To survive as a jazz musician you must learn a repertoire of 200-300 songs that have become the cornerstone of a musicians’ performances. Many of these songs come from the “Great American Songbook” written for Broadway productions by giants like George Gershwin and Jerome kern, while some were originally introduced by pop singers and still others were composed by important musicians themselves like Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane.

Each week we will focus on three of these classic songs and listen to 5-7 versions performed by different musicians. We will listen to vocal and instrumental interpretations that have been refreshed over time. The renditions we will listen to were recorded from the 1950s to the present. We will consider what has made these songs so appealing to musicians (and their audiences) and why they have retained such staying power.