Jazz Ensemble Jazz Ensemble - Digital Download
SKU: A0.977365
Composed by Frank Loesser. Arranged by Des McNutty. Contemporary. Score and parts. 61 pages. Des Press #6888385. Published by Des Press (A0.977365).
If I Were a Bell is a song from the 1950 musical Guys and Dolls, based on Damon Runyan stories from Broadway in the prohibition era.
Sky, the thirsty gambler, takes straight-laced Salvationist Sarah to Havana for a bet. They drink a local milkshake with sugar and a little native flavouring
Sarah: What's the name of the flavouring?
Sky: Bacardi.
Sarah: Doesn't Bacardi have alcohol in it?
Sky: Oh, only enough to act as a preservative.
Sarah: You know, this would be a wonderful way to get children to drink milk!
After a couple of those, she bursts into song.
Doris Day had a Top-20 hit with If I Were a Bell in 1950 and many singers have covered it since. Its place as a Jazz Standard was cemented in 1956 on the album Relaxin' with The Miles Davis Quintet.
This original arrangement for big band features a solo flute - if not a flute solo - and, at 128 BPM, is slightly slower than usual. It was written in the mid-1990s for the Morley College Jazz Orchestra in London (then directed by Gordon BAP! Rose and Pete Pearl and Dean Moore). The style is in the direction of the understated West-Coast sound (Count Basie/Bill Russo/Bill Holman), with tipsy soli sections and a shout-chorus. The part for second alto OR first tenor is the same, meaning the flautist can be either an alto or tenor player.
Well, if I were a salad I know I'd be splashing my dressing.
Hic!
