Today's Jazz Book

Song Selection Criteria

As Esperanza Spalding, the renowned upright bass player and vocalist indicated, taste in music is a lot like taste in food -- preferences are diverse.  As composing is a creative effort, and thinking out of the box is respected, we hesitate to give hard and fast rules about what makes a good song.  However, long hard experience performing live, and with other musicians lead to a few general and practical considerations.  This is for the composer who wants the satisfaction of seeing other musicians perform their music and inclusion in Today's Jazz Book.  

1. Memorable melody and lyrics.

Many of the compositions we reviewed before we launched this site had melodies that fit the harmonic structure of the song, but didn't "stick" in the mind after repeated, concerted listens by multiple people.   Memorable melodies are the core of many good songs. 

Some of the best lyrics we've experienced have certain characteristics -- some are clever.  Although not jazz, the lyric "I feel like I win when I lose" in the Abba song Waterloo fits that criterion. Other lyrics have a rhythm to them that is percussive and fits the melody of the song. Still others touch the heart in some way, either evoking memories, highlighting aspects of the human condition we all experience, or otherwise moving people. 

2.  Interesting chord changes.

A poll on a discussion forum for musicians revealed that although interesting chord changes aren't always critical, they do contribute to the quality of a song in certain compositions. They can also inspire interesting solos and melodies. Of course, many oft-played songs use minor blues, or simple chord changes. Therefore, this is not a hard and fast rule. But the more interesting chord changes are, the greater the probability the song will be found interesting, all other things being equal.

3.  Playable in a variety of common situations

Some compositions seem to rely on highly specialized sounds or instruments that don't translate well to situations in which many local or even renowned musicians perform.  The songs, in our experience, that musicians play over and over again ("standards", to use the term loosely) seem to work whether in a duo, trio, or a combo fronted with a wind or stringed instrument.

4. Accessible to a wide variety of musicians.

In the jazz genre, it's not uncommon for a group of musicians who don't know each other to show up at a gig (a pickup band) and perform tunes a band leader calls from a fake book. This means the typical musician needs to be able to sight read the song when someone calls it.

In our experience, band leaders in these situations tend not to call songs that have "movements" in them, orchestral parts, or a lot of feel changes that require extensive rehearsal.  In fact, Pat Metheny, in the preface to his Pat Metheny Real Book indicated that he took out many of these orchestral developments in certain songs. Presumably this was to make his songs playable in typical settings. He even commented that the test of a good song  is whether it can stand up to a performance of its stripped down version.  

5. No longer than 1 or 2 pages

Jazz musicians are often expected to sight read charts or play jazz gigs on short notice.  In these cases, musicians need the chart on a music stand or electronic device.  Songs that are longer than 2 pages are hard to play live because you have to flip pages if in hard copy.  And for newer electronic music readers that display only one page at at time, one page songs are ideal. Even newer, foot operated page changers for electronic readers create an additional step (no pun intended) when performing live. Try to minimize page turning!

6. The Wildcard. Because creativity often breaks rules and crosses boundaries, we leave ourselves open to accept songs that defy our own guidelines.   Just make sure it's good :)