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Ted Dunbar’s Bebop Tune List

December 29, 2015
by Rick Stone
1 Comment
Ted Dunbar's bebop tune list

Ted Dunbar’s Bebop Tune List

In 1990 while working on my Masters Degree, I had the very good fortune to study with the great guitarist and teacher Ted Dunbar.  It was then that I first encountered Ted Dunbar’s Bebop Tune List (which most of us simply referred to as “the list”).  This was a list of tunes which each presented specific challenges to the player; be it the sinuous bebop lines of “Confirmation” and “Donna Lee” or the angular intervals of “Freedom Jazz Dance” the earthy bluesiness of “Cookin’ at the Continental” the harmonic complexity of “Giant Steps” or the wide-open modalness of “Impressions.”  Each one of these tunes taught you something important about the jazz repertoire.  And in order to really grasp the jazz tradition, you need to have a solid understanding of this music.  The music of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Jimmy Heath, Tadd Dameron, Lee Morgan and so many others.  Ted handed me this list of tunes on my first lesson and very matter-of-fact-ly just said that they were to be memorized in a single semester (and yes, I really did that).  As Ted described them, these were our “etudes” (studies) that we would practice every day (and yes, I did that too!).  It was a pretty tall order, but probably taught me more about jazz phrasing and technique than anything I’d done up to that point.

Ted Dunbar’s Bebop Tune List (with Representative Recordings)

Many of these songs are in the Real Book, but a few aren’t.  And truth be told, the best way to learn them is through listening to the recordings anyway.  Try to learn the melodies by ear if you can and write out the chord changes.  At some point when I moved all my music to my computer and iPod, I organized representative versions of all the songs into a play list (prior to that, I used to keep them all on a cassette tape).  The list below is a printout of that playlist.

Track Name Time Artist Album
1 Confirmation 5:53 Charlie Parker The Charlie Parker Story
2 Donna Lee 2:32 Charlie “Bird” Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
3 Four 7:14 Miles Davis Workin’
4 Little Willie Leaps 2:50 Charlie “Bird” Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
5 Freedom Jazz Dance (Evolution Of The Groove) 7:13 Miles Davis Miles Smiles
6 Sippin’ at Bell’s 2:21 Charlie “Bird” Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
7 Scrapple From The Apple 2:54 Charlie “Bird” Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
8 Vierd Blues 6:55 Miles Davis Collector’s Items
9 Cookin’ at the Continental 4:54 Horace Silver Finger Poppin’ With the Horace Silver Quintet
10 Gingerbread Boy 7:44 Miles Davis Miles Smiles
11 Jordu—Clifford Brown 7:50 Clifford Brown Clifford Brown And Max Roach
12 Airegin 4:27 Miles Davis Quintet Cookin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet
13 Yardbird Suite 2:53 Charlie “Bird” Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
14 Au Privave 2:39 Sonny Stitt Stitt Plays Bird
15 Budo 4:14 Miles Davis ‘Round About Midnight
16 Ornithology 2:59 Charlie “Bird” Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
17 Ornithology 4:24 Charlie Parker The Charlie Parker Story
18 Parisian Thoroughfare—Clifford Brown 7:19 Clifford Brown Clifford Brown And Max Roach
19 Groovin’ High 6:00 Charlie Parker The Charlie Parker Story
20 Moment’s Notice 9:16 John Coltrane Blue Train
21 Dat Dere—take 3 5:28 Cannonball Adderley Them Dirty Blues
22 Daahoud—Clifford Brown 4:50 Clifford Brown Clifford Brown And Max Roach
23 Bebop 2:50 Charlie “Bird” Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
24 Ceora 8:29 Deep Blue Orgin Trio Folk Music
25 Anthropology 5:03 Charlie Parker The Charlie Parker Story
26 Anthropology 4:17 Barry Harris Newer Than New
27 Tricotism 3:53 Ray Brown Ultimate Ray Brown
28 Joy Spring—Clifford Brown 6:50 Clifford Brown Clifford Brown And Max Roach
29 Half Nelson 4:48 Miles Davis Workin’
30 Oleo 5:54 Miles Davis Quintet Relaxin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet
31 Room 608 5:09 The National Jazz Ensemble National Jazz Ensemble (1975-1976)
32 Milestones 2:35 Charlie “Bird” Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
33 Cheryl 2:58 Charlie “Bird” Parker The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes
34 Opus De Funk—Milt Jackson;Hubert Laws 6:43 Milt Jackson;Hubert Laws Goodbye
35 Dig 7:34 Miles Davis Dig
36 Quicksilver 7:13 Horace Silver Funky Pieces Of Silver
37 Impressions—John Coltrane & McCoy Tyner & Elvin Jones 7:27 John Coltrane & McCoy Tyner & Elvin Jones John Coltrane The Greatest Hits
38 Prince Albert 8:40 The Jazz Messengers The Ultimate Jazz Archive 32 At The Cafe Bohemia, Nov. 11
39 Giant Steps 4:43 John Coltrane Giant Steps
40 Song for My Father by Horace Silver Quartet 7:19 Various Artists Classic Jazz—Jazz Masters
41 The Theme 5:51 Miles Davis Miles
42 The Theme (Take 1) 2:00 Miles Davis Workin’

This list appeared previously in an article I wrote for AllAboutJazz

Learning the Tunes

In order to learn these tunes, you need to immerse yourself.  As I said, I had put them all on a cassette tape and would listen to it constantly.  Then about every other day I would take one new tune and and start to practice it (slowly at first) and then gradually work it up to tempo.  And of course I’d continue to play the ones I’d already started.  I’m really happy to say that I did manage to memorize all of these in a single semester, so it is doable!  I continued to practice them daily for the next few years, and still go back to them from time-to-time just to refresh.   The interesting thing is, the more of these tunes you learn, the easier they become.  They really build your chops teach you so much about jazz phrasing.  It’s a big job, but I guarantee if you take it on, you’ll be richly rewarded!

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About the Author
About the Auther: Rick Stone is a jazz guitarist working and teaching in the New York City area for over 30 years. He has performed and recorded with Kenny Barron, Eric Alexander, Ralph Lalama; appeared at the Blue Note, Birdland, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Smithsonian, the East Coast Jazz Festival, Kennedy Center; and toured South America and Italy. His trio can be heard regularly in NYC at the Bar Next Door and the Garage Jazz Restaurant. Their latest release “Fractals” made JazzWeek’s Top-100 CDs of 2011. Learn more (and get a free MP3 and Transcription) at www.rickstone.com). Rick is available for private lessons and also teaches online lessons via Skype (vist www.JazzGuitarLessons.com for details).
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One Comment
  1. Jazz guitar licks January 28, 2016 at 8:27 am Reply

    Thanks nice list, very helpfull.
    Stef

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