JSIR: An Audio-Aligned, Multi-Task Dataset of Jazz Standard Recordings

Sihun Lee, Dasaem Jeong

Dataset Browser · Annotation Tool

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JSIR (Jazz Standards dataset for Information Retrieval) provides beat and downbeat, chord, and structure annotations for 267 jazz recordings, spanning 25.6 hours of audio. It features four to nine recording versions for each jazz standard.

The repertoire spans a wide variety of styles and settings: from the Great American Songbook classics to hard-bop tunes, and from small combos to big band arrangements. Recordings were selected mainly for prominence and adherence to the "canonical" chord changes. All annotations were produced by the main author who is a jazz musician and throughly revised in several passes.

Dataset Structure

The three layers of annotation (beats, chord, and structure) are aligned to the same beat grid, so that all events coincide with a beat.

• beats/: Beat and downbeat positions are given for each recording as a plain text file. Downbeats are marked with an additional 1 separated by tabs.
• chords/: Chord events are given as CSV files, listing onset timings and chord names in shorthand Harte syntax.
• structure/: Musical structure events are given as CSV files. Names for sections are structured in a six-class taxomony: intro, head, solo, interlude, trade, and outro. For head and solo sections, an additional label denotes the prominent active instruments, separated by a colon; e.g. head:piano, solo:bass, trade:horn,drum.
• segments/: The segment labels mark regions where beat and chord information can be deemed reliable enough; it excludes unaccompanied solos, rubato intros, solos with ambiguous timing or harmony, etc. Data for beat tracking and chord estimation should only be sampled from the valid segment regions.
• audio/: The collected WAV audio files are to be put here, named as {youtube_id}.wav.
• lead_sheets.json provides high-level information and the chord progression for each standard.
• metadata.json provides further details for individual recordings, including MusicBrainz and YouTube IDs that pin down the exact version.

Tools

• JSIR Browser is a web app for browsing the dataset's contents alongside audio. When visiting the website, please expect up to ~50 seconds of warmup as the hosting provider puts the app under hibernation with inactivity.
• JSIR Annotator is the annotation tool purpose-built for JSIR, which features functionalities for metadata and audio collection and convenient DAW-like labeling.

Contributing

We welcome outside contributors who may want to revise the annotations or add new data. We encourage contributors to use the JSIR Annotator when editing or creating labels as it makes the process delightfully conveinent.

License

JSIR annotations are released under CC BY-SA 4.0. Users are free to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the dataset in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the original authors. Derivitive material should also be released under the same license.

Statistics

We include some detailed dataset statistics (not covered in the paper due to page constraints) below.

Overview

Quantity	Value
Recordings	267
Jazz standards	44
Recordings per standard	4–9 (mean 6.1)
Distinct artist credits	173
Total audio	25h 38m (25.65 h)
Mean / median recording length	5:46 / 4:59
Beats annotated	260,328 (233,015 inside valid segments)
Downbeats (bars) annotated	65,296 (58,442 inside valid segments)
Chord events	73,006 (67,751 inside valid segments)
Structure sections	1,434 (mean 5.4 per recording)
Mean tempo	181.4 BPM

Tempo Stability

Statistic	Value
Median tempo drift	+0.0%
Mean tempo drift	+1.7%
Recordings speeding up by more than 2%	111 (41.6%)
Recordings slowing down by more than 2%	62 (23.2%)

Chords

Chord Qualities, grouped into families:

Family	Qualities	Events	Share of events	Audio (valid)	Share of audio
dominant	7, 9	28,944	39.6%	7h 36m	36.7%
minor	min, min7, min6, minmaj7	24,495	33.6%	6h 31m	31.5%
major	maj, maj7, maj6	14,456	19.8%	4h 35m	22.2%
half-diminished	hdim7	3,249	4.5%	50m 14s	4.0%
diminished	dim, dim7	556	0.8%	9m 55s	0.8%
suspended	sus4	774	1.1%	24m 25s	2.0%
augmented	aug	207	0.3%	4m 26s	0.4%
no chord	N	325	0.4%	29m 38s	2.4%

Root degrees, relative to the tonic of each recording:

Degree above tonic	Events	Share	Share (major keys)	Share (minor keys)
I	11,369	15.6%	23.8%	47.8%
bII	2,688	3.7%	1.4%	12.7%
II	10,114	13.9%	16.7%	6.1%
bIII	5,701	7.8%	2.8%	4.7%
III	2,089	2.9%	8.9%	0.0%
IV	11,292	15.5%	8.5%	5.8%
bV	1,795	2.5%	2.1%	0.0%
V	10,192	14.0%	14.6%	14.8%
bVI	2,935	4.0%	2.7%	2.4%
VI	4,705	6.5%	10.8%	1.2%
bVII	8,085	11.1%	4.2%	4.3%
VII	1,716	2.4%	3.6%	0.1%

Most frequent chord transition types. The last column gives the usual functional reading:

From	Root motion	To	Transitions	Share	Common reading
min7	up P4	7	10,415	14.4%	ii–V
7	up P4	maj7	6,488	9.0%	V–I
7	up P4	min7	4,063	5.6%	V–i, or V→ii of a ii–V chain
7	up P4	7	3,697	5.1%	dominant chain (e.g. blues I7–IV7)
hdim7	up P4	7	2,997	4.2%	iiø–V
7	up P4	min	1,341	1.9%	V–i
7	up P4	maj6	1,206	1.7%	V–I
7	up P5	7	1,148	1.6%
min7	up P4	min7	1,053	1.5%	chain of minor sevenths (e.g. iii–vi)
7	up M7	7	851	1.2%	dominant chain, descending
maj7	same root	min7	843	1.2%
7	same root	min7	832	1.2%

Structure

Occurrence of structure event types:

Section class	Sections	Share	Recordings	Audio	Audio Share	Mean length	Mean bars
intro	184	12.8%	184	1h 02m	4.2%	0:20	8.2
head	494	34.4%	256	7h 57m	31.9%	0:58	33.5
solo	581	40.5%	234	13h 52m	55.7%	1:26	69.9
interlude	34	2.4%	27	13m 55s	0.9%	0:25	17.2
trade	51	3.6%	50	54m 23s	3.6%	1:04	59.9
outro	89	6.2%	89	52m 47s	3.5%	0:36	14.9

Solo instrument shares:

Soloist	Solo sections	Solo audio	Share of solo audio	Mean solo length	Mean bars per solo
horn	252	6h 19m	45.6%	1:30	73.7
piano	172	4h 32m	32.7%	1:35	79.7
bass	64	1h 10m	8.4%	1:06	49.1
guitar	40	51m 07s	6.1%	1:17	71.1
drum	25	24m 37s	3.0%	0:59	24.7
vibraphone	13	16m 41s	2.0%	1:17	60.7
organ	5	7m 45s	0.9%	1:33	94.4
violin	5	3m 59s	0.5%	0:48	30.8
vocal	2	2m 33s	0.3%	1:17	48.0
flute	2	2m 09s	0.3%	1:04	48.0
percussion	2	2m 00s	0.2%	1:00	62.5
clarinet	2	1m 29s	0.2%	0:45	50.0

Repertoire

Jazz Standards Covered:

Standard	Composer	Recordings	Key	Bars	Tempo class	Feel	Tonality	Audio	BPM range
Airegin	Sonny Rollins	8	Ab maj	36	Up	Swing	functional	49m 04s	235–316
Alice in Wonderland	Sammy Fain	6	C maj	64	Medium Up	Jazz Waltz	functional	41m 16s	146–218
All the Things You Are	Jerome Kern	9	Ab maj	36	Up	Swing	functional	55m 16s	75–229
Autumn Leaves	Joseph Kosma	6	E min	32	Medium	Swing	functional	36m 45s	62–207
Bags' Groove	Milt Jackson	7	F maj	12	Medium Up	Swing	blues	46m 24s	102–194
Billie's Bounce	Charlie Parker	7	F maj	12	Medium Up	Swing	blues	55m 15s	158–273
Blue Bossa	Kenny Dorham	7	C min	32	Medium Up	Latin	functional	47m 38s	162–293
Bye Bye Blackbird	Ray Henderson	5	G maj	32	Medium Up	Swing	functional	32m 23s	73–171
Caravan	Juan Tizol, Duke Ellington	7	F min	64	Up	Swing	modal	44m 02s	182–364
Cherokee	Ray Noble	7	Bb maj	64	Up	Swing	functional	40m 04s	250–353
Confirmation	Charlie Parker	7	F maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	47m 11s	162–267
Desafinado	Antônio Carlos Jobim	7	F maj	68	Medium Up	Latin	functional	34m 48s	118–200
Don't Get Around Much Anymore	Duke Ellington	8	C maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	26m 31s	80–111
Donna Lee	Charlie Parker, Miles Davis	6	Ab maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	32m 15s	226–324
Embraceable You	George Gershwin	5	G maj	32	Slow	Swing	functional	19m 18s	60–72
Giant Steps	John Coltrane	5	Eb maj	16	Up	Swing	functional	56m 17s	250–300
Honeysuckle Rose	Fats Waller	6	F maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	18m 22s	171–218
Hot House	Tadd Dameron	5	C maj	32	Medium Up	Swing	functional	35m 46s	188–293
I Can't Get Started	Vernon Duke	7	C maj	32	Medium Slow	Swing	functional	34m 53s	58–98
I Got Rhythm	George Gershwin	5	Bb maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	19m 36s	214–308
I Mean You	Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk	7	F maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	44m 00s	150–255
I'll Remember April	Gene de Paul	6	G maj	48	Up	Swing	functional	52m 29s	214–299
Impressions	John Coltrane	6	D min	32	Up	Swing	modal	42m 34s	267–308
Joy Spring	Clifford Brown	5	F maj	32	Medium Up	Swing	functional	33m 30s	150–200
Just Friends	John Klenner	6	G maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	29m 16s	74–279
Lullaby Of Birdland	George David Weiss, George Shearing	6	F min	32	Medium	Swing	functional	21m 59s	111–194
Maiden Voyage	Herbie Hancock	4	–	32	Medium	Straight	modal	24m 09s	113–130
Milestones	Miles Davis	4	F maj	40	Up	Swing	modal	21m 18s	231–286
My Funny Valentine	Richard Rodgers	4	C min	36	Medium	Swing	functional	14m 44s	67–72
Oleo	Sonny Rollins	4	Bb maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	19m 18s	226–309
On Green Dolphin Street	Bronisław Kaper	6	Eb maj	32	Medium Up	Swing	functional	48m 49s	158–211
Ornithology	Charlie Parker, Benny Harris	5	G maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	19m 20s	176–250
Perdido	Juan Tizol	6	Bb maj	32	Medium Up	Swing	functional	37m 00s	128–231
Polka Dots And Moonbeams	Jimmy Van Heusen	7	F maj	32	Slow	Swing	functional	31m 29s	48–110
So What	Miles Davis	7	D min	32	Medium Up	Swing	modal	56m 58s	167–261
Sophisticated Lady	Duke Ellington	5	Ab maj	32	Slow	Swing	functional	27m 54s	61–122
St. Thomas	Sonny Rollins	4	C maj	16	Up	Latin	functional	25m 04s	207–273
Star Eyes	Don Raye, Gene de Paul	8	Eb maj	36	Up	Swing	functional	42m 08s	102–194
Summertime	George Gershwin	4	G min	16	Medium Slow	Swing	functional	12m 30s	90–146
There Will Never Be Another You	Harry Warren	7	Eb maj	32	Medium Up	Swing	functional	35m 28s	85–273
Wave	Antônio Carlos Jobim	7	D maj	44	Medium	Latin	functional	40m 01s	140–200
What's New	Bob Haggart	6	C maj	32	Slow	Swing	functional	27m 24s	59–118
Yardbird Suite	Charlie Parker	7	C maj	32	Up	Swing	functional	32m 38s	162–245
Yesterdays	Jerome Kern	6	D min	16	Medium	Swing	functional	25m 46s	64–136

Most frequent recording artists (123 credits appear only once):

Artist credit	Recordings
Charlie Parker	7
Miles Davis	6
Wes Montgomery	5
Bill Evans Trio	5
Art Pepper	5
Dexter Gordon	4
Oscar Peterson	4
McCoy Tyner	4
Ella Fitzgerald	4
Sarah Vaughan	4
Billie Holiday	4
Miles Davis Quintet	3
Clifford Brown	3
Frank Sinatra	3
Coleman Hawkins	3

Instrumentation:

Ensemble	Recordings	Share	Audio
trio	63	23.6%	5h 52m
quartet	63	23.6%	7h 03m
quintet	55	20.6%	6h 07m
big band / orchestra / strings	39	14.6%	2h 31m
other / unspecified small group	27	10.1%	2h 04m
sextet to octet	13	4.9%	1h 27m
duo	5	1.9%	22m 04s
solo	2	0.7%	10m 14s