Edition: Jazz Nonet Arrangement

Description: Ballad - Medium

Publisher: Jazz Lines Publications

In Stockholm, in 1964, I played on a recording and television broadcast with the Bill Evans Trio and the fine Swedish singer, Monica Zetterlund. Monica had chosen demanding standards for some of the repertoire, but she’d also asked Bill to arrange some simple Swedish folk songs. The folk songs worked well for everyone. Monica sang them beautifully, and the trio found ways to draw personal expression from the simple forms. I remember Bartok had said something about how using familiar music as a basis for creative development could allow listeners to more easily understand a composer’s musical exploration. I later followed up on this idea, writing several piano/vocal arrangements of American folk songs. A couple of them turned out well orchestrated for a small band.

This is a lullaby I’ve heard since childhood, and elements of it’s melody reminded me of Nardis, leading me to use similar chromatic harmony to color the piece. The harmonies of the first eight measures of this short, sixteen measure, song, are stretched almost to a chromatic breaking point. The next four measures, change mood and are harmonized with a soupçon of the blues. When I got to the last four measures, I was stuck — not knowing what to do to further the development. When I showed what I had done to pianist/composer, Bill Dobbins, he immediately saw a way forward and contributed the harmonies for that section and for the lovely contrary motion in the coda.

-Chuck Israels

Full Score
Alto Saxophone (Doubles Flute)
Tenor Saxophone
Bass Clarinet
Trumpet
Trombone
Guitar
Piano
Bass
Drums

Trumpet 1: E#5