The
Great American Songbook, also known as "American Standards", is the canon of the most important and influential American
popular songs and
jazz standards from the early 20th century. Although several collections of music have been published under the title, it does not refer to any actual book or specific list of songs, but to a loosely defined set including the most popular and enduring songs from the 1920s to the 1950s that were created for
Broadway theatre,
musical theatre, and Hollywood
musical film. They have been recorded and performed by a large number and wide range of singers, instrumental bands, and jazz musicians. The Songbook comprises standards by
George Gershwin,
Cole Porter, and
Irving Berlin, and also
Jerome Kern,
Harold Arlen,
Johnny Mercer,
Richard Rodgers, and others.