Edition: Jazz Big Band Arrangement

Description: Advanced

Publisher: Walrus Music Publishing

Astor Square was written for the Felipe Salles' Interconnections Ensemble. Instrumentation includes 5 saxes (1alto/flute and 1 soprano/flute, 2 tenors/clarinets, bari/bass clarinet), 4 trumpets (with mutes), 4 trombones (with mutes), guitar, vibraphone, piano, bass, and drum set. As the name suggests, it is inspired by the incredible world of Astor Piazzolla’s Argentinean tangos. Astor Square combines the popular music vocabulary of the tango with the improvisational approach of jazz, as well as crossing over into the classical world of form treatment and cadenzas. It evokes the tango’s passion as well as its melancholy. Essentially in an ABA form, Astor Square explores the contrast between themes in minor and major keys. The A part starts as a milonga in C minor, which is a traditional Argentinean rhythm that divides the 4/4 measure in three eight note groups: 3, 3 and 2. It develops into an accelerando designed to reach a climactic tempo change that introduces the 'tango.' The guitar cadenza, serves as an interlude between A and B. The B part has a theme in an unexpected major key that brings out the other side of the tango: the nostalgic and sometimes even bucolic, but yet passionate reminiscence (of a lost love perhaps). It is the ideal frame for the improvisation on the soprano saxophone that fits into this more jazz-oriented setting. The saxophone solo brings us back to the A, through a repetition of the tango frenzy, and into a modulated re-exposition of the original milonga theme. The milonga evolves into to a coda that brings us to the final chord of this piece.

Full Score
Woodwind 1: Flute, Soprano Saxophone
Woodwind 2: Flute, Alto Saxophone
Woodwind 3: Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone
Woodwind 4: Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone
Woodwind 5: Bass Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone
4 Trumpets (All Double Flugelhorn)
3 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Guitar
Piano
Bass
Vibraphone
Drums

Trumpet 1: D6