Building Your Repertoire and Surviving Gigs
The best way to build your repertoire is to think about the situations you'll be playing, then what tunes will most likely be appropriate for that repertoire. For example, if your goal is to attend a Jazz Studies music program, play sessions (as both host and participant) or call yourself a gigging Jazz musician, having a repertoire of popular tunes by Galactic, Maceo Parker and Esperanza Spalding might give you an entertaining set for some people, but will not make you welcome in situations when one of about 100-200 basic standards are called and you're expected to be able to handle them or pull a sheet quickly and play through them effectively without getting in the way... On the other hand, if you have an original act and band and tunes aren't being randomly called, you definitely do want to have tunes that fall outside "Real Book v. 1" - - at the same time, there are situations where a heavy repertoire of bebop is called for, and others where Motown, The Beatles and more popular tunes are required. - - By considering situations and appropriate repertoire, you can focus on learning tunes that will work for you... Of note, if you are planning on playing in situations where Jazz tunes are randomly called, you do want to build your list of the "Top 150 or so" standards one step at a time... Several such lists appear on the audition pages of some music programs. You might also note set lists at local Jam sessions, and become familiar with the contents of the Real Books v. 1 - 3... There is even a website called Jazzstandards.com that lists standards by frequency - - but keep in mind different sessions have biases for and against certain tunes, for example, at one session BYE BYE BLACKBIRD might get called EVERY WEEK, and at another, the leader is sick and tired of it and has it on the blacklist.
...whatever, when you see a tune being called time and time again, get the sheet, put it in your book and start learning it. Keep in mind that if you learn only 1 tune a week, in 2-3 years you'll have a repertoire compatible with many of those types of players who seem to know every tune there is under the sun. The truth is that some tunes are ALWAYS CALLED and in knowing these high frequency tunes they seem to have photographic memories.
As another tip, you can set a goal how many tunes you want to learn per week... make sure you spend your practice time getting tunes under your finger, not just doing licks and patterns. Repertoire building is the last thing you want to put aside for anything else, in fact, you can use repertoire as etudes to build your chops as well as vehicles for developing improvisational ideas.
Putting sets together...
As for how many tunes you need to survive a gig... well, if you mean putting a set list together get an idea how long the arrangements last... In the style I play, things usually work out to about 6-9 tunes per set... in my case, often I open and close with a blues. If you have a "rhythm change" (a standard form) in the middle that covers three tunes off the bat, meaning you only need 3-5 or so additional tunes per typical set... so if you're playing three sets that night, it means you need to know about 15 tunes on top of a bunch of blues and rhythm changes...
Here are two other useful tips:
Regarding what to do when somebody requests a tune you don't know, you can say that you haven't played it in a long time, but promise to work out a special arrangement of it for the next gig... in the meantime, think of a similar tune they'd like and offer to dedicate it to them... Ideally though, it helps if you're good at pulling sheets from fake books and getting through tunes you don't know, even if it means you just accompanying and more experienced players in your group covering the melody. - - This might also be part of your practice regiment: randomly pulling tunes from fakebooks and trying to play through their chords and melodies. - - Keep in mind that you'll find in some situations even the customers seem to call the exact same tunes all the time, so eventually you get to anticipate them and actually be prepared in advance. (Though you'd think many customers would intentionally want to play stump the band, they often request the ONE Jazz tune they actually know the name of... if, on the other hand its a truly complex tune, there's no reason not to need time to work it out...!)
In closing, repertoire building isn't something that you do one time and that lasts forever, rather it is something that occurs over the span of weeks, months, years, decades and ultimately a lifetime... so if you want my ultimate advice, its this: Take things one day at a time - - but spend your rehearsal time wisely.
...whatever, when you see a tune being called time and time again, get the sheet, put it in your book and start learning it. Keep in mind that if you learn only 1 tune a week, in 2-3 years you'll have a repertoire compatible with many of those types of players who seem to know every tune there is under the sun. The truth is that some tunes are ALWAYS CALLED and in knowing these high frequency tunes they seem to have photographic memories.
As another tip, you can set a goal how many tunes you want to learn per week... make sure you spend your practice time getting tunes under your finger, not just doing licks and patterns. Repertoire building is the last thing you want to put aside for anything else, in fact, you can use repertoire as etudes to build your chops as well as vehicles for developing improvisational ideas.
Putting sets together...
As for how many tunes you need to survive a gig... well, if you mean putting a set list together get an idea how long the arrangements last... In the style I play, things usually work out to about 6-9 tunes per set... in my case, often I open and close with a blues. If you have a "rhythm change" (a standard form) in the middle that covers three tunes off the bat, meaning you only need 3-5 or so additional tunes per typical set... so if you're playing three sets that night, it means you need to know about 15 tunes on top of a bunch of blues and rhythm changes...
Here are two other useful tips:
- When putting together a set, try to chose a wide mix of tempos, keys and style of repertoire... for example ballads, swing, bossa, bop, funk, etc. - - also, try to arrange the set so it builds and ends with something exciting...
- You may also want to consider having an opening theme (especially one that you feel safe with) and a "chaser" (a type of closing theme, often one in which you make announcements and announce the band.)
Regarding what to do when somebody requests a tune you don't know, you can say that you haven't played it in a long time, but promise to work out a special arrangement of it for the next gig... in the meantime, think of a similar tune they'd like and offer to dedicate it to them... Ideally though, it helps if you're good at pulling sheets from fake books and getting through tunes you don't know, even if it means you just accompanying and more experienced players in your group covering the melody. - - This might also be part of your practice regiment: randomly pulling tunes from fakebooks and trying to play through their chords and melodies. - - Keep in mind that you'll find in some situations even the customers seem to call the exact same tunes all the time, so eventually you get to anticipate them and actually be prepared in advance. (Though you'd think many customers would intentionally want to play stump the band, they often request the ONE Jazz tune they actually know the name of... if, on the other hand its a truly complex tune, there's no reason not to need time to work it out...!)
In closing, repertoire building isn't something that you do one time and that lasts forever, rather it is something that occurs over the span of weeks, months, years, decades and ultimately a lifetime... so if you want my ultimate advice, its this: Take things one day at a time - - but spend your rehearsal time wisely.