If you can afford only one ?Up On The Housetop? for your brass quintet, this is the one to get. It is a hoot! It starts with an introduction that is definitely in a hurry; Santa?s sleigh may even have a klaxon on board to blast loitering birds out of the way! The arrangement moves on at the same fast clip, having fun with the melody and never letting up. As it reaches the halfway point, the tempo seems to slow down, but this is just an illusion; tuba and horn keep it moving. Racing toward the end, the conclusion recalls the introduction and finishes with a great, upbeat wind-up. Click on the ?Listen? button, and get set for an exciting Christmas ride with Santa.Tempo is halfnote = 138 throughout. There are some high notes and jumps. Trumpet 1?s highest note is B-flat5 (high C); Trumpet 2, A-flat5 (B-flat above the staff); Horn, F5 (high C). Trombone?s highest jump is from B-flat2 to E-sharp4. Horn has several 6-note jumps. This arrangement was completed in 2012, and performance time runs about 1 minute, 41 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, can be reached at lessmith@ufl.edu. For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

American Vignettes was composed during 2011 for the Lyric Brass of Pacific Lutheran University. They were looking for a composition to include on a CD of American music and one that would feature each of the musicians. The first movement, ?Barn Dance?, features the first trumpet and after a syncopated, fanfare-style introduction, the movement uses fragments and elaborations of "Old Chisholm Trail" and "Short?nin Bread". For the second movement, I wanted to write a blues and feature the other trumpet player on Flugelhorn. As I was working on the movement, the blues seem very mysterious and lonely, so I titled the movement 4 A.M. Blues. It reflects someone who can?t sleep and is contemplating the deep mysteries of life and feels very alone in the world. Movement 3 is the tuba feature and is called "Spirituals". I use three different spirituals in this movement, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I?ve Seen". "Cotton Needs Picking" and "Every Time I Feel the Spirit." Movement 4 ?Fiesta? is a trombone feature and represents the Southwest. The Southwestern flavor is accomplished through alternating 6/8 and 3/4 and the bright colors of the muted brass playing staccato eighth note rhythms and "ay" sounding motifs. The Horn is featured in the fifth movement ?From Sea to Shining Sea? that starts with a jazz harmony version of ?America the Beautiful? followed by a jazz waltz built from motifs of the song. The last movement is called ?Harlem Jump? and is an up-tempo jive with Be-bop type solos written for each of the musicians. ?

That most sensual of ballroom dances, the tango, originated during the 1880s along the R�o de la Plata, the confluence of the Uruguay and Paran� rivers. It got started among the enslaved peoples and the lower classes, became popular and eventually spread to other countries.
The tango is closely identified with Argentina, and Argentine musician �.G. Villoldo was instrumental in developing the music of the dance. He supposedly wrote this particular tango to celebrate the proprietor of a nightclub, a gentleman whose nickname was ?El Choclo? (in English: ?The Corn Cob?!).
?El Choclo? premiered in Buenos Aires in 1903 and became one of Argentina?s most popular tangos. Dance orchestras recorded instrumental versions of "El Choclo." It achieved widespread popularity in the United States in 1952 when Lester Allen and Robert Hill provided it with English-language lyrics and a new name: ?Kiss of Fire.? A number of singers made recordings of ?Kiss of Fire? that year, the most popular of which was that of Georgia Gibbs; her ?Kiss of Fire? disc reached the top spot on the Billboard chart.
The melody for ?El Choclo? is exciting, stirring, stimulating, electrifying; in other words, perfect for a brass group. In this arrangement Horn in F has the melody throughout much of the piece, but Trumpets, Trombone and Tuba also take turns with the lead. The piece opens in the key of D minor, switches to D major (for the part of the melody that was not in the Georgia Gibbs version) and finally goes back to D minor for the recap of the main melody and a dramatic conclusion. The suggested tempo is 120 but may certainly be played faster. All notes are within the normal playing range of the five instruments. However the Tango rhythm lies mostly in the bass line, so Tuba and sometimes Trombone have frequent octave and octave-plus jumps.
Completed in 2020, performance time for ?El Choclo? runs about 2 minutes, 50 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.