Brass Ensemble - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.808709 By Eldridge/Gillespie. By Leo Mosley, Mary Lou Williams, William Luther Johnson, and William Willie Johnson. Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Contemporary. Score and parts. 28 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #6433397. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808709).     Mary Lou Williams learned to play piano on her own at age 3. By age 6 she was playing piano to help support her large family. At age 15, she turned professional, and by the time she was 20, she had made a name for herself nationally not only as a jazz musician but also as an arranger and composer. In 1943, she wrote a piece titled Satchel Mouth Baby, which she recorded the next year with her group, Mary Lou and her Chosen Five. Three years later, Bill Johnson and His Musical Notes recorded Williams’ song after he and Leo Snub Mosley had worked on the lyrics and changed the title to Pretty Eyed Baby. Others would go on to record Pretty Eyed Baby, among them: Frankie Laine and Jo Stafford, Jane Turzy, Johnnie Ray, Peggy Lee and Roy Eldridge.    This arrangement skips along at about 120 bpm. It contains common swing rhythmic figures, and all notes are well within the normal playing range of most brass musicians. Horn in F and Trombone carry the melodic load, but all instruments get a turn at playing lead. This is a fun piece, so don’t be surprised if your audience starts clapping along while you’re playing.    Completed in 2021, performance time for Pretty Eyed Baby runs about 3 minutes,9 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

Brass Ensemble - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.808706 Composed by Fred Fisher. Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Folk,Holiday,Jazz,Patriotic,Traditional. Score and parts. 40 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #6215233. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.808706).      Orville and Wilbur Wright made their famous flight in late 1903; this song was published seven years later: Fred Fisher’s music with Alfred Bryan’s lyrics. The words form a narrative of a young man attempting to get his girlfriend to go up with him in his flying machine. And, that would take much more daring on her part than one might realize today. The year 1910 was still early days for aviation; most airplanes were still made of wood, wire and fabric and looked liked giant gliders. Supposedly, the Josephine of the song was Josephine Sarah Magner, reputed to be America’s first female parachutist. Magner married Leslie Burt Haddock, whose aviation career started in balloons, and made her first jump in 1905. During the next dozen years, she made more than 500 jumps. Pretty daring!     This arrangement is quirky and an absolute delight to play (and to listen to)! The first half is set in the song’s native ¾ time. The takeoff is the introduction, followed by the chorus, then the verse and again the chorus as the melody loops, rolls and spins through the five instruments. A middle section briefly quotes two other aerialist tunes-He flies through the air with the greatest of ease and Up in the air Junior Birdmen-and serves as a transition to cut time. A swing version of the chorus brings us in for a landing and final fade.     The arrangement begins in the key of C major and changes to G major during the transitional section. Suggested tempo is 76 bpm throughout. The arrangement comprises 202 measures: Horn in F plays the most notes, followed by Trombone and Tuba, while Trumpets get off relatively lightly. All notes are well within the normal playing range of the instruments; Trumpet 1 does, however, play A above its staff several times.     Completed in 2021, performance time for Come, Josephine in My Flying Machine runs about 3 minutes, 45 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the search box. (Also, purchase of this piece entitles you to your choice of another of his arrangements at no charge; send a copy of your purchase receipt directly to him at lessmith61@bellsouth.net.)

Brass Quintet Horn,Trombone,Trumpet,Tuba - Digital Download SKU: A0.1468129 Composed by F. Leslie Smith. Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. 19th Century,Chamber,Folk,Historic,Traditional. 49 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #1046440. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.1468129). In 1856 Joseph P. Webster, a Wisconsin songwriter, met Henry D.L. Webster (no relation), formerly the minister of Zanesville, Ohio’s Universalist Church.  Joseph was in the process of writing a song but needed lyrics to go with his melody.  Henry obliged by writing a longish poem about the love of his life, Ella Blocksom.  She had been his fiancée, but the engagement had been broken and, apparently, so had Henry’s heart.  Joseph’s melody needed a name that would fit into a three-note phrase, so “Ella” was changed to “Lorena.”  Chicago’s Higgins Brothers published the song in 1857, and it became widely popular.  When the American Civil war broke out, “Lorena” was beloved by both Union and Confederate soldiers as they thought of the wives and girlfriends they had left behind.       J.P. Webster’s “Lorena” is beautiful and plaintive. It is no wonder that this song has remained a sentimental favorite over the years and is still performed and recorded.  In this composition, “Lorena: A Brass Quintet Setting,” the “Lorena” tune has been expanded and transformed to create additional melodies that enhance and complement the original.  You’ll find it a pleasure to play and a real crowd pleaser for audiences.     This composition is 201 measures in length.  It begins in the key of E-flat, transitions to B-flat at section C (measure 51) and goes to F at section G (measure 141).  Initial tempo marking is Adagio, increasing to Moderato at section C.  There are a number of temporary tempo variations and fermata marks, and the last 9 measures are characterized by a gradual slowing.     The introduction is 21 measures in length.  It leads to the second section, which consists of a plain, simple and straightforward statement of J.P. Webster’s “Lorena” theme, complete with grace notes and gruppetto.  In this section, Horn and Trumpet 1 do the honors, eventually joined by Tuba, and it should be played with great expression.       At section C, tempo then picks up, and the arrangement presents a series of explications of the theme in various styles.       The final section, I (measure 179), reprises most of the variations and ends with a partial reiteration of the “Lorena” theme.     Performance time is about eight minutes, forty seconds.  Tuba plays several notes near the top of its scale; otherwise, all notes are within the normal playing range of each instrument.     The composer, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge.  He would like to receive your suggestions, comments, corrections and criticisms.  Contact him at lessmith61@bellsouth.net.  For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the Sheet Music Plus or Sheet Music Direct search box.