This classic swinger will send you and your jazz ensemble back to the big band era. By borrowing rhythmic and melodic ideas from two familiar big band standards Vuono has created his own big band classic. Alto and trumpet are both featured for solos and their parts contain both chord changes and written solos. To accommodate smaller ensembles this chart is playable with only five brass.

Written in a medium bop style here's a terrific arrangement of the Hank Mobley standard that features trumpet and tenor on the head (and solos) small group scoring on the bridge a sax soli and marvelous full ensemble figures throughout. A joyful up-tempo romp!

Recorded originally by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet heres a classic jazz tune that works great for young ensembles. Arranged here in an attractive shuffle funk style theres a nice balance between a small group flavor and riffs scored for theentire band. Solos are provided for alto sax and trumpet.

Vocal Solo with Jazz Ensemble - Grade 3-4 This beautiful ballad has been recorded by countless jazz artists over the years in addition to being featured in several recent movies. The marvelous melody and distinctive harmony aretreated masterfully in this setting for vocal soloist and jazz ensemble.

Arranged in a medium tempo Basie-style swing this arrangement is a study in effective writing for the entire ensemble. From the small group passages contrasted with full band scoring to the sax soli sections with brass responses this chart is agem! Solos are included for trumpet and tenor.

Penned by Bobby Timmons and recorded by a number of jazz artists over the years Dat Dere is a great example of soul jazz of the early '60s. This arrangement for small band features alto sax and trumpet on the head a section for open solos and a short ensemble shout at the end.

Plenty of solid tutti ensemble scoring is featured in this arrangement for small group of Sonny Rollins' familiar Latin standard. The solo section can be opened up for any player and a tasty unison ensemble chorus follows. (Grade 3)

In this small band format Michael Mossman carefully maintains the medium swing style and flavor of the original Miles Davis version but then adds creative touches with counterlines and harmonic wrinkles. Also included is a flexible solo section and a marvelous tutti chorus for the entire ensemble.

Full score for this work for Guitar and Small Ensemble. Ruders writes: The word has its origin in ancient Greek: Psalmoidia i.e. ?singing to the harp? and we find the word again in Psalter derived from Psallein ?playing the strings with the fingers?. 'Psalmodies' written for and dedicated to David Starobin has no specific religious content or aim; the collection of eleven pieces forms a concert-suite displaying a wide range of emotions; from the jubilant to the dismal the guitar playing the natural leading part ?inside? a chorus of woodwinds and strings. The title and each movement mirrors the variety of moods from the secular feast of A Fanfare for All to the sacredintroversion of A Prayer with Halo. 'Psalmodies' opens with a guitar-solo and closes down with one: the rejoicing Entrance for One and the hushed melancholy Exit for One thus exemplifying the emotional compass which I in an essay on my first symphony; ?Himmelhoch Jauchsend-zum Tode betrübt? entitle: Of Joy and Grief. Of Worship and Oblivion.

From Dizzy Gillespie's Afro-Cuban stylistic period here is his delightfully infectious Fiesta Mojo set in a bouncy medium samba groove. A small group starts things off (including optional Flute) supported by colorful muted Brass figures. There are solo opportunities for Tenor Trumpet and Alto along with a soli for the Saxes – and a full band unison chorus helps to spice things up.

With its modal chord structure this Coltrane classic is a great solo vehicle within the small band setting.

Consider this great Frank Mantooth original for your contest or festival repertoire. The opening trumpet/bone chorale is an excellent intro before the up-tempo samba beat takes over. Frank features a small combo of tenor trumpet and bone on the head which should give you plenty of options for your solo section. Powerful block scoring sets up your drummer for some hot fills throughout. This pro-sounding chart has very reasonable range demands. A festival winner!

You Raise Me Up is part of the wonderful Young Jazz Ensemble series designed for developing Jazz groups and young players of grade 2 standard. The full instrumentation for a large brass band is provided though this flexible ensemble is versatile enough to be played by smaller groups as are further optional parts to extend or alter the arrangement to suit. A smash hit on either side of the Atlantic performed by vocal star Josh Groban and Westlife and also sung as a touching tribute to the NASA space shuttle Columbia astronauts this uplifting melody has arranged for the young Jazz ensemble. Featuring a tenor sax solo with modest brass ranges thisn straighteigth-note chart will come together. This chart builds in intensity with modulations from F to G to A-Flat. This is a must have enjoyable and entertaining edition. This fabulous package also contains a CD including all the songs from the series played by professional musicians allowing yiou to hear how each arrangement should sound.

Par MC NEFF STEPHEN. My research for Banished began with a small group of students during a Trinity Laban co-lab period in 2013, though the idea goes back over 30 years when I first saw Steve Gooch’s Female Transport and stored the idea of adapting it as an opera until the right opportunity arose. I have been involved in opera for a long time and it has always been a frustration for me that while there is an abundance of female talent (particularly so in conservatories and colleges) there is a noticeable lack of challenging roles available for young women. The roles most often undertaken are maids or innocent girls, compliant wives or tomboys. Not that the problem is necessarily confined exclusively to young women, but where good roles exist, the women are all too often merely passive or victims. Things happen to them rather than them making things happen. They are unable to influence their circumstances and are usually resigned to their fate. Worse still, they are often judged in some way responsible for what happens to them, culpable even because of their looks, their way of life or a streak of independence. Just think about Mimi, Carmen and Violetta (to name only three on a long list). All these characters die, and their attempts at individuality contribute to their demise in some way that they have no control over. With some exceptions female characters in opera are too often sad, mad or bad. Redressing this balance and taking advantage of the richness in vocal talent is only one reason to write an opera reflecting the reality of a group of strong women who work things out for themselves. The transportation of people to Australia at the beginning of the nineteenth century is not a particularly well understood part of history beyond a sort of folk myth. What were the circumstances, who were the people and what happened to them? Opera does not exist to completely answer these questions, but it can focus on the women as individuals and help tell their story. (All the women named in the opera actually existed.) My approach has to been to put the women’s narrative centre stage and, in the confines of an oppressive, dangerous environment go with them on their journey as they survive or sink. The demands on the women are huge. At every turn they are oppressed by their jailers, the system that brought them here and their own low expectations. They have to work out ways to overcome these odds. We discover them through their music in solos and ensembles, sometimes reflective, at other times boasting about their lives a petty criminals and trying to establish status and pecking order. Alongside this I have used references to music of the time to create another reality built on larger ensembles and choruses. This is a sort of collective consciousness aware of loss, longing and context – even of a broad political dimension to the realities of Transportation. Despite the acute awareness of their circumstances in these ensembles, there is also a resilience and strength that transcends the individual stories. Stephen McNeff / Instrumental Music / Répertoire / Voix

Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Percussion-Landscapes is a work structured around two main ideas. On the one hand the music freely paints some of the superb landscapes I’ve seen during several of my trips around the world. Listeners should however not be influenced by this programmatic framework and are encouraged to build their own ‘mind pictures’.On the other hand Landscapes constitutes a test piece for each section of the brass band. Indeed each musical landscape highlights a particular register. A small group of soloists is given the opportunity to fully display its skills in dialogue with the rest of the band (the tutti) hence the name ‘concerto grosso’. Landscapes also relies on the band’s different soloistmusicians when it comes to express highly complex musically and technically challenging passages.