On one of the premier Brass Quintet Group sites, a question was raised about what kind of Jazz for a Brass Quintet. I thought I should include it here in our newsletter for those who are looking to understand the choices that are made when considering the audience and concert programming.
At Symphony Brass Quintet we try to have variety in all kinds of
music, popular or classical. Since we are gig intensive, we try to
meet the demands of our audience and this could be determined by
venue and location, particularly in "Jazz".
As in Europe, there is a
lot of interest in "dixieland" type of music. A brass quintet would
do well to build a dixieland program. Not only to further it's own
knowledge and exposure to Americana but to be able to work in places
where there is a lot of dixieland music (Louisiana) all the way to
restaurants with a similar theme (Barbecue, cajun?) or Grand
Openings and sometimes political activities. Also great in any
concert series dealing with american music ( and don't forget the
panama hats and suspenders?) . You can also try to purchase music
that doubles for different programs for example "Hello Dolly!" can
both be under a Broadway and a Dixieland program, and in the long
run, a less expensive library in the short run.
For something more
like jazz and probably the most popular type of audience we've come
across is the World War II crowd there's a lot of Glenn Miller, for
example, for Brass Quintet (Bill Holcombe and others at BVDPress).
We couple this with some of Amis Musical Circle jazz charts that you
can hear on the Empire Brass recording "Braggin' in Brass". I would
also recommend that you go to Solid Brass Music as they have a lot
of "big band" stuff. There are more modern Jazz charts of course and
I would strongly suggest using a rhythm section, or at least the
very minimum, drums. However, I believe that this is a smaller
audience.
Now, let's talk Brass Quintet. A Brass Quintet playing
jazz entails many things. One, I would recommend that a brass
quintet who is interested in playing legit jazz will have to have
all it's members learn improvisation. However, is it necessary? Our
audience is happier with what are called standards. Aha! Yes,
standards are the key to Brass Quintet Jazz! A lot of this music are
from what I call "songbooks". Everything from Gershwin to Cole
Porter is a standard, even if they are from Broadway shows, they
have been used by every jazz player in the world. So, play the
standards and if you have any players who can improvise, you can
open it up for them. Standards tend to be classy music and are
welcomed everywhere and I would say can suit any gig and fulfill
your beginning forays into jazz. They come in many styles and we use
a lot of combo music as well (Dave Wolpe, etc.) and assign the parts
where appropriate. The horn may have to have his part written out as
it's a tough transposition.
I hate giving away my gig secrets but
that's it in a nut shell. If you want to do more serious jazz stuff,
perhaps your own original works, you'll need to find the right
venues and understand where your jazz is: Is it Contemporary or even
more up to date: Jazz Fusion (Kenny G, Latest Miles Davis, etc.) and
that will point the way. Hope this was helpful.
Richard R. Cardo