The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire
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 Cover | |
| Author | Ted Gioia |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Jazz |
| Genre | Non-fiction Encyclopedic Reference |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Publication date | 27 September 2012 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 544 |
| ISBN | 0199937397 |
The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire is a 2012 book by Ted Gioia documenting what he considers to be the most important tunes in the jazz repertoire. The book is published by Oxford University Press.[1] The book features a range of jazz standards in alphabetical order,[2] from Broadway show tunes by the likes of George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, to the standards of esteemed jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter and Charles Mingus. In the book, Gioia has recommendations for definitive covers of each standard to listen to, more than 2000 in total.[3] Each jazz standard entry in the book contains descriptive text and selected discography.
Gioia writes in his introduction to The Jazz Standards that he was inspired to write the book because of the difficulties he encountered as an aspiring jazz musician in his youth when he would turn up to jam sessions and feel embarrassed at not knowing the tunes and not having a list or any kind of reference he could use to learn the expected repertoire. As he goes on to say, "I soon realized what countless other jazz musicians have no doubt also learned: in-depth study of the jazz repertoire is hardly a quaint historical sideline, but essential for survival. Not learning these songs puts a jazz player on a quick path to unemployment." Gioia's purpose in writing the book was to provide a "type of survey, the kind of overview of the standard repertoire that I wished someone had given me back in the day—a guide that would have helped me as a musician, as a critic, as a historian, and simply as a fan and lover of the jazz idiom."[4]