How does a tune become a standard?

[Hardbopjazz]

Does a tune become a standard after it has been recorded by many different artists, or is there a different formula for a tune becoming a standard?

Edited April 12, 2004 by Hardbopjazz

[BruceH]

People play it.

That's my theory. Better yet, well-known people play it. And people buy the covers. And that causes still more people to cover it...and so on.

Maybe.

[Rooster_Ties]

Wouldn't some Bureau of Standards of some sort, be the one to decide such things???

[Jim Alfredson]

When Kenny G plays it.

[Hardbopjazz]

When Kenny G plays it.

[BruceH]

Wouldn't some Bureau of Standards of some sort, be the one to decide such things???

Yes.

(I think I had one in my old place.)

[Pete C]

Does a tune become a standard after it has been recorded by many different artists, or is there a different formula for a tune becoming a standard?

I'll try a non-flippant response (actually rare for me).

First, we have the issue of standard vs. jazz standard. Jazz standard is an easier proposition. It would be a composition by a jazz musician that has gained wide acceptance by other musicians: A Train, Maiden Voyage, Giant Steps, Ornithology, etc. Plain-vanilla "standards" are generally songs from the "Great American Songbook," the work of theatre composers like Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers, etc., Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths like Walter Donaldson, and film composers like Victor Young, Harry Warren, & Bronislaw Kaper. Often the term standard is used to denote any tune by these writers when played by jazz musicians, regardless of how widely played they are. So you can even have the concept of an "obscure standard."

Edited April 13, 2004 by Pete C

[danasgoodstuff]

When I play it...