Arrangements & Transcriptions updates

Some arrangements and transcriptions - both new and old - have been uploaded, and will continue to be uploaded over the next week or so. Public domain pieces are completely available for download, scores and parts. A "pay what you can" button has also been added, to help with website maintenance.

If you are looking for an arrangement or transcription, send me an email.

Some of the new uploads:

• Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin for euphonium and piano
• Mozart's O Isis und Osiris for euphonium and piano, and for tuba and piano
• Bridal Chorus for tuba-euphonium quartet or ensemble (I know from experience that it works great at weddings!)
• Suo Gan for various ensembles

As always, I would enjoy hearing from you if you perform any of these. Drop me a line.

"Single Petal of a Rose" Transcription

I recently posted a transcription of Duke Ellington's "The Single Petal of a Rose." Written in 1959, it wasn't officially released until the mid-1970s, save for one recording presented to the dedicatee, Queen Elizabeth II.

The song has been a favorite of mine for several years; you can read an earlier post I made about the song, including a YouTube recording, here.

This transcription is partially based on Ellington's original recording and partially based on memories I had of the David Berger transcription I originally got in undergrad and subsequently lost during a move. The loss of the Berger transcription was the impetus for writing out my transcription, as was the opportunity to demonstrate more of my engraving skills. I intentionally left out pedal markings, unlike the error-ridden version published by Hal Leonard, because each pianist is going to approach that differently (just as Ellington did, on different live recordings such as The Great London Concerts and The New York Concert, released by the Jazz Heritage Society). I also wanted to include the bass part, because even though the piece is frequently by a solo pianist, it originally had an arco bass that adds a different dimension to the piece.

I recently found a recording of the piece by Ben Webster, on his See You At the Fair album, and a horrible transcription of a great performance by Marcus Roberts is available on YouTube. My favorite recording remains, though, that of Sir Roland Hanna's from his Duke Ellington Piano Solos album - a superb masterclass in solo piano performance throughout. That's next on my list to transcribe; his slight changes in chords are fantastic, and the overall performance is sublime.

Red Garland's solo on "Bye, Bye Blackbird"

Red Garland was one of my first jazz influences. Early high school was spent listening almost nonstop to the albums he recorded with Miles Davis. I’m not sure why I was so drawn to him. I remember that my teacher was the first to introduce me to him, and that my friends and I wore out those albums. I was so enamored with Garland that my AOL username was partly a “tribute” to him. As is the case with much of what I listened to in high school, over time I listened to him less and less - but whenever the mood struck me and I turned on some of those early Miles albums, I couldn’t help but smile and sing along to Garland’s solos.

A previously unreleased set of Garland’s was released a few months ago. I purchased it without pause, excited to hear him play in a live trio setting, towards the end of his career (and his life). It reminded me that I’ve been wanting to formally transcribe and upload his classic solo from “Bye Bye Blackbird,” off of Miles’s ‘Round About Midnight album. I transcribed it a long time ago, but over the years, as my jazz practice fell off and transformed into jazz appreciation, I forgot it - about the solo, and how to play it. Of course, whatever notes I made years ago were lost to the ages.

So I started from scratch. I hadn’t transcribed a jazz solo for a long time and this experience made me realize how much I missed this simple act. It’s an act of creativity, in a way, even if it’s not creative in the sense of making something anew. There’s something special about spending time with a piano, a pencil, some staff paper, and a recording, and blocking out the rest of the world as you listen to a masterful recording, taking what you already know inside and out and putting it on paper.

This solo is such straightforward Garland that it should be in every textbook. The melodic contour is pure medium tempo bebop: we see tritone substitutions, chordal outlines, passing tones and entrapment, ghost notes. The comping left hand plays on the and of beats 2 and 4, a rhythm that can be heard in many Garland solos and when he’s comping behind other players; the anticipation of the beats helps propel the solo forward.

We wouldn’t have a Garland solo if there weren’t a block chord section. Garland’s block chord style is unique but relatively simple. The left hand usually plays rootless voicing of the chord, oftentimes with alterations. The right hand outlines an octave with the middle voice sounding a fifth up from the bottom. This interval often creates tension, because it falls outside of the chordal harmony. As was typical of Miles recordings from this era, Garland only plays half of this chorus before Miles enters in with the out head.

Garland plays a block chord introduction, also included here. It’s a classic intro in the jazz world, and a great starting point for inexperienced musicians to begin creating head arrangements in a combo setting.

The complete transcription can be found on my transcriptions page. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do with this transcription, but I'm glad I worked on it. I hope that people can find a good use for it!

Please do send feedback or corrections!