Brass Quintet Cornet,Euphonium,Flugelhorn,Trombone,Trumpet,Tuba - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.1145313

Composed by Will Marion Cook. Arranged by Charles Decker. 20th Century,Broadway,Jazz,Multicultural,Musical/Show,Pop,World. 20 pages. Charles Decker Music Press #745558. Published by Charles Decker Music Press (A0.1145313).

Swing Along! by Will Marion Cook, prominent African-American in Music Theater, composer, conductor, and violinist, combines Cakewalk style with classical music techniques to create an entertaining and memorable work from the early 20th century now arranged for a brass quintet of two trumpets or cornets in B-flat, horn in F (alternate flugelhorn part provided), trombone and tuba. The recording is of the complete edition. 

Cook was a key figure in American music from the 1890s to the 1920s. His Swing Along! was written for a theater production in 1903 combining Black folk music with classical music techniques and became a popular standard with choruses and glee clubs. A violin virtuoso, he studied at Oberlin College, Berlin's Hochschule für Musik with Joseph Joachim, and New York's National Conservatory of Music with Antonin Dvorak. He devoted his career to Black musical comedies and was instrumental in showcasing his Southern Syncopated Orchestrat throughout the Unites States and Europe, featuring New Orleans clarinetist Sidney Bechet. Mentored by Frederick Douglas, Will Marion Cook went on to mentor Duke Ellington, paving the path for orchestral concert jazz. 

“The Music of Black Composers Series is a welcome and timely addition to the brass repertoire. Interesting music, expertly arranged, fun to perform, and well received by audiences. Highly recommended!�   Wesley Nance, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Eastman School of Music

“I was so pleased to see the great works arranged for brass ensemble by Charles Decker Music Press especially the Music of Black Composers’ Series. It was especially rewarding to perform several of these with Summit Brass and with the students attending the Rafael Mendez Brass institute. Please keep these wonderful settings coming. You have provided the brass world with some real gems.�  Joseph Parisi, Director Summit Brass, Fountain City Brass Band, University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory Wind Ensemble

The Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Denver have purchased the Music of Black Composer Series with Charles Decker Music Press and the summer Rafael Mendez Brass Institute and Eastman School of Music uses the series arrangements in their chamber and brass ensembles music programs. 

See 50+ homogeneous brass editions for trumpet, horn and trombone ensembles and 75+ mixed brass ensemble publications with Charles Decker Music Press at Sheet Music Plus for inexperienced to advanced musicians with music ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary new works for trios, quartets, quintets, brass choir and brass band. Many of the mixed brass ensemble editions include alternate and substitute parts being alternate C trumpet parts for B-flat trumpet parts, flugelhorn/trumpet substitute for horn, horn substitute for trombone and treble clef euphonium substitute for trombone. To see our Music of Black Composers Series enter “Black Composers Series� in the search box at Charles Decker Music Press for 25 arrangements for mixed brass ensembles ranging from early jazz to symphonic works with composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, R. Nathaniel Dett, William Grant Still, Will Marion Cook, James Reese Europe, James Johnson and others.

Brass Quintet Horn,Trombone,Trumpet,Tuba - Level 4 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.1221432

By Stan Kenton & His Orchestra. By L. Wolfe Gilbert, Marion Sunshine, and Moises Simons. Arranged by F. Leslie Smith. Jazz,Latin,Multicultural,Pop,World. 39 pages. Sweetwater Brass Press #817754. Published by Sweetwater Brass Press (A0.1221432).

Can a brass quintet sound like Stan Kenton’s 19-piece big band? No, not really:  no saxophones, no rhythm section, no Milt Bernhart, no Maynard Ferguson, no Bill Russo, no Conte Candoli, no . . .   Well, you get the picture.  But five brass instruments can play in the Kenton style.  And that’s what this is:  “The Peanut Vendor� in the style of the Stan Kenton Orchestra.
      Moisés Simons’ “El Manisero� (“The Peanut Vendor�) was first recorded in the late 1920s.  The melody was relatively simple yet exotic sounding; the lyrics, a Cuban street vendor’s pitch for selling his bags of peanuts.  Consumers bought more than a million copies of the sheet music, and the song supposedly led to a “rumba craze� in the U.S. and Europe (although the song is not really a rumba!).  
     Don Azpiazú and his Havana Casino Orchestra recorded the song for RCA Victor in 1930 with Antonio Machín on the vocal; its sales may well have been more than the million-plus sheet music copies sold.  
     English lyrics were added by L. Wolfe Gilbert and Marion Sunshine and the song became “The Peanut Vendor.�  One estimate is that nearly 200 recordings have been made.  That’s a lot of peanuts. 
     Stan Kenton revived “The Peanut Vendor� in 1947 when he first recorded it for Capitol Records.  His version was completely instrumental.  Rhythm and saxophones opened the number and established the background; later the trombone section added emphasis.  A trombone solo first stated the melody but eventually the five-person trumpet section took over with what one writer referred to as “shrieking dissonances.�  “The Peanut Vendor� subsequently became one of Kenton’s most requested numbers and he recorded it at least three more times.
     This brass quintet arrangement, of course, has access to only two trumpets.  So the good news is that all five players get a chance with the melody.  Kenton’s extended opening trombone solo is shared by Trombone and Tuba.  The “shrieking dissonances� are performed not only by Trumpets but also by Horn in F and Trombone.  The bad news is that all five players have to take a turn with the continuing rhythmic background melody.  Written in 4/4 time, the suggested tempo is 184 BPM in a Latin style.  Kenton’s version is in B-flat major; this arrangement lowers it to A-flat major so that most notes are within the normal playing range of the instruments.  (Don’t worry; the “shrieking dissonances� are still there!)  
     Completed in 2023, performance time runs about 3 minutes, 37 seconds. The arranger, 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.  For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the Sheet Music Plus or Sheet Music Direct 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.).