List of 1920s jazz standards

Jazz standards are musical compositions that are widely known, performed and recorded by jazz artists as part of the genre's musical repertoire. This list includes compositions written in the 1920s that are considered standards by at least one major book publication or reference work. Some of the tunes listed were already well-known standards by the 1930s, while others were popularized later. The time of the most influential recordings of a song, where appropriate, is indicated on the list.

Short-haired black man in his fifties blowing into a trumpet. He is wearing a light-colored sport coat, a white shirt and a bow tie. He is faced left with his eyes looking upwards. His right hand is fingering the trumpet, with the index finger down and three fingers pointing upwards. The man's left hand is mostly covered with a handkerchief and it has a shining ring on the little finger. He is wearing a wristwatch on the left wrist.
Trumpeter, bandleader and singer Louis Armstrong was an important innovator of early jazz.[1][2] He introduced many contemporary popular songs to the jazz world that are now considered standards.

A period known as the "Jazz Age" started in the United States in the 1920s. Jazz had become popular music in the country, although older generations considered the music immoral and threatening to old cultural values.[3] Dances such as the Charleston and the Black Bottom were very popular during the period, and jazz bands typically consisted of seven to twelve musicians. Important orchestras in New York were led by Fletcher Henderson, Paul Whiteman and Duke Ellington. Many New Orleans jazzmen had moved to Chicago during the late 1910s in search of employment; among others, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band and Jelly Roll Morton recorded in the city. However, Chicago's importance as a center of jazz music started to diminish toward the end of the 1920s in favor of New York.[4]

In the early years of jazz, record companies were often eager to decide what songs were to be recorded by their artists. Popular numbers in the 1920s were pop hits such as "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Dinah" and "Bye Bye Blackbird". The first jazz artist to be given some liberty in choosing his material was Louis Armstrong, whose band helped popularize many of the early standards in the 1920s and 1930s.[5]

Some compositions written by jazz artists have endured as standards, including Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Ain't Misbehavin'". The most recorded 1920s standard is Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish's "Stardust".[6] Several songs written by Broadway composers in the 1920s have become standards, such as George and Ira Gershwin's "The Man I Love" (1924), Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" (1927) and Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?" (1929). However, it was not until the 1930s that musicians became comfortable with the harmonic and melodic sophistication of Broadway tunes and started including them regularly in their repertoire.[4]

1920–1923

1924–1925

Jazz pianist Fats Waller wrote many of the early jazz standards, including "Squeeze Me" (1925), "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1929) and "Honeysuckle Rose" (1929).

1926–1927

Cole Porter was one of the few Tin Pan Alley songwriters to write both lyrics and music for his songs.[82] His standards include "What Is This Thing Called Love?" (1929), "Love for Sale" (1930) and "Night and Day" (1932).

1928

1929

  • "Ain't Misbehavin'"[50][142][143] is a song from the musical revue Hot Chocolates, composed by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks with lyrics by Andy Razaf. Leo Reisman and His Orchestra was the first to take the song to the pop charts in 1929, followed by several artists including Bill Robinson, Gene Austin and Louis Armstrong. At the intermission of Hot Chocolates at the Hudson Theatre, Armstrong made his Broadway debut playing a trumpet solo on the song.[144] Waller's original instrumental recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984.[77]
  • "Black and Blue"[145][146] is a song from the musical Hot Chocolates, composed by Fats Waller with lyrics by Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf. It was introduced by Louis Armstrong. Ethel Waters's 1930 version became a hit.[147] The song is also known as "What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue".[147]
  • "Honeysuckle Rose"[8][50][148][149] is a song from the musical revue Load of Coal, composed by Fats Waller with lyrics by Andy Razaf. It was popularized by Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra in 1933.[150] Waller's 1934 recording of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.[77] Benny Goodman's Orchestra played a 16-minute jam session on the tune in their 1938 Carnegie Hall concert, featuring members from the bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Charlie Parker used a part of the song's harmony in "Scrapple from the Apple" (1947).[150]
  • "Just You, Just Me"[151] is a song from the film Marianne, composed by Jesse Greer with lyrics by Raymond Klages. It was introduced by Marion Davies and Cliff Edwards. Lester Young recorded the tune several times. Thelonious Monk's 1948 composition "Evidence" was loosely based on it.[152]
  • "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)" is a show tune from the Broadway musical Show Girl, composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn. It was introduced on stage by Ruby Keeler and Dixie Dugan, accompanied by the Duke Ellington Orchestra.[153][154] Keeler's husband and popular singer Al Jolson appeared at the opening performance and sang a chorus of the song from the third row, creating a sensation and popularizing the song.[153]
  • "Mean to Me"[155][156] is a song composed by Fred E. Ahlert with lyrics by Roy Turk. It was first recorded by Ruth Etting. The song was a regular number in Billie Holiday's repertoire, and Holiday's 1937 recording with saxophonist Lester Young is considered the definitive vocal version. Young later made an instrumental recording with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich.[157]
  • "More Than You Know"[8][158] is a Broadway show tune composed by Vincent Youmans with lyrics by Edward Eliscu and Billy Rose. Introduced by Mayo Methot in Great Day, the song became a hit even though the musical only lasted for 29 performances. Ruth Etting took it to number nine in 1930, and saxophonist Benny Carter played an acclaimed trumpet solo on his 1939 recording, despite the trumpet not being his main instrument.[159]
  • "Rockin' Chair"[160][161][162] is a song by Hoagy Carmichael. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong in a duet with the composer.[163] Carmichael has said that he wrote the song as a kind of sequel to his 1926 "Washboard Blues", which had lyrics by Fred Callahan.[164] The song was made famous by Mildred Bailey, who used it as her theme song.[165] Bailey's first hit recording was made in 1937.[166]
  • "Stardust"[8][167][168] is a song composed by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Mitchell Parish. Originally recorded by Carmichael as a mid-tempo jazz instrumental, the 1930 romantic ballad rendition by Isham Jones and His Orchestra became a top-selling hit. Louis Armstrong recorded an influential ballad rendition in 1931. The song is arguably the most recorded popular song, and one of the top jazz standards. Billboard magazine conducted a poll of leading disk jockeys in 1955 on the "popular song record of all time"; four different renditions of "Stardust" made it to the list, including Glenn Miller's (1941) at third place and Artie Shaw's (1940) at number one.[169] The title was spelled "Star Dust" in the 1929 publication, and both spellings are used.
  • "What Is This Thing Called Love?"[50] is a song written by Cole Porter for the musical revue Wake Up and Dream. It was introduced by Elsie Carlisle in London. Ben Bernie's and Fred Rich's recordings made the charts in 1930. One of the best-known instrumental versions was recorded by Clifford Brown and Max Roach with Sonny Rollins in 1956. The song's chord progression has inspired several later compositions, including Tadd Dameron's bebop standard "Hot House".[170]

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Reference works