Brass Quintet Horn,Trombone,Trumpet,Tuba - Level 3 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.1459167

Composed by Bill Danzeisen. Arranged by Will Corbin. Broadway,Latin,Musical/Show,Pop. 24 pages. Will Corbin #1038137. Published by Will Corbin (A0.1459167).

A song doesn't get more traveled than this one. American Cole Porter wrote it in 1935 while on a South Pacific cruise between Indonesia and Fiji aboard a British liner. Its roots are in a Latin dance from the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. So it's somewhere between a minuet and a samba. The name of the dance, beguine, is Creole (probably pejorative) for white woman.
The song was first performed in a Broadway musical called Jubilee. It didn't get much traction until Artie Shaw recorded it with his big band, in a purely swing mode, in 1938; it became the 3rd best-selling recording of the year and set off a new dance craze. Check out the drummer in the YouTube video of Shaw's band performing the song, with special attention to the drummer. It's a young and relatively quite subdued Buddy Rich.
This arrangement, for two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba, sticks pretty close to a Latin feel except for a swing break in the middle.
If you need alternative instrumentation, I'm happy to help. Contact me at wilcor@aol.com.