SKU: A0.912835

In the early days of the twentieth century, the popularity of minstrel shows inspired white performers to don blackface and perform coon songs. The most popular of such acts was Al Jolson, famous for singing Mammy. Al Jolson was the most celebrated white popular singer before Frank Sinatra, and he starred in the first talkie (motion picture with sound).

That's perfectly awful, but I came across a coon song that I thought had a great tune, and my arrangement worked out fine. Unfortunately, its title is Coon! Coon! Coon!  If you are offended by that, be advised that the original song was written by an African American, and the words are a lament against bigotry.

To see the sheet music scroll by as the music plays, watch the video at YouTube: https://youtu.be/JmSo4kAnZg8

SKU: A0.748862

Benny Goodman hit, Al Jolson hit, and a favorite of everyone.  California's anniversary of statehood is on September 9th.  This up-beat march is a real toe tapper.  It is easy and fun to play and the melody gets into each part at some point.  The Verse is unfamiliar to most, but that's the way the song goes.  Cut if you want.

SKU: A0.808684

Irving Berlin’s composition Alexander’s Ragtime Band was not only his first hit, it was also one of the most popular songs ever. It first gained widespread recognition when Emma Carus sang it in Chicago in 1911, and then it really took off when Al Jolson performed it in New York.
 It’s no wonder the popularity of Alexander’s has been so long-lived. Both words and music are absolutely bouncy and upbeat. The lyrics proclaim the Ragtime Band to be the best . . . in the land and invite the listener to come on and hear the group, even to meet its leader! The tune is energetic and lively, a salute to the toe-tapping Dixieland style that even then was developing in New Orleans.
 This arrangement takes the natural exuberance of the melody and raises it a couple of notches. Wide open and sprightly, it features the trombone, but also gives each of the other parts a chance to shine, too. In addition to several iterations of the well-known chorus, it also includes the seldom-heard verse and even throws in a few true ragtime licks, quotes from Scott Joplin and Percy Wenrich. The tempo is a bouncy, cut-time 76, with some fairly tricky rhythms and one ritardando near the middle. Trumpet 1 plays a couple of notes above its staff, one A and one B. Trombone plays F above its staff several times and one brief G. Tuba’s lowest note is F below the staff.
 This arrangement was completed in 2018, and performance time runs about 4 minutes, 33 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, would be very interested in your comments; contact him at lessmith@ufl.edu or leave a review on the SheetMusicPlus website. For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus 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.)