[Fmpro] Subject: Big Band arranging & mixing?

[Todd Burns]

Awesome!  Thanks, Mark H, for taking the time, and everyone else for  
comments. I will go forth and do likewise.

  Anyone heard of Supersax, Med Flory?  We used to listen to those  
guys in highschool.  They did blazing fast sax soli's arranged to  
transcribed Charlie Parker solos.  Amazing.  That would take me 3  
years to arrange.  I've gotten used to going by ear and staying  
within the limitations of whatever patches I had available on my  
synths/samplers/virtual instruments.  My head is bowed in respect.

Todd

On Dec 2, 2007, at 4:00 AM, fmpro-request at nxport.com wrote:

>
> Message: 5
> Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2007 14:56:37 -0800
> From: Mark Holden <markholden at aol.com>
> Subject: [Fmpro]  Big Band arranging & mixing?
> To: <fmpro at nxport.com>
> Message-ID: <C37726A5.233A%markholden at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="US-ASCII"
>
>
> 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