Vocal Jazz Repertoire

John Knutson, Vocal Jazz Chair
Having hosted a vocal jazz festival at Cuesta College for 23 years, I have heard more amazing charts than I could ever recount. These are just a few that stand out in my memory from the festival, or that I have had great success with in my college ensemble rehearsals.
 

These are roughly in order of difficulty

Titles are hyperlinked to recordings

  1. Easy Love, arr. Matt Falker, SATB/SAB/SSA. Med. Swing. Level 2. Anchor Music. A great chart to teach gentle swing with universal musicality.

  2. Love Me or Leave Me, Rosanna Eckert. Med/Up Swing. Anchor Music. SAT/SSAA/SSAB. Level 3. Solos, Improv, Drum solo, Soli section. Great teaching tool for light, fast swing with fun diction challenges.

  3. Everything Stays, Kerry Marsh. In 3, straight 1/8th. Med. SAATB. Modern sounding alt-pop. Mellow, in the gentle ballad genre. Vocal improv.

  4. A Million Miles, Ginny Carr. SATB. Medium Latin. Level 3. Anchor Music. Latin groove, but also a ballad, so lots of lovely choral phrasing abounds.

  5. Be More Kind, Arr. Jeremy Fox. SATB. Medium Pop. Level 3.5. This song is so needed in our current times. A community-building message for your ensemble and your audience.

  6. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, arr. Mark Brymer. Med swing. (SATB/SAB/SSA) Hal Leonard. A classic jazz tune, tastefully arranged. A great vehicle for teaching all the standard swing techniques and stylings.

  7. Do You Wanna Do Nothing with Me, arr. Kerry Marsh. SSATB, Level 3.5. Med Funk. Easy way to get your ensemble and your audience energized. Shuffle funk groove (Swung 16th notes) which is an important style for your students to master.

  8. Beautiful Day, arr. Matt Falker. Great harmonic challenges, modern jazz modal harmonies. Rich, soulful text. This chart allows your ensemble to project with their full voice.

  9. Maes Que Nada arr. Rosana Eckert. SATB/SSAA. Anchor Music. Up-tempo Samba. Level 4. Perfect amount of challenging. Lots of unison but also a great soli section!

  10. Unraveled, by Aubry Johnson. SSAA. JW Pepper. Med Up Contemporary. Mellow dense chord opening, followed by a contemporary straight-1/8th groove. Level 4. A good challenge for your most talented treble singers.