Looking for some quality jazz literature for the new year? You can find 67 arrangements recommended by 18 jazz experts in the new book, The Jazz Ensemble Companion: A Guide to Outstanding Big Band Arrangements Selected by Some of the Foremost Jazz Educators, by Michele Caniato.
“A first-time jazz director can stock up on quality charts and begin working on them," says Caniato. "Through the experience of studying, rehearsing, and conducting some of the charts, he/she will develop an informed and personal musical approach and be able to choose, prepare, and render much other music. Arranger Gerald Wilson used to say that over time good music keeps getting better and bad music keeps getting worse: keep up the quest for quality and you’ll recognize inspiring music when you hear it!”
The book's “Making Music” and “Technique Highlight” sections guide you to arrangements that teach specific techniques and offer suggestions for practicing and performing the music with your ensemble.
Here are a few examples:
“A View from the Side” by Bill Holman
Making Music
“While there aren’t any tempo variations, there are numerous shifts in feel (straight 8ths, swing 8ths), time (single and double), and style (march) that need to be rendered with character and through seamless transitions.”
“Three and One” by Thad Jones
Technique Highlight: Reharmonization of Each Note of the Melody with a Different Harmony
“The soli trio instruments are harmonized in triads, beginning at m. 7. The triads are built down from each note of the melody and are in open position, with the bass an octave below. The three parts move in parallel (from the top down they are on the 3rd, 5th, and root of the triad). This technique is also used in the shout, where chord substitutions are spelled out in the guitar part, and their roots written out in the bass line.”
For each arrangement, you’ll also find information on instrumentation, ranges, solos, and form and texture, along with an “At a Glance” breakdown of articulation, bass line, chord progressions, dynamics, and style.
The Jazz Ensemble Companion is available with a 25% discount to MENC members from Rowman & Littlefield Education.
Author Michele Caniato is an MENC member and an active composer, conductor, and educator. He has directed jazz ensembles since 1991 and is an Associate Professor of Music at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts.
- Anne Wagener, January 5, 2010 © MENC: The National Association for Music Education