelonious Monk “‘Round Midnight” (1947)
6. Miles Davis “So What” (1959)
7. Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World” (1967)
8. Stan Getz with Joao Gilberto “The Girl from Ipanema” (1964)
9. Dizzy Gillespie “A Night in Tunisia” (1946)
10. Cannonball Adderley “Autumn Leaves” (1958)

11. Benny Goodman “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” (1938)
12. Billie Holiday “Strange Fruit” (1939)
13. Frank Sinatra “Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)” (1964)
14. Ray Charles “Georgia on My Mind” (1960)
15. Erroll Garner Trio “Misty” (1954)
16. Glenn Miller “In the Mood” (1939)
17. Miles Davis “All Blues” (1959)
18. John Coltrane “Acknowledgement (A Love Supreme, Part I)” (1965)
19. John Coltrane “My Favorite Things” (1960)
20. Miles Davis “Blue in Green” (1959)

21. Weather Report “Birdland” (1977)
22. Fats Waller “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (1929)
23. Duke Ellington “Sophisticated Lady” (1933)
24. Duke Ellington & John Coltrane “In a Sentimental Mood” (1962)
25. Bessie Smith & Louis Armstrong “St. Louis Blues” (1925)
26. Duke Ellington “Mood Indigo“ (1931)
27. Louis Armstrong “West End Blues” (1928)
28. Count Basie Orchestra “One O’Clock Jump” (1937)
29. Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers “Moanin’” (1958)
30. Etta James “At Last” (1961)

31. Benny Goodman “Stompin’ at the Savoy” (1936)
32. Duke Ellington “Satin Doll” (1953)
33. John Coltrane “Giant Steps” (1959)
34. Dizzy Gillespie “All the Things You Are” (1945)
35. Louis Armstrong “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (1933)
36. Artie Shaw “Stardust” (1941)
37. Dizzy Gillespie “Salt Peanuts” (1945)
38. Duke Ellington “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing” (1932)
39. Glenn Miller “Moonlight Serenade” (1939)
40. Louis Armstrong “I Got Rhythm” (1932)

41. Dizzy Gillespie “Manteca” (1947)
42. Peggy Lee “Fever” (1957)
43. Cab Calloway “Minnie the Moocher” (1931)
44. Ella Fitzgerald “The Man I Love” (1959)
45. Ella Fitzgerald “Mack the Knife“ (1960)
46. Artie Shaw “Begin the Beguine” (1938)
47. Ella Fitzgerald “Night and Day” (1956)
48. Herbie Hancock “Watermelon Man” (1962)
49. Duke Ellington “Caravan” (1937)
50. Count Basie “April in Paris” (1955)

51. Paul Whitman with George Gershwin “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924)
52. John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman “Lush Life” (1963)
53. Louis Armstrong “Sweet Georgia Brown” (1955)
54. Billie Holiday “God Bless the Child” (1941)
55. Louis Armstrong “All of Me” (1932)
56. Ella Fitzgerald with the Daydreamers “How High the Moon” (1947)
57. Art Tatum “Tea for Two” (1939)
58. Natalie Cole with Nat “King” Cole “Unforgettable” (1991)
59. Glenn Miller “The Nearness of You” (1940)
60. Norah Jones “Don’t Know Why” (2002)

61. Charlie Parker with Miles Davis & Dizzy Gillespie “Ko-Ko” (1945)
62. Louis Armstrong “When the Saints Go Marching In” (1939)
63. Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong “Cheek to Cheek” (1956)
64. Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton “King Porter Stomp” (1923)
65. Billie Holiday “The Way You Look Tonight” (1936)
66. Fats Waller “Honeysuckle Rose” (1935)
67. Ella Fitzgerald “Someone to Watch Over Me” (1958)
68. Ray Charles “Come Rain or Come Shine” (1960)
69. Henry Mancini with Audrey Hepburn “Moon River” (1961)
70. Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” (1938)

71. Bill Withers with Grover Washington, Jr. “Just the Two of Us” (1981)
72. Dizzy Gillespie “I Can’t Get Started” (1945)
73. Louis Armstrong “I’m in the Mood for Love” (1935)
74. Billie Holiday “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” (1945)
75. Benny Goodman “Moonglow” (1934)
76. Louis Armstrong “Hello Dolly!” (1964)
77. Benny Goodman with Mildred Bailey “Darn That Dream” (1940)
78. Woody Herman “Blues in the Night (My Mama Done Tol’ Me)” (1941)
79. Pee Wee Hunt “Twelfth Street Rag” (1948)
80. Nat “King” Cole “Mona Lisa” (1950)

81. Woody Herman “Laura” (1945)
82. Nat “King” Cole “Straighten Up and Fly Right” (1944)
83. Artie Shaw “Dancing in the Dark” (1941)
84. Bobby McFerrin “Don’t Worry Be Happy” (1988)
85. Lionel Hampton “Flying Home” (1942)
86. Frank Sinatra “One for My Baby and One for the Road” (1949)
87. Dinah Washington “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” (1959)
88. Ella Fitzgerald “But Not for Me” (1959)
89. Tommy Dorsey “Opus One” (1943)
90. Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra “Cherokee (Indian Love Song)” (1939)

91. Duke Ellington “Perdido” (1942)
92. Chet Baker “My Funny Valentine” (1953)
93. Woody Herman “I’ll Remember April” (1942)
94. George Benson “On Broadway” (live, 1978)
95. George Benson “This Masquerade” (1976)
96. Stan Kenton “Artistry in Rhythm” (1944)
97. Herb Alpert “Rise” (1979)
98. Stan Getz & Charlie Bird “Desafinado” (1962)
99. Louis Armstrong “Potato Head Blues” (1927)
100. Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli with the Quintet of the Hot Club of France “Nuages” (1940)

Resources and Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “Other Genre/Category Song Lists
The Best Jazz Songs of All Time (2016 album)
Brides.com (9/11/2020). “The 50 Best Jazz Love Songs to Play at Your Reception”
BuxtonWater.co.uk “The Best Jazz Songs for Your Playlist”
Digital Dream Door (4/8/2017). “100 Greatest Jazz Ballads” edited by Alvin
Digital Dream Door (2/26/2010). “100 Greatest Jazz Instrumentals” by Rick Varner
Harlem Jazz (11/23/2020). “10 of the Most Famous Jazz Songs of All Time”
HopeStreetMusicStudios.com “100 ‘Must Know’ Jazz Tunes” by Peter Spitzer
HoustonPress.com (11/20/2014). “The 10 Most Quintessential Old Jazz Songs” by Angelia Leicht
iTunes (4/20/2021). “Top 100 Jazz Songs”
Jazz24.org (2011). “The Jazz 100: One Hundred Quintessential Jazz Songs”
JazzFuel.com “Top 10 Most Famous Jazz Songs of All Time”
JazzStandards.com “Songs and Instrumentals”
LaToucheMusicale.com “The 15 Best Jazz Songs to Play on Piano”
Listverse.com (5/25/2009). “10 Truly Great Jazz Performances” by gabi319
MusicGateway.com (3/19/2021). “The Top 10 Best Jazz Songs of All Time” by Maximilian Frattura
MyWeddingSongs.com “75 Best Jazz Songs for Weddings”
NME (7/29/2019). “20 of the Best Jazz Songs” by Iliyas Ong
NPR (11/28/2011). “The Mix: 100 Quintessential Jazz Songs” by Kevin Kniestedt
RateYourMusic.com “100 Greatest Jazz Standards of All Time” by vodenikov
Reddit.com (2020). “The Absolute Most Famous Jazz Songs?”
RollingStoneIndia.com (6/10/2015). “The 100 Greatest Jazz Songs” by Sunil Sampat
Loren Schoenberg (2002). The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Jazz. The Berkley Publishing Group: New York, NY. Pages 163-200.
Spinditty.com (4/23/2020). “100 Greatest Jazz Songs of All Time” by Illminatus
Spotify.com (10/27/2012). “NPR’s Top 100 Jazz Songs of All Time”
Spotify.com (6/25/2013). “Jazz Classics – Greatest Jazz Songs Ever”
The-Top-Tens.com “Top 10 Best Jazz Songs” by Alexandr
Udiscovermusic.com (3/24/2019). “15 Best Jazz Songs”
USA Today (2/22/2021). “25 Essential Jazz Songs That Trace the Quintessential American Artform Through History” by Todd A. Price

First posted 3/3/2011; last updated 4/22/2021.

Saturday, January 27, 1990

50 years ago: Coleman Hawkins charted with “Body and Soul”

Body and Soul

Coleman Hawkins

Writer(s): Johnny Green, Ed Heyman, Robert Saur, Frank Eyton (see lyrics here)

First Charted: January 27, 1940

Peak: 13 US (Click for codes to singles charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 2.1 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

“Body and Soul” is “an all-time classic torch song” ^SF and “the most recorded jazz standard.” ^WK The song was originally written for actress and singer Gertrude Lawrence to sing for the British Broadcasting Company. ^MM Then Libby Holman introduced it in the United States through the 1930 Broadway revue Three’s a Crowd. Paul Whiteman, with vocal by Jack Fulton, hit #1 with his version that year. It became one of the top five recorded songs from 1890-1954 with fourteen charted versions during that time, including takes by Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Ozzie Nelson, Leo Reisman, and Art Tatum. ^PM John Coltrane, Ella Fitzerald, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Charles Mingus, Frank Sinatra, and Sarah Vaughan are among the others to tackle the song. ^WK

However, in an unusual twist, the highest-ranked version of the song is neither the first nor the highest-charting version. Coleman Hawkins, who has been called “the father of the tenor saxophone” ^NPR’09 for his role in establishing the tenor sax as a jazz instrument, ^NPR revived the song as an instrumental in 1939, showing how “it was possible to modernize well-worn Tin Pan Alley standards.” ^NPR It “became one of the most important jazz recordings of all time” ^JA as one of the genre’s “most influential performances” ^NPR’09 and one of its best-known performances in history. ^NRR

His recording was unique because it only hinted at the song’s melody in his recording, focusing instead on two choruses of improvisation. ^WK When “Body and Soul” came out, people continuously told him he was playing the wrong notes. ^NPR He had been playing in Europe and upon returning to the United States, Hawkins was surprised jazz artists hadn’t changed styles. ^NPR Swing bands still ruled at the time, but “the early tremors of bebop” were in the air. ^NPR

He “replaced blues-based riffing with brisk arpeggios, sharp-cornered phrases and endless lines that were the jazz equivalent of run-on sentences. He danced at the upper extremes of chords, foreshadowing the altered harmonies that later were so important to bebop.” ^NPR Hawkins made the song “a standard for tenor sax players, with many later recordings referencing parts of Hawkins’ solo and playing in the challenging key of D flat.” ^NRR

The song has shown stamina. In 2011, Tony Bennett charted with a duet with the late Amy Winehouse. It won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

Resources:

^JA David A. Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 26.
^MM Max Morath (2002). The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards. New York, NY; Penguin Putnam Inc. Page 153.
^NPR National Public Radio web site (1999). “The Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century”
^NPR’09 NPR.org (11/9-20/09) The Decade in Music: ‘00s
^NRR National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress The Full National Recording Registry
^SF Songfacts.com
^PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Pages 479, 632.

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