Cole Davis: Low Standards - A Complete Guide to Playing Your Favorite Jazz Standards

About the Book

I created this e-book because most “standards” books are needlessly complicated. They often contain solos that are excruciating to play, analysis that is utterly mind-numbing to get through, and a level of pretentiousness that further instills the crippling self-doubt all musicians seem to have.

All of the solos in this PDF are playable at any level.

99% of this book can be played in half position. There’s no technical achievement here. It’s just a collection of solos and bass lines designed to expand your harmonic vocabulary.

I recommend playing everything as slowly as possible to allow the extensions to enter your ears and your mind instead of breezing through everything in a typical jazz student fashion. There’s a lot of depth and a lot of magic in the harmonic extensions, for example, a #5 on a dominant chord, which you can internalize by playing through the exercises at a tempo that enables you to really hear everything.

The other thing I considered when making this PDF is the length of phrases in a great solo or bass lines. Although language is important, phrase length is arguably even more important.

Most great solos and bass lines are made up of concise melodic phrases with a clear beginning and a clear ending. Listen to any great melodic soloist, and you will hear clear statements with a beginning and ending that naturally flow into the next phrase. Phrase length is as important in bass lines, even though we don’t have the ability to rest like we do in a solo.

With the solos and bass lines in this e-book, you will be ready for any jam session or gig!

-Cole

Table of Contents

1. F Blues
2. Bb Rhythm Changes
3. Impressions
4. Autumn Leaves
5. On Green Dolphin Street
6. Giant Steps
7. Stella by Starlight
8. Confirmation
9. All the Things You Are
10. It Could Happen to You
11. Bolivia
12. Have You Met Miss Jones

About Cole Davis

Cole Davis is a rising star in the upright bass world. In 2017, he won the Ron Carter Bass Competition at only 20 years old. After earning a bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 2019, Cole was awarded the rare honor of being accepted to the Juilliard Artist Diploma and Graduate Degree Program concurrently.

A busy sideman in New York City and abroad, he has played at The Kennedy Center, Rose Hall, The Appel Room, The Jazz Standard, and many other venues. His first etude book, “Freedom of Movement,” was released in August of 2020 and was praised by upright bassists such as Eddie Gomez and Rufus Reid as being a game-changing method in upright bass technique. He currently endorses Yamaha basses and was named the 2019 Yamaha Young Artist in Jazz as the first upright bass player to be given the distinction.