Jonah Dempcy

 

Great Info on Jazz Standards

This site has a lot of great information on jazz standards: www.jazzstandards.com

This is useful both for knowing the legality of playing/recording/releasing a song (i.e. whether the song is in the public domain or not) as well as for historical and research purposes.

There is also a ranking system which ostensibly ranks a jazz standard by popularity. I'm not sure how this is determined, whether it is by looking at sheer number of recordings of that song or if other factors are taken into account. But, it is interesting and seems at least generally accurate&emdash; that is, songs in the top 100 are obviously more popular than those ranked 800 or 900 &emdash; but I'm not sure if I agree that Body and Soul is more popular than All the Things You Are. Here are the top 10 according to jazzstandards.com:

Rank

Year

Title  <- Sort contents by clicking on heading

1	1930	Body and Soul		C		J	R	S	A	O
2	1939	All the Things You Are		C	M	J	R	S	A	O
3	1935	Summertime		C		J	R	S	A	O
4	1944	'Round Midnight		C	M	J	R	S	A	O
5	1935	I Can't Get Started (with You)		C	M	J	R	S	A	O
6	1937	My Funny Valentine		C	M	J	R	S	A	O
7	1942	Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be)		C	M	J	R	S	A	O
8	1930	What Is This Thing Called Love?		C	M	J	R	S	A	O
9	1933	Yesterdays		C	M	J	R	S	A	O
10	1946	Stella By Starlight		C		J	R	S	A	O

Source: www.jazzstandards.com