Edition: Jazz Big Band Arrangement

Description: Swing - Medium

Publisher: Walrus Music Publishing

As a band leader who is tasked with putting together the program/set list/concert I’ve always felt the need for charts that fill a certain gap in programming. We all like to open and close our set with a “barn burner.” We also try to insert a ballad toward the middle of the set to change it up. This leaves “the gap” in our program that really needs to be filled with charts that are NOT barn burners or ballads but rather medium to “up” tempo charts that both provide variety and engage the audience in such a way as to create interest as well as deliver big applause!

I’ve discovered that a well-crafted “story” used as an intro creates a context for the music that allows the listener to engage in the piece and clearly be able to visualize the “story” as the music unfolds. I also believe that if the “story” contains a little humor, it becomes even more effective and engaging.

“Two Tenors Meet The Munchaks” – The Story: The Munchak Family had been blessed with two gigantic and talented daughters, Big Dorothy and Amazon Grace. The parents, Max and Martha, were also very, very large people and proud of it! They considered themselves blessed to have two big ol’ daughters that both showed great musical abilities relative to the family’s passion of jazz and, more specifically swing. As it would happen, however, when Dorothy and Grace were both kicking “musical butt” in high school, a slight miscalculation occurred at home and, as a result, Martha became pregnant, giving birth nine months later to two of the cutest fraternal twins ever, Emmett and Earl. As the twins grew, however, it became apparent that they would only become normal sized adults… resulting in them being regarded as “kinda freaky” to the other gargantuan members of the Munchak Family.

The good news was that the twins showed the same musical abilities as their sisters as well as an intense interest in jazz so their normal size and much more laid back personalities became less and less an issue for the family. They were even able to buy normal sized instruments resulting in Emmett even scoring two saxes that still weighed less than Grace’s bari! The distressing news for Max and Martha was that no matter how hard they tried to force feed a love of swing rhythms, the twins continued to show zero interest, leaning Instead toward all things Latin leading Max and Martha to suspect a genetic flaw!

Eventually, the twins left home, leaving behind the constant pressure to play like their giant-ass sisters, something they called the “Munchak Tyranny of Swing.” Emmett and Earl saw their leaving home as a new beginning…their “emancipation” of sorts.

NOTES for the Director: Solos for Emmett and Earl (Soprano and Trombone), Cousin Ichabod (Alto II), and brief appearances by Big Dorothy (Bass Trombone) and Amazon Grace (Bari.). All contributing to the mayhem at the end along with a screaming Lead Trumpet solo.

Full Score
2 Alto Saxophones
2 Tenor Saxophones
Baritone Saxophone
4 Trumpets
3 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Guitar
Piano
Bass
Drum Set