The Song Planner

Standard Instrumental Covers

tagStarted 1950Peak 1952–1968Last big hit still active

Located in 1 route

Easy Listening / Standards / Lounge → Instrumental Pop / Easy Covers

Standard instrumental covers draw from the Great American Songbook, so the arrangements favor legato phrasing, elegant chord movement, brushed rhythm, and room for the tune to breathe. Compared with pop-cover records, they sound older, more harmonically plush, and more tied to cocktail, supper-club, and late-night listening.

History

This substyle helped turn songbook repertoire into a postwar instrumental commodity, with Mantovani, Kostelanetz, Mancini, Percy Faith, and similar acts repackaging stage, film, and Tin Pan Alley material for adult LP buyers; it remained durable because standards were already familiar across generations, making them perfect vehicles for orchestral mood music, hotel lounges, and evergreen compilations.

Defining artists

Essential listening

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Sources

  • Encyclopaedia Britannica, "The Great American Songbook"
  • Smithsonian Libraries, "Popular instrumental music"
  • Library of Congress, "Elevator Music." citeturn7search28turn7search11turn7search21