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Gene Ammons preaches on in Brother Jug's Sermon, a soulfully grooving dance tune that now fully features bari sax. The horn backgrounds are simple enough--a couple of horn turns and a few suggested high notes in the bari make this an easy level 2. Swing music has never been so hip!
Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Bebop, Swing Era Level 2 TEMPO = 145 Trumpet
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This Edwin Finckel rarity swings hard and doesn't shy away from its bebop influences. Straddling the line between the two eras of jazz, Calling Doctor Gillespie features some infectious melodies and singable shout choruses. High Gs for lead trumpet are all optional - without them the highest note is a Bb above the staff. A couple of solos in the middle round this out.
Instrumentation Big Band Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 136 Trumpet
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Charlie Barnet wrote a trio of "Idea" pieces: one that paid tribute to Duke Ellington, one that parodied the unhip bands of the day, and this one, The Right Idea, a piece that Barnet felt represented a quintessential swing chart. With solo space for several instruments and some great riffs and lines, you can tell right away that Barnet was spot on!
Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 185 Trumpet
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Flip Lid comes from the peak of Les Brown's band, coming out of the swing era with Lunceford and Basie sensibilities, but tapping into the bebop era of Dizzy's and Woody Herman's bands. Featuring the horn section throughout the head and a well balanced shout chorus, this swingin' chart sits right in between two eras of jazz.
Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Bebop, Swing Era Level 4 TEMPO = 188 Trumpet
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Another killin' Edwin Finckel original, Up an Atom pushes Gene Krupa's young orchestra to the limit, blurring the line between swing and bebop. Long stretches of solo space and plenty of great ensemble passages makes this a great flagwaver.
Instrumentation Big Band Style Bebop, Swing Era Level 4 TEMPO = 212 Trumpet
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Burgundy, Pine, and Goldenrod is a fanfare-ish chorale with 19th and 20th century functional harmony that features each of the four players in the quartet. With each melody switch-off comes a new key and a new accompanying orchestration, providing a range of colors across its short run.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Classical Level 4 TEMPO = 120 Trumpet
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Melanchology is a moody medium tempo piece that is designed to be sophisticated but accessible. The opening march-like texture is supported by colorful nonfunctional harmony, leading all the way to a diminishing spacey ending. It's an easy level 3 with solo space for your best trumpet soloist and a little space for guitar and piano.
Instrumentation Big Band Style Modern Jazz Level 3 TEMPO = 150 Trumpet
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Ruined is a funky chamber jazz tune with feature space for guitar and trumpet. It starts with saxes only with no rhythm section, adding in trombones, then trumpets, before building into a guitar solo. The trumpet solo gets some space over trombone chorale before the rhythm section jumps back in, and it ends with a dismantling of each section until nothing is left but the five saxes. Each horn player keeping good time is critical for this composition, but the reward is a lush and exciting groove-based piece.
Instrumentation Big Band Style Modern Jazz Level 4 TEMPO = 90 Trumpet
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A Form of Art is a wild alto sax feature filled with the vocabulary of Duke Ellington and Paul Gonsalves. This is a frenetic, crescendoing rhythm changes tune featuring the alto soloing throughout. It's purely an improvisation vehicle; there is no melody for the alto to play. You must have an alto saxophone player in your band who is comfortable keeping the energy up across one long extended solo.
Instrumentation Big Band Style Swing Era Level 4 TEMPO = 220 Trumpet
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Angels We Have Heard on High is a Christmas standard so old that we don't know who wrote it or when it was written. A few tasteful and understated 20th century reharmonizations dot this simple and classic traditional chorale, a must-have in every holiday brass quartet book.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Classical Level 1 TEMPO = 120 Trumpet
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Chorale #2 is a short original piece written for brass quartet in the spirit of the holiday season. At once a gentle fanfare, a lament on the darkness of society, and a celebration of the best humankind has to offer, Chorale #2 churns and crawls its way to a triumphant final chord.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Classical Level 3 TEMPO = 80 Trumpet
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One of the older Christmas standards, Deck the Halls is a classic that belongs in every holiday brass quartet book. This is a very easy level 3, save for an abrupt fanfare in the final few bars that brings the arrangement to a triumphal end. The harmony ranges from traditional to modern nonfunctional, but it is always well-balanced.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Classical Level 3 TEMPO = 160 Trumpet
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God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is a 500 year old holiday standard that has undoubtedly been recorded hundreds of times, and every holiday brass book needs a copy. This tasteful version for brass quartet features traditional harmony that slowly develops into something a little more modern and unique without ever becoming unrecognizable, ending with a conventional Picardy third.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Classical Level 1 TEMPO = 120 Trumpet
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Good Christian Men, Rejoice is a a very old and traditional Christmas tune that I decided to give a total harmonic makeover to. Now in a tropical 6/8 groove with brisk chromatic harmony, GCMR is a killer chart with a great musical payoff.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Modern Jazz Level 5 TEMPO = 120 Trumpet
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With modern harmony that spins around the tonic and a laser focused fanfare ending, this modernized update to Good King Wenceslas is a refreshing take on the classic. This is on the harder side of level 4 - the tuba part is a bit difficult and there are quick time signature changes that appear difficult but logically are very simple once all the players have gotten used to it.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Modern Jazz Level 4 TEMPO = 130 Trumpet
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This 19th century classic sees a jazz update here, with swinging rhythms and tight 20th century jazz harmony driving it forward. The ending is a bit chaotic and helps put this on the difficult side of a level 3 arrangement, but overall this is a fun version of the tune that has more pop to it than usual.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Bebop, Modern Jazz Level 3 TEMPO = 180 Trumpet
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Jingle Bells is one of the most recognizable holiday classics of all time, so I felt an obligation to do something different with this arrangement. The first two bars are traditional and "classical" before unexpectedly launching into a double time swing feel featuring the 2nd trumpet and 4-feel bass lines. It then abruptly settles into a normal time straight feel, almost in a rock style, with the melody exactly where you expect it but underlying functional harmony built on top of a 12-tone chord progression. In other words, this one sounds cool.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Classical, Modern Jazz Level 4 TEMPO = 90 Trumpet
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This arrangement of Joy to the World has a range of dynamics and harmonies and is a killer upgrade to the more traditional versions out there. Now in a fast 3/4 time signature, this version has a lead trumpet melody part that is virtually unaltered, with colorful counterparts and reharmonizations flying around it.
Instrumentation Brass Quartet Style Classical, Modern Jazz Level 3 TEMPO = 220 Trumpet
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