Jazz Band Charts

[Fleet Admiral JD]

Currently in Jazz Band we're working on three charts:

Limehouse Blues-An upbeat jazz chart. This song is exciting. Brass plays melody, then saxes come in with a few lines. The rhythm section is just riding along nicely on the beat, with some guitar and bass licks thrown in. Drum fills are simple and exciting. For saxes, this song plays like being high on music . Almost constant playing, both background and melody, very little resting. Really a fun chart.

Poultry In Motion-This is my favorite chart. It's a midbeat funk chart, taken at about 128 beats/min. Starts off with a full ensemble gliss to four marcato eigth notes and a quarter note. Then goes into a section with brass hits, which reapeats, this time adding the melody. The melody is a series of sixteenth note runs by the saxophones. Then there's a 1st trumpet-1st tenor sax duet with assorted brass runs, and then back to the original melody, followed by a solo section and then the coda, which reintroduces the melody and has a drum solo. I absolutley love this chart, lots of fun, and it's a bit of a challenge for us saxes.

God 'Bless The Child-Our ballad. This is a slow-moving jazz ballad, mostly a trombone feature. It opens with a big phat brass chorale, and, with an introduction by the bari sax, moves into the 1st trombone melody/solo. It has a big shout chorus towards the end which is a lot of fun for everyone, and sounds really good. It's not an insanely difficult chart, but it's a pretty, pretty piece and it's fun for all.

So, the purpose of this discussion is threefold:

1)Discuss your Jazz Band experiences, pieces you played, etc.
2)Discuss the charts mentioned above
3)I'd like to hear suggestions for what you like that we could play next year. The director is open to suggestions.

Have fun!

[Hawkwings]

If you have a good trombone soloist, you *must* play Song For JR. It's an incredible trombone feature and oh-so-sweet.

Regarding Jazz Band itself... we just performed at our school's Senior Citizen's Prom, which is pretty self-explanatory. We were running a list of about 30 songs, I was sightreading most of them, lol.

My favorite ones we just played are Just a Gigolo, Bye Bye Blackbird, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, In the Mood, and It's Only a Paper Moon.

Other ones I would recommend are After You've Gone and Honk. We did After You've Gone, Song for JR, and Honk for our district jazz band competition. Apparently we did really good, but the scores we're revealed, so we're not sure. Those are all really fun charts though. After You've Gone is a really driving piece with lots of dynamic contrast, and a couple of half-time sections thrown in, lots of fun. Song for JR is the aformentioned trombone feature. Honk is a nice and funky tune with some major bari sax work.

Oh, BTW, what do you play in Jazz band? I play vibraphone.

[Saurencaerthai]

I've had the joy of drumming in both one of my high school's big bands and the big band here at my school. I'd have to say one of the more fun things I did last year was to work with some new charts that Jackie McLean (the head of our jazz department) wrote. Charts by Oliver Nelson, Neil Hefti, and Sammy Nestico are wicked fun to play.

See if you can get ahold of the chart "Melody for Melonae/Little Melonae" by Jackie Mclean, "Wind Machine" (I think it's by Sammy Nestico, but I could be wrong,) Rockin' In Rhythm (It's either by Duke or Strayhorn,) Oclopaca (Strayhorn,) or Cruisin' for Bluesing' (Maynard Furgeson).

[Fleet Admiral JD]

Oh, BTW, what do you play in Jazz band? I play vibraphone.

I'm Tenor Sax (2) this year. I actually sort of prefer it to being first, as I don't have as much responsibility (IE, the duet and solo in Poultrey)

Sauren: What consists of a "Big band?" Our jazz band is 5 trumpets, 4 bones, 2 alto sax, 2 tenor sax, 1 bari sax, 1 drummer, 2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 pianist. Is your band any bigger?

[Hawkwings]

I think "Big Band" is basically a jazz band. That's what SIbelius leads me to believe anyways.

Our jazz band consists of 2 flutes, 2 alto saxes, 2 tenor saxes, 1 bari sax, 4 bones, 4 trumpets, 2 vibraphones, 2 bassists (one elctric, one acoustic), 1 guitar, 2 pianos, and a drummer.

[Fleet Admiral JD]

I think "Big Band" is basically a jazz band. That's what SIbelius leads me to believe anyways.

Our jazz band consists of 2 flutes, 2 alto saxes, 2 tenor saxes, 1 bari sax, 4 bones, 4 trumpets, 2 vibraphones, 2 bassists (one elctric, one acoustic), 1 guitar, 2 pianos, and a drummer.

We had an aux. Percussionist who played congas and vibes but he left, unfortuenently. We're looking for another one.

[Saurencaerthai]

Oh, BTW, what do you play in Jazz band? I play vibraphone.

I'm Tenor Sax (2) this year. I actually sort of prefer it to being first, as I don't have as much responsibility (IE, the duet and solo in Poultrey)

Sauren: What consists of a "Big band?" Our jazz band is 5 trumpets, 4 bones, 2 alto sax, 2 tenor sax, 1 bari sax, 1 drummer, 2 guitars, 1 bass, 1 pianist. Is your band any bigger?

Nope, you're playing in a big band.

A big band is what you might think of when you hear of the Duke Ellington Orchestra or Count Basie band. Generally, you'll have full sections for saxes, trombones, and trumpets and a rhythm section. Typically, they're the type that will have a lot of pre-arranged charts. Contrast that with a jazz combo that typically doesn't exceed nine people and is much more "Play the head/solo/play head/out." in format.

[Fleet Admiral JD]

A big band is what you might think of when you hear of the Duke Ellington Orchestra or Count Basie band. Generally, you'll have full sections for saxes, trombones, and trumpets and a rhythm section. Typically, they're the type that will have a lot of pre-arranged charts. Contrast that with a jazz combo that typically doesn't exceed nine people and is much more "Play the head/solo/play head/out." in format.

Oh, I get ya now. Actually the "Play the head, solo, play head out" is our warmup

EDIT: Snip stupid question