What are the Top 10 Soul Jazz Tunes?

[Jazz+]

I mostly dig the first 4 and play them on my solo piano gigs. I can't seem to find any more that work for me like the first 4. Maybe you can help me extend my short list with some real good ones?

 

1) Work Song

2) Moanin'

3) Mercy Mercy Mercy

4) Cantaloupe Island

------------------

5) The In Crowd

6) Sidewinder

7) Jive Samba

8) Watermelon Man

9) The Preacher

10 ?

[TommyS]

Cold Duck Time; Road Song; Afro Blue;

[dazzjazz]

Sugar, The Scorpion, Midnight creeper! One Cylinder

[Jazzmammal]

Mr. Magic, The Cat, Sugar, Green Onions, Comin Home, Put It Where You Want It, Soul Serenade, Wade In The Water, Thieves In The Temple, Memphis Soul Stew, Memphis Underground.

 

There's lots more but this should give you some ideas.

 

Bob

[I-missRichardTee]

Soul bossa nova !

Mr Magic

Cissy Strut

Green Onions

Topsy

High heel sneakers jimmy smith

Comin home

Cold sweat mongo santamaria

 

[Josh Paxton]

Sidewinder is really tough to pull off as a solo piano tune. I've tried it, but never been happy with the results. But I've always found The Preacher and Watermelon Man to be very conducive to solo playing. They're both flexible and will work with many different grooves and approaches, so experiment and find one that works for you.

 

Others:

 

Gravy Waltz - one of my faves. Very attainable technically, and harmonically simple but engaging.

Hard Times (Fathead Newman/Ray Charles) - another one that just sits nicely and almost plays itself.

Hip Hug Her - more soul than jazz, but I routinely get away with it on jazz gigs. A lot of guys write it off as an organ tune not suitable for piano, but there are ways to make it work.

Yeah! (Horace) - the jazziest of my list, and fairly difficult to play, but a lot of fun once you've got it down.

[I-missRichardTee]

Jody Grind

 

[TrapperJack]

Back At The Chicken Shack

surely something by Ray Charles

a lot of good suggestions in this thread already

[piano39]

I'm amazed how similar the OP's list is to mine.

 

Good Thread.

 

"Sunny" works as a jazz song, very flexible.

I also do Booker T's "Time is Tight", but switch to organ. Nice change of pace.

[Paul Harrison]

We recently started a new band in which we do a soul jazz bracket, and this is the playlist that we put together.

 

- Back at the Chicken Shack

-

-

-

-

- Comin' Home Baby

-

-

- Moanin'

-

-

- Return of the Prodigal Son

- O.G.D. (Road Song)

-

- Thieves in the Temple

-

-

[BluesKeys]

If I ever lose this heaven, I just love to sing it

[Musicale]

I really like One Hundred Ways the changes are marvelous. Another album to check out is Black Talk by Charles Earland, just about all of that even though some white tunes (Aquarius, More today than yesterday,)these have been converted to soulful tunes.

 

Listen Here Eddie Harris, of course Compared to What.

 

All great stuff.

[Philip Clark]

"Be Thankful For What You've Got" is a crowd pleaser for me.

 

"Everybody Loves the Sunshine"

 

[marino]

What, nobody has mentioned Song for my Father yet?

 

 

[Adan]

There's no rule saying that the soul-jazz repetoire has to be the same as it was in 1972. Lots of Steely Dan fits easily into the soul-jazz ambiance. Try Josie or the Fez, for instance. There's countless cool soul-jazz tunes that the average listener will not recognize, but they're recognize The Dan.

 

It would be interesting to go into what techniques best translate the soul jazz feel to the solo piano context. I sometimes use a modified stride where the root is on the one and the chord hits sort of on the two-and-a, just anticipating the third beat.

[16251]

Blurred lines

What's going on

I can't help it

soul sister

house of the rising sun

i wish

 

[mate stubb]

Various Horace Silver tunes work well (besides Song For My Father).

 

Check out Jody Grind, Señor Blues.

[Josh Paxton]

It would be interesting to go into what techniques best translate the soul jazz feel to the solo piano context.

 

Good call! Obviously it depends on the tune, but for straight-eighth stuff, I often use a Booker-inspired two-part left hand (big surprise), with the lower fingers playing a bass line and the upper ones playing a chordal part. For a tune like, say, "Hip Hug Her," that lets me capture, if not the exact notes, at least the vibe of both the bass line and the guitar part, while I play the melody with the right hand.

 

That approach can work for swingier tunes as well, though it's nice to break it up with just walking a line in the left hand. "Hard Times" works well with a mixture of those. For "Gravy Waltz," I typically play one chorus walking, one chorus stride, and one with the Booker left hand, which is a nice way to build all the way through.

 

A Henry Butler stride/funk can work too. I use that on "Hallelujah I Love Her So," and also on Prince's "Kiss" (speaking of modernizing the repertoire slightly).

[tucktronix]

Cold Duck Time

Compared to What

Honky-Tonk

Back at the Chicken Shack

Mr Magic

Moanin'

Work Song

Yesterday(Charles Earland's version fo' sho'!)

Happiness is Just Around The Bend(Brian Auger!!)

Chitlins Con Carne

[I-missRichardTee]

Has anyone noticed that some melodies seem to "resist audience recognition " more than other melodies ?

 

In crowd was done on piano. So assuming crowd knew the tune it should be easily recognized

 

I can't think off the top of my head which tunes I have rejected while on a gig

1 because we had no one to sing it

2 I did not think the melody was clearly distinguishable enough for a piano rendition

3. I think it is in the nature of the certain melodies/harmonies, that without

hearing the actual instrument that made it popular, and or the rhythm, that distinguishing the melody easily is more challenging. Of course a musician would recognize it.. but a non musician, I don't know.

Anyone relate ?

edit I am guessing but Hip Hugger on solo ac piano?!!

 

[Philip Clark]

Blurred lines

 

Oh HELL no.

[I-missRichardTee]

And Blurred Lines on piano!!! Would that even be recognizable on a solo piano?

[Adan]

Has anyone noticed that some melodies seem to "resist audience recognition " more than other melodies ?

 

In crowd was done on piano. So assuming crowd knew the tune it should be easily recognized

 

I can't think off the top of my head which tunes I have rejected while on a gig

1 because we had no one to sing it

2 I did not think the melody was clearly distinguishable enough for a piano rendition

3. I think it is in the nature of the certain melodies/harmonies, that without

hearing the actual instrument that made it popular, and or the rhythm, that distinguishing the melody easily is more challenging. Of course a musician would recognize it.. but a non musician, I don't know.

Anyone relate ?

edit I am guessing but Hip Hugger on solo ac piano?!!

 

Folks recognize In Crowd when you finally get to the A-C ascending hits at the very end. Or maybe only the "in crowd" gets it, ha.

[hurricane hugo]

And Blurred Lines on piano!!! Would that even be recognizable on a solo piano?

 

Just play Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up." Same thing, only infinitely better.

[I-missRichardTee]

Has anyone noticed that some melodies seem to "resist audience recognition " more than other melodies ?

 

In crowd was done on piano. So assuming crowd knew the tune it should be easily recognized

 

I can't think off the top of my head which tunes I have rejected while on a gig

1 because we had no one to sing it

2 I did not think the melody was clearly distinguishable enough for a piano rendition

3. I think it is in the nature of the certain melodies/harmonies, that without

hearing the actual instrument that made it popular, and or the rhythm, that distinguishing the melody easily is more challenging. Of course a musician would recognize it.. but a non musician, I don't know.

Anyone relate ?

edit: I am guessing but Hip Hugger on solo ac piano?!!

 

Folks recognize In Crowd when you finally get to the A-C ascending hits at the very end. Or maybe only the "in crowd" gets it, ha.

 

Interesting observation about audiences. You think they notice that cool A-C climax, eh?

So, if a say for example, a soul type tune does NOT have an atypical ( atypical for soul ) chord progression and rhythmic thrust like In Crowd's A- C , chances are stronger the audience members will less likely recognize the tune!

It can't just be a funky blues that is rendered on the piano!

In other words, people hear us play funky blues all the time, what distinguishes a soulful MELODY from a funky solo!

[ProfD]

"Soul" was Jazz musicians' way of trying to make commercially accessible music using the flavor of 60s/early 70s Soul/R&B.

 

Surely, a few original tunes resulted from that movement. But, the only audience I can imagine wanting to hear those tunes would be residing in an assisted living facility.

 

Otherwise, by extension, Jazz musos today would be using current Pop/R&B/Hip-Hop music as the template for any type of "Soul" Jazz i.e. commercially accessible music.

 

Wait a minute...Smooth Jazz is the bastard cousin of that approach.

[Philip Clark]

"Soul" was Jazz musicians' way of trying to make commercially accessible music using the flavor of 60s/early 70s Soul/R&B.

 

Surely, a few original tunes resulted from that movement. But, the only audience I can imagine wanting to hear those tunes would be residing in an assisted living facility.

 

Otherwise, by extension, Jazz musos today would be using current Pop/R&B/Hip-Hop music as the template for any type of "Soul" Jazz i.e. commercially accessible music.

 

Wait a minute...Smooth Jazz is the bastard cousin of that approach.

 

Couldn't disagree more. There is some astounding Jazzy Soul and soulful Jazz being made today.

[I-missRichardTee]

"Soul" was Jazz musicians' way of trying to make commercially accessible music using the flavor of 60s/early 70s Soul/R&B.

 

Surely, a few original tunes resulted from that movement. But, the only audience I can imagine wanting to hear those tunes would be residing in an assisted living facility.

 

Otherwise, by extension, Jazz musos today would be using current Pop/R&B/Hip-Hop music as the template for any type of "Soul" Jazz i.e. commercially accessible music.

 

Wait a minute...Smooth Jazz is the bastard cousin of that approach.

 

Interesting points esp the old people only interested in Soul music.

I do my share of old people work. This is not scientific, but I have noticed they go way back in time to their youth. They always sing out loud these tunes, ready?? "God Bless America" ( way before Soul music haha and what could be more of the Soul than "God bless America", ha ha this is funny stuff ) and "You Are My Sunshine", an OLD tune.

I sadly almost never play gigs where the nursing homes have African Americans- I am curious if your theory would "work".. playing The In Crowd in a nursing Home!

 

Smooth jazz, ah there is a topic. I knew and greatly respected Grover Washington. he is one of the greatest players I have ever known. having said that.. when I hear some smooth jazz, I ask myself this... "is it possible to play blue notes and licks, and yet not feel the Blues behind them?" Sadly, I think the weakness of Smooth jazz is this fact. People learning Blues scales etc, applying it in Smooth Jazz, and the music seeming disingenuous.

[I-missRichardTee]

"Soul" was Jazz musicians' way of trying to make commercially accessible music using the flavor of 60s/early 70s Soul/R&B.

 

Surely, a few original tunes resulted from that movement. But, the only audience I can imagine wanting to hear those tunes would be residing in an assisted living facility.

 

Otherwise, by extension, Jazz musos today would be using current Pop/R&B/Hip-Hop music as the template for any type of "Soul" Jazz i.e. commercially accessible music.

 

Wait a minute...Smooth Jazz is the bastard cousin of that approach.

 

Couldn't disagree more. There is some astounding Jazzy Soul and soulful Jazz being made today.

 

May I ask you, in case ProfD is busy... what exactly do you disagree with?

[16251]

Blurred lines

 

Oh HELL no.

It's a joke.