Whenever me and my mom hop in the car, my mom would always put on some jazz. After many years of riding in cars with my mom, and my own jazz discovery, I believe that there are some clear superstar standards amongst the long list of songs. Take the “A” Train with me to explore these songs!

“Take The ‘A’ Train” by Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington
I’ve always dreamed of living in a big city like New York, and “Take The “A” Train” continues to romanticize such an idea. The upbeat percussion in the back, The brass that seems to almost talk to each other, Ella’s eagerness to hop on board. It all culminates into a bustling soundscape, just like the bustling streets of the big apple itself.

“Mack The Knife” by Bobby Darin
This must be the best way to encapsulate what it feels like to be a CIA agent (Other than “Secret Agent Man”.) A murder mystery unraveled throughout the lyrics of the song. Listing off how Mack got away with the crime… and who strangely disappeared. Louie Miller, Jenny Diver, Sukey Tawdry, Lottie Lenya, and Lucy Brown. Bobby’s voice seems to almost play a morally ambiguous character, with a level of hype in his voice you wouldn’t expect for a song like this, yet Bobby pulls it off excellently.

“L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole
Everyone and their mother, and their mother’s mother has heard this song by one artist or another, but what I love about this version of it is how personal it feels. While some like Michael Bublé would make this song a bombastic song for the whole world to hear, the minimal sounds beyond NKC’s voice makes it feel like you, the listener, are truly L-O-V-E-D. I would rate this song a Very very extraordinary out of 10.

“Blue Skies” by Seth MacFarlane
In case you didn’t know, yes, that Seth MacFarlane. Seth has very frequently mentioned his love for crooners of a time long ago, eventually deciding to step in their shoes. He sings with tons of energy that accompanies the brass to create an image in my head of a, well, blue sky. It’s songs like these that remind us that “Renaissance Men” are still being made. Crazy to think this guy is Peter Griffin, though.

“That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra
You knew he would be in here eventually. The man, the myth, the legend: Frank Sinatra. The man that non-jazz listeners think of when they think of jazz. “That’s Life” encompasses the ups, the downs, the overs, and the outs of not only Frank’s life, but all of our journeys. Frank deals with the inevitability of death, but not without admitting that, yeah, he’s had a pretty good life.

The genre of Jazz will always have roughly ⅓ of my heart (one third is for just Stevie Wonder, one third for rap) and while its best days may be behind us, the legacies of the artists will be eternal. I am still hoping we eventually get a “Jazz Battle” like the Key & Peele sketch, though.