ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Jazz standard

Okay kiddo, so imagine you love playing with building blocks. Each time you play, you like building different structures with the same blocks.

In the same way, jazz musicians love to play music using the same building blocks. These building blocks are called jazz standards.

A jazz standard is a type of song that has been played over and over again by lots of different jazz musicians. It's like a special kind of song that everyone knows and loves to play.

Think of it like your favorite storybook. Just like you love hearing that same story read to you again and again, jazz musicians enjoy playing the same jazz standard. But, just like how you might change your reading style or the way you act out different parts of the story, jazz musicians also put their own spin on the song each time they play it.

So, a jazz standard is like a special type of song that lots of musicians love to play and put their own unique style on.