A few weeks ago while I was taking some music classes, I started writing a list of songs that I mostly know, somewhat know, or would like to know.  When I began learning saxophone, a lot of emphasis was placed on reading tunes.  These days I am playing more things by ear and trying to have more to play.

Paul Contos once made up a story about a hypothetical guy who had played third chair trumpet in a symphony for years, but when his friends asked him to play something at home he didn’t have a chart and couldn’t.  Don’t be that guy!

Here’s my growing list (in no particular order):

• Nica’s Dream
• Night in Tunisia
• All Blues
• Green Dolphin Street
• Dolphin Dance
• Freedom Jazz Dance
• Come Candela
• Mambo Inn
• Afro Blue
• Sabor
• St. Thomas
• Billie’s Bounce
• Anthropology
• Fee Fi Fo Fum
• Wave
• Desafinado
• Girl from Ipanema
• Favela
• Four
• Bye Bye Blackbird
• Skylark
• Crazeology
• Bebop
• Sugar
• Midnight Special
• Song For My Father
• Ceora
• Watermelon Man
• Maiden Voyage
• Impressions
• So What
• Scrapple From the Apple
• Moose the Mooch
• Don’t Stop the Carnival
• Harlem Nocturne
• Moanin
• Work Song
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow
• Spain (with intro)
• La Fiesta
• My Funny Valentine
• There is No Greater Love
• Have you Met Miss Jones
• Black Orpheus
• Softly as the Morning Sunrise
• Alone Together
• You and the Night and the Music
• Shadow of Your Smile
• Recordame

Last Wednesday I saw Omar Sosa and he sounded incredible. He came out all in white with a red candle burning on the piano with red cloth draped next to it. The music began with solo piano and for the text piece a bass player from Mozambique came out. Each had a sense of rhythm that was fantastic. The man from Mozambique played finger piano and then the bass along with some vocals. For the last song they got the audience to sing along. Afterwards I bought Sosa’s CD’s Mulatos, Sentir, and Spirt of the roots. So far I like Mulatos the best.
Omar CD’s