The term “standard” seems antithetical to something as freeform and limitless as jazz. But, time has proven that these songs are not rigid at all. The only strict parameter is the lyrics, and yet countless singers have stepped up to add a different mood, a different arrangement, and a different kind of beauty to them. There have been hundreds of “standards” albums and each one has proven that there is nothing definitive in jazz, that even the benchmarks are subject to change and reinterpretation. It would be impossible to talk about all of them, but these next five albums show just how far music has taken these historic songs. These records are hidden gems in their own right, either forgotten in time or labeled as passé, but they all show the power of poetry and music no matter what era they come from.
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)
Perhaps the greatest balladeer that ever lived spent the last few years of his life surviving as a lounge singer. By the late ‘70s the world had moved on from the Great American Songbook. Thankfully though, in 1963, just before rock ‘n’ roll would completely control popular music, Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane came together to record this definitive standards album. This record, however, I rarely hear discussed too often in jazz conversation, especially when discussing Coltrane’s entire oeuvre. For my money though, there have been no two collaborators whose sensibilities have complimented each other more. Hartman’s deep baritone wraps the entire record in a warm, dreamy aura and Coltrane’s cloud-soft saxophone floats just behind the singer and pushes the music to higher cliffs. This album, musically and vocally, embodies the poetry in the American songbook that is so often made cheesy or aggrandized in other records. When Hartman swoons over a track like “Lush Life,” there is an authentic sense of drunken, midnight hour desperation. When the band swings under “Autumn Serenade” it is hard to miss the lush fall scenery.
Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim (1967)
This is quite a famous record, so perhaps it has no place on a list like this. But, I would argue that very few have listened to the splendor of the entire record, as opposed to just the classic “Girl from Ipanema.” It is a phenomenal track, there is no doubt, but to continue on is to hear Sinatra at his most experimental. The Brazilian orchestra, led masterfully by Jobim, accompanies the softest and most lovelorn music that Ol’ Blue Eyes has ever produced. Without warning, the ring-a-ding-ding crooner is gone, and in his place is a bona-fide bossa nova poet. This record is an experience, there is no better way to put it. The scenery is palpable: the twinkling of lonely stars on “Corcovado,” the clinking of cocktail glasses and sweep of ballroom dresses on “Change Partners,” and finally, the love that floats on the wind in “Dindi.” Jobim and the band sway like the quiet waves of the ocean, and as the songs unravel it is hard not to move slowly through the landscape he and Sinatra have created.
Think of Spring — M. Ward (2020)
The most recent and certainly one of the most unique additions on this list, M. Ward lends his spider silk voice to this 2020 tribute to Billie Holliday. Covering the tracklist from Lady in Satin, Holliday’s last album released in her lifetime, Ward adds a delicate gravitas to these classic ballads. Accompanied only by acoustic guitars, the album becomes something like a quiet, floating reverie. Where Holliday wails and her orchestra swoons, Ward and his guitar purr and moan in shimmering pirouettes of longing. What makes this record so unique is that these songs, some almost 90 years old at this point, seem to glow like new under Ward’s treatment. The poetry is still lush, beautiful and resonant after so many voices have come to interpret them. Ward has not only brought these old tunes to new heights on this record, but made these versions definitive and all his own.
Once Upon a Summertime… —Blossom Dearie (1959)
There really is no voice quite like Blossom Dearie. It is tragic that she is not more well-known, but her breath-like baby voice flutters with love and daydreams. In the band accompanying her, a jazz guitar walks along the melody side-by-side, and a delicate piano accentuates every soft footfall her voice makes upon the songs. If there was a dreamier album to get lost in, and if there was a better singer to evoke the warmth of summer reverie, I haven’t found them yet. Blossoms Dearie’s version of “Tea for Two” feels like the best springtime stroll hand-in-hand with your true love. The titular track shows just how mournful her bright voice can be, while the once hopeful piano now pounds on the keys in an elegy for lost love. This is a truly wistful album that flutters like the wings of a thousand departing butterflies.
Pop Pop—Rickie Lee Jones (1991)
Another unique interpretation, Rickie Lee Jones adds her effervescent warble to the Great American Songbook. On this record, Jones eschews the cliche orchestral arrangements. Instead, she is accompanied by bongos, violin, hurdy-gurdy, bandoneon and a sultry acoustic guitar. The music is dream-like, bobbing up and down as Jones’ voice sharply rises and falls with each lovesick lyric. The songs are sung with a whisper-like quality, hushed almost to silence, but Jones and her band fill up each piece with enough pent-up desire to make them liable to explode at any moment. A commercial failure at the time of its release, Pop Pop fell victim to a common critical opinion which is that standards records mark a stagnant period for artists. They have run out of ideas and are simply singing some old favorites to scrounge up material for another release. But, Pop Pop is a revelation to another side of Jones, her skill as an interpreter, and shows just how malleable these songs can be.
