[Fmpro] Big Band arranging & mixing?

[Mark Holden]

On 12/1/07 4:00 AM, Todd Burns <tzilla at pacbell.net> wrote:

> Despite my years of playing 'bone in big bands, now that I'm trying
> to create some convincing mock-ups, I realize how little I truly know
> about  voicing/arranging for big band.  Is there a good get-up-to-
> speed primer out there, for things like 2nd tenor normally is on the
> third, 3rd trpt does this, blank does that, scoobity scat doo-wah.


Hi Todd-- a primer without staves is a bit tedious. But lets give it a shot.

In jazz, you've got a lead line and changes. From there, one often
harmonizes the line for instrumental sections. Here's how to get started
with the most basic of voicings. We'll use 5 saxes for purposes of
illustration.

Here's how it works. The chords in that first bar are D-7 going to G13 on
beat 3 of the bar. The lead line starts on D, 4th line, treble clef, first
beat. In 8th notes, the lead line (alto 1) ascends D-E-F-G, the G landing on
the "and" of beat 2 and is tied to a half note to complete the bar. Write
this out.

The most basic voicings you can select for the sax section are "5-way
close," "drop 2," or "drop 2 & 4."

The simplest, tightest voicing is "5-way close." Starting from the first
lead alto note, you spell a D-7 chord. Vertically, alto 1 plays a D. Alto 2
plays the C immediately below, the 7th. Tenor 1 plays the A below, the
fifth. Tenor 2 plays the F below, the third. Finally the bari pays the D
below, tonic. You'll note that the lead alto and bari notes are in octaves.
Write this out.

Okay, your destination is that upper G played by lead alto on the 'and' of
2. Working down from that destination note, alto 2 plays the E immediately
below, the 13. Tenor 1 plays the B below, the 3rd. Tenor 2 plays the A
below, the 9. Bari plays the F below, the 7th. No 5th? Forget it. Roots and
5ths are the first voices to discard in jazz voicings, unless one of them is
a melody note. In fact, all you need to establish "chard sound" is a 3rd and
a 7th.

Okay, you now have the first and forth notes of the melody harmonized. Next,
fill in the F in the melody that precedes the destination. The chord is
still a D-7 and that F is the 3rd. So, in 5-way close, alto 2 plays the D
below, tonic. Tenor 1 plays the C below, the 7th. Tenor 2 plays the A below,
the 5th. And finally, bari plays the F below, one octave under the lead
alto.

Fine. You now have three of four melody notes harmonized. All that remains
is that E occurring on the 'and' of beat 1. Treat this as a "passing" chord.
Voice out an E-7, 5-way close for the section. Won't an E-7 chord clash with
the D-7 played by the rhythm section? Hell no. It "passes" quickly and
occurs on the "and" of a beat-- a weak point as time flows. This is the
basic concept behind "chord scales."

Bingo! You now have an entire bar voiced for 5 saxes. Do an entire line just
like that.

For your next trick, should you wish to have richer voicings, take the
second note from the top of each voicing and DROP IT ONE OCTAVE DOWN. Do it
for the entire line. This is known as "drop 2." It opens up the sound a bit.
(Note, don't transpose the alto 2 part down an octave. Bad call. Instead,
REDISTRIBUTE the five voices through the section, in order.

The final technique in the primer is "drop 2 & 4." Take the 2nd and the 4th
voices in your 5-way close harmonization and drop them BOTH one octave down.
This will give you the broadest, most spacious voicings in a jazz context.

This is some Berklee 101 stuff-- I hope it gets the ball rolling for you.
You might want to look into some of Berklee's online courses as you build
your technique. One final note: in jazz, you can ALWAYS anticipate a new
chord in your melody voicings by an 8th note. So, as in the illustration
above, you can harmonize that lead line to the G13 on the 'and' of two, even
though the rhythm section won't get there until beat 3. It's all good.

Countless big band arrangements have been done using these voicings alone.
And film music ranging from "Laura" to "The Pink Panther" shout chorus to
the cantina scene in "Star Wars."

Very best,

Mark Holden