Tony, the whole subject is interesting and I'm sure there are as many theories as there are musicians. The way I see it, great tunes reach the exalted status of being declared 'standards'; not 'JAZZ standards', just 'standards'. As I'm sure you know, a large number (and some of the best) of them started life as show tunes but many also came from pop/rock (Yesterday/Beatles), etc. Because of their good song structure and great chord progressions, a lot of them have been covered by most jazz guys. There are a few that, despite a decent structure and conventional chords, have such a 'mush' factor that no jazz musician in the world will play it (ex. 'Feelings' ). Of course there are true jazz standards as well, but these are usually tunes composed by jazz musicians/composers.

Another weird thing is different tunes with the same title. Examples; 'Time after Time'/Cindy Lauper(ironically covered by Miles) and the 'real' Time After Time (that I play). 'The Thrill is Gone'/BB King and the 'real' version that I play . There are many others. How did that happen? Was this before the days of copyright?

Like to hear your comments (perhaps on a new thread).

chas