When learning jazz music, it is important to remember that âthe bluesâ is not just simply a scaleâŠ
- âThe bluesâ is a style, a feeling, a whole genre unto itself.Â
The best way to learn about the blues (without your wife leaving you, your dog running away, or losing your trusty pickup truck) is to learn blues melodies!Â
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Here is a list of over fifty blues tunes to become familiar with.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, however it includes blueses written by jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and more!Â
All BluesÂ
Au Privave
Bags GrooveÂ
Barbados
Billieâs Bounce
Bird Lives
Black Coffee
Bloomdido
Blowinâ the Blues Away
Blues by 5
Blue Seven
Blue Trane
Blue MonkÂ
Bluesette
Blues ConnotationÂ
Blues for Alice
Blues for Stephanie
Blues in the ClosetÂ
Blues March
Blues on the Corner
Butch and Butch
Cedarâs Blues
C Jam Blues
Chasinâ the Trane
Cheryl
Chi-ChiÂ
Cool Blues
Doodlinâ
Eighty-OneÂ
Fine and Mellow
Filthy McNasty
Freddie Freeloader
Freight Train
Gingerbread BoyÂ
Green Onions
Isotope
Misterioso
Mr. Day
Night Train
Nowâs the Time
Pfrancinâ (No Blues)
Relaxinâ at Camarillo
Red Top
Route 66
Royal Garden BluesÂ
Saint Louis Blues
Sandu
Sippinâ at Bells
Society Red
SolidÂ
Sonnymoon for Two
Straight, No Chaser
Take the ColtraneÂ
Tenor Madness
The Blues Walk
Things Ainât What They Used to Be
Turnaround
Twisted
Two-Bass Hit
Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West
When Will the Blues Leave
Minor Blues
Birkâs Works
Boogie Stop ShuffleÂ
Dig Dis
Equinox
Eye of the Hurricane
Footprints
Israel
Mr. PC
One for Daddy-O
Señor BluesÂ
Stolen Moments
Walkinâ
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Other
Cold Duck Time
Unit 7 (Blues with a Bridge)
Scotch and Water (Blues with a Bridge)
The Chicken (Funk)
The Sidewinder (24 bar blues)
Watermelon Man (16 bar blues)
Work Song (16 Bar Minor Blues)Â
