Below is a list of tunes I frequently use with beginners. It is in no way intended to be an exhaustive list! Lead sheets for all of these tunes are readily available. Check the "Materials" page for my most used resources, and for some of my supplemental materials that you may find useful.

I've organized it into three sections; section one includes tunes I start with for the youngest musicians and most novice improvisers. These are tunes my older students revisit frequently, though, too. One of the special things about improvising is that there's no true equivalent of "Hot Cross Buns" from your beginning band book -- your students and you can keep returning to the first lead sheet you ever played and find new things to say (unless you do "Hot Cross Buns" improv with your beginning band, which I would highly recommend!).

I.

Bags' Groove by Milt Jackson

Blues by Five by Red Garland

Blues in the Closet by Oscar Pettiford

Cantaloupe Island by Herbie Hancock

Impressions by John Coltrane

Jo Jo Calypso by Jim Nadel

Shoshana by Mark Levine

Sonnymoon for Two by Sonny Rollins

Tenor Madeness by Sonny Rollins

II.

Alright, Okay, You Win by Mayme Watts and Sid Wyche

Cold Duck Time by Eddie Harris

Doxy by Sonny Rollins

Equinox by John Coltrane

Jive Samba by Nat Adderly

Little Sunflower by Freddie Hubbard

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy by Josef Zawinul

Mr. P.C. by John Coltrane

Oye Como Va by Tito Puente

Revelation by Kenny Baron

Song for My Father by Horace Silver

Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock

Work Song by Nat Adderly

III.

Blue Bossa by Kenny Dorham

Chameleon by Herbie Hancock

Gingerbread Boy by Jimmy Heath

Groove Merchant by Jerome Richardson

Killer Joe by Benny Golson

Perdido by Juan Tizol

Road Song by Wes Montgomery

Sister Sadie by Horace Silver

So Danco Samba by Antonio Carlos Jobim

St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins