Jazz Ensemble Jazz Ensemble - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.970736 Composed by Mike Strand. Graduation,Jazz,Wedding. Score and parts. 22 pages. Michael M. Strand #4890111. Published by Michael M. Strand (A0.970736). By Mike Strand, ASCAPThis is the full score, plus scores for three groups of parts, for a full arrangement of a swing tune for piano, bass, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and two singers. After the cover, there are 21 pages of music: Ten pages for the full score; four pages for the group of blowing instruments (alto saxophone, B flat trumpet, and trombone); four pages for the piano and bass; and three pages for the two singers.   Grouping the parts in this manner is natural and advantageous for this particular swing composition. These part groupings will help players in a group coordinate with each other from their group score. This is an excellent compromise between everyone working from the full score, and each player having a score with just the player’s individual part. The audio sample plays the full score.This product solves a problem that any composer of new jazz music faces: Unlike the popular standards, there aren’t any well-known and often-heard arrangements for a band to emulate. As the composer with only a lead sheet, I would have to convince your band to develop an arrangement from scratch, starting from nothing but the lead sheet!  With so many attractive standard swing tunes to perform, a busy band may hesitate to put extra effort into an unknown tune. Problem solved! With this full arrangement of They Came Here to Dance, a band can better see and hear the tune’s full potential. It will be easier for a band to make any modifications to suit its particular mix of musicians and to better fit its style. With this arrangement, with written score, part group scores and audio sample, it will be as easy as working from the recording and score of a popular standard. All that’s missing from this arrangement is the percussion, because of the individuality of drummers. The band only needs a skilled jazz drummer to join in easily with this arrangement.  Here are the lyrics to They Came Here to Dance: 1.You may come here to eat and to drink.Lots of chins wag, and wine glasses clink. Well, that’s all good, but here’s what I think: They came here to dance! 2. We cats up front have to check our sound mix. Then they walk in, togged to the bricks. They have the moves to show off our licks. They came here to dance! Bridge – Instrumental section, followed by: Our band’s in the groove – here’s one reason why: The doghouse amps are turned up high. They get in there, and tear up the floor! And they don’t care if their feet get sore. 3. Bustin’ our conks, we cats are hot, She is a wren who rocks him a lot! And they don’t care if we light up or not. They came here to dance!4. Bridge again, then:Bustin’ our conks, we cats are hot, She is a wren who rocks him a lot! And they don’t care if we light up or not.They have the learning to, they have a yearning to,They came here to dance! Note Some words in these lyrics are taken from Cab Calloway Slang: Light up – smoke a stick (marijuana cigarette) Doghouse - bass Get in there - go to work, get busy, make it hot, give it all you got Bustin’ our conks – breaking our necks (applying ourselves diligently) Wren – a chick, a queen (beautiful girl) Cat – musician in swing band Togged to the bricks – dressed to kill, from head to toe Licks – hot musical phrases In the groove – perfect, down the alley  .

Jazz Ensemble Jazz Ensemble - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1308790 Composed by Charles Tenet. Arranged by Tobi Crawford. Jazz. Set of parts. 10 pages. Tobi Crawford #898036. Published by Tobi Crawford (A0.1308790). *THIS ACCOMPANIES THE VOCAL ARRANGEMENT* This arrangement came to me over a number of weeks in a very organic way that began with the ostinato piano figure that prevails throughout the piece. I began playing it unattached to any tune and I just liked the way the line descended in the left hand and how I had to find voicings in the right hand that made harmonic sense – like a puzzle. As I was playing around with this puzzle, thoughts of my father were swirling around in my head – I was at the end of a 4 year period of separation from my parents owing to the fact that I’m a Canadian expat living in the US and the borders were closed for a long time because of Covid, and then I had work visa issues and my parents were getting older before my eyes. They were also losing friends to cancer and other ailments and my dad, in particular, had experienced the loss of many close family members and friends during our separation and it was taking a toll. One day I sat down and played the now familiar-to-me ostinato but randomly I started to sing “Beyond the Sea� over it and it fit perfectly. I thought it a happy coincidence. As the days went on I committed to putting my ostinato with Beyond the Sea and the lyrics started to seep into my brain. I have, of course, heard these lyrics many times before, (who hasn’t seen Finding Nemo?) but the lyrics didn’t mean what I thought they meant… They’re NOT about the ocean, they are about my dad!!! Well, kind of… I realized, through careful reflection and by slowing the words down, that the lyrics are talking about a person in heaven who is patiently waiting for their partner to join them. Somewhere beyond the seaShe’s there watching for me…It’s far beyond the starsIt’s near beyond the moon And the lyrics end with them meeting, “We’ll meet beyond the shore, we’ll kiss just like before,� and the song ends with: “and never again I’ll go sailing.� It’s like the big bang went off in my head about why all these thoughts of my dad, and his friends, and this arrangement, and what it all meant suddenly just MADE SENSE and I was able to start formulating a plan. Performance Suggestions: The improvisation solo in the middle should be free of any traditional “scat syllables� and should be more of a lament. Listen to singers like Aubrey Johnson improvise on ballads for inspiration. An idea for that improv section might be to have a male singer start the improv, then a female singer joins (as if together in heaven) then they sing letter F together (warning: will cause tears…). All solo sections do not have to be sung as written – soloists can take liberties with the melody as the spirit moves.