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I want to ask, is there a particular reason why we've never had a greatest jazz songs list? Are instrumental jazz and vocal jazz so different they are impossible to compare? Is it because it's hard to choose a definitive version for most songs? I've been listening to more jazz these days and it made me wonder.

Obviously not from a jazz perspective, but here are the top jazz songs on Bruce's big list (unless I've missed any):

1. In the Mood - Glenn Miller
2. God Bless the Child - Billie Holiday
3. Sing, Sing, Sing (with a Swing) - Benny Goodman
4. Mack the Knife - Bobby Darin
5. Take the "A" Train - Duke Ellington
6. Star Dust - Artie Shaw
7. West End Blues - Louis Armstrong
8. Minnie the Moocher - Cab Calloway
9. Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
10. I've Got You Under My Skin - Frank Sinatra
11. Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin
12. Ain't Misbehavin' - Fats Waller
13. Unforgettable - Nat King Cole
14. Moonlight Serenade - Glenn Miller*** (not really sure if jazz or jazz-influenced pop, it's hard to make the choice with lots of records)
15. Mood Indigo - Duke Ellington
15. One O'Clock Jump - Count Basie
17. So What - Miles Davis
18. Take Five - Dave Brubeck Quartet
19. Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be) - Billie Holiday
20. The Girl from Ipanema - Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto
21. Ko-Ko - Charlie Parker
22. April in Paris - Count Basie
23. Flying Home - Lionel Hampton
24. Mona Lisa - Nat King Cole
25. Stormy Weather - Lena Horne
26. Body and Soul - Coleman Hawkins
27. I'm in the Mood for Love - Louis Armstrong
28. Watermelon Man - Mongo Santamaria
29. Chattanooga Choo Choo - Glenn Miller (Tex Beneke and the Modernaires)*** (see previous Glenn Miller)
30. (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 - The King Cole Trio*** (kinda sounds more r&b, and it's absent from all our jazz lists)
31. Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw
32. One for My Baby - Frank Sinatra
33. Why Don't You Do Right? - Benny Goodman (Peggy Lee)
34. You Belong to Me - Jo Stafford
35. A Love Supreme Part I: Acknowledgement - John Coltrane
36. I Can't Get Started - Bunny Berigan
37. A Tisket, A Tasket - Ella Fitzgerald
38. Moody's Mood for Love - King Pleasure
39. Don't Be That Way - Benny Goodman*** (sounds like jazz to me but its absence from Goodman's top ten makes me doubt)
40. Straighten Up and Fly Right - Nat King Cole
41. Blues in the Night - Jimmie Lunceford (Willie Smith)
42. What a Diff'rence a Day Makes - Dinah Washington
43. What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
44. Tea for Two - Art Tatum
45. That's My Desire - Frankie Laine
46. Tuxedo Junction - Glenn Miller*** (see previous Glenn Miller)
47. My Favorite Things - John Coltrane
48. Cheek to Cheek - Fred Astaire
49. A Night in Tunisia - Dizzy Gillespie
50. How High the Moon - Les Paul & Mary Ford
51. Nature Boy - Nat King Cole*** (unsure if jazz or jazz-influenced pop, like with many Cole, Sinatra, etc tracks)
52. It Had to Be You - Isham Jones
53. 'Round Midnight - Thelonious Monk
54. Woodchopper's Ball - Woody Herman
55. Frenesi - Artie Shaw***
56. Misty - Johnny Mathis
57. Black and Tan Fantasy - Duke Ellington
58. Cherokee - Charlie Barnet***
59. Summertime - Sidney Bechet
60. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive - Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers***
61. Carolina Shout - James P. Johnson
62. Livery Stable Blues - Original Dixieland Jass Band
63. It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) - Duke Ellington
64. In a Mist - Bix Beiderbecke
65. Fever - Peggy Lee
66. When the Saints Go Marching In - Louis Armstrong
67. Dardanella - Ben Selvin
68. Cry Me a River - Julie London
69. Moon River - Henry Mancini
70. My Baby Just Cares for Me - Nina Simone***
71. Lester Leaps In - Lester Young with Count Basie
72. Dippermouth Blues - King Oliver
73. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Charles Mingus
74. Fly Me to the Moon - Frank Sinatra
75. Hello Dolly - Louis Armstrong
76. Misty - Erroll Garner
77. Tenderly - Sarah Vaughan
78. Whispering - Paul Whiteman
79. Lonely Woman - Ornette Coleman

There's many cases where I don't know enough about the genre to say if a record is really jazz or jazz-influenced mid-century pop. The cases I chose to include are the ones with *** next to the song. Here are some more on the fence but which I chose not to include (please tell me if you think I'm wrong, I'd like to know more about how to differentiate between jazz and the rest):

- That Old Black Magic - Louis Prima and Keely Smith
- Deep Purple - Larry Clinton (Bea Wain)
- Opus One - Tommy Dorsey
- The Way You Look Tonight - Frank Sinatra
- I've Heard That Song Before - Harry James (Helen Forrest)

I don't see why it couldn't be a list.

Are instrumental jazz pieces really "songs" though?

They can be for the purposes of a list like this. There are standards that have been recorded both instrumental and vocal, so it would be a weird distinction to make in lots of cases.

There could be two lists.

That's basically what we have now

pauldrach wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 5:15 am Are instrumental jazz pieces really "songs" though?

What a ridiculous thing to ask lol

Great list! I'd say "It's Only a Paper Moon" should be on the list somewhere.

Sherick wrote: Fri Feb 07, 2025 7:39 pm

pauldrach wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 5:15 am Are instrumental jazz pieces really "songs" though?

What a ridiculous thing to ask lol

Why? According to the Wikipedia, a "song is a musical composition performed by the human voice". Of course, you could use that same definition to also exclude instrumental pieces from rock song lists but somehow vocal and instrumental rock pieces seem closer to each other than vocal and instrumental jazz pieces. Once we reach "A Love Supreme Part I: Acknowledgement", the term "song" imo seems quite ridiculous. The first movement of Beethoven's fifth symphony is not a song either.

Just saying. Of course everybody can put on their lists what they want. I just have a different expectation than this when I see the banner "greatest jazz songs". How about "Greatest Jazz Recordings"?

For years, I've considered making lists for greatest jazz recording by era. The eras would be something like Classic Jazz Era (1932 and earlier), Swing Era (1933-1944), Bebop Era (1945-1955), and Classic Album Era (1956 - abt. 1967. Too much stylistic diversity in that era to name it after a style.). I just haven't been able to make time to do it. I did make a Dixieland list, which would overlap quite a bit with the Classic Jazz Era list if there were one.