Michael Brown has given this time-honored spiritual new life with this fresh arrangement. It feels like a Blues Brothers two-beat swing chart all the way. There's a short 4-bar repeated solo section that you can open up for any soloist. A hard-driving swinger!

Wald for Ensemble was composed by Hans Abrahamsen in 2008-09. Co-commission by the Schönberg Ensemble and BBC for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.Programme NoteWald is in a way a series of variations from the beginning of my woodwind quintet Walden (1978). This thematical idea is very simple - a rising call of a fourth and the response in other voices. This idea is repeated several times but because the call has a slower pulse than the responses the process leads to them changing order.In Walden I borrowed the title from the Americanphilosopher Henry David Thoreau who in the middle of the eighteenth century in a little wooden hermit house at the bank of the lake Walden pond wrote the book Walden of his life and time in the forests. Here he experimented living for two years in order to come closer to nature and to see if it was possible to live simply without all the unnecessary needs created by society. The book is filled with poetry but is also cutting and critical of society. In my piece Walden I tried to search for the same simplicity handling the most simple material but at the same time trying not to lose the poetry.Wald is a twin piece to Walden but also to my former piece Schnee.Robert Schumann wrote in 1848-49 a wonderful piano piece Waldszenen. He wrote this collection of short pieces with beautiful titles like Einsame Blumen Vogel als Prophet and also Jäger auf der Lauer just a few years before Thoreau wrote his book Walden. For them the forest is the magical romantic place that gives a spiritual insight to man but also from where we get our food through hunting. For me the forest still has this magical quality and Wald has scenes with a hunting horn that calls (I many years ago played the magical 'Waldhorn' and remember playing in the forest near my home) flocks of birds that when agitated take

Here's a cooking swing-style chart from the same cat that wrote last year's festival winner Socrates The Amazing Mississippi Map Turtle which made the Midwest Clinic program. This chart features lots of solid ensemble writing throughout especially in the bone section.

Click score above for a larger image For your developing group here's a very easy bossa nova chart to fit any group's playing level. No solos are needed to play this one and rhythmic reading consists of mostly whole notes and half notes. Harry Miedema's great changes flow over the Brazilian bossa beat in the rhythm section. An excellent change-of-pace tune for your beginning jazzers.

From the author of last year's festival favorite Otra Vez here is a hot little latin number to warm up your concert crowd. The solo spots are written in the lead alto and 2nd trumpet part with lots of supporting backgrounds written into the other voices. Limited ranges make this an easy number to put together. The lead trumpet only needs a written G.

Nat King Cole's 50s classic is beautifully scored here by 'Tooth and features solo bone and tenor against a rich harmonic background. Very reasonable ranges with no changes needed. Highly recommended!

Here's another Sharp arrangement of one of Johnny Mark's most familiar holiday classics. After a lush rubato chorale this up-tempo chart moves effectively between rock swing and salsa. A slow swing tag at the end is sure to bring down the house.

This extremely interesting original is based on a modified New Orleans-style street beat. A 'gritty' bass part really helps add to the style and there are plenty of opportunities for your pianist to add fills throughout. A tenor solo leads into some creative ensemble writing and a driving shout chorus. Very unique and destined to be one of the bestsellers this year!

There’s no riddle when it comes to the success of Rob Vuono’s jazz charts! His ability to create a complex sounding chart that is extremely easy to play makes this one a guaranteed winner. Starting off with a simple swing 2 feel the chart builds into a steady 4. A brief interlude drops the key down a half step before moving back up creating the illusion of a key change without one ever occurring! Fabulous writing by one of the top jazz arrangers in the country!

This piece was inspired by a photograph of jazz clubs on New York’s 52nd Street in the late 1940s. It has the sound and feel of some of the great standards of that era and incorporates elements of the classic big band style with bebop. Tenor sax has a written solo and changes. Along with the performance applications there are plenty of teaching opportunities in this one. (2:15)