Article on Mid-Size Jazz Ensemble

[Roger Aldridge]

Here's an article that I've been working on. These are ideas that I've been thinking about for a couple of years. Please read it and post any comments you'd like to offer.


http://www.rogeraldridge.com/mid-size-ensemble.html

Roger

 

[pete]

I think the overall point is,

These concepts are fundamentally different from those of a conventional big band where the trumpet, trombone, and saxophone sections are designed for top-down harmony and the blending of each player into the sound of a section.

I have a few thoughts.

First, I do like the idea of a four-piece saxophone section. Not because you can make some great harmony there, but because you can have the folks play flute, clarinet and (depending on skill level) oboe. I think a jazz ensemble saxophone section is possibly the only section that directors seem to assume that the members can play all those instruments. I also seem to remember a few much older ensembles where the "reed" players also played violin and/or other stringed instruments.

In a sax section, I'd make sure that I have a good bari or bass saxophone player. That person can easily play (particularly) bass trombone parts without much difference in tone color. He could also switch to bass clarinet if you've got some interesting bassoon cues, with a bit more tone color loss but still sound similar enough to fool a lot of the audience.

It'd also be nice if you had a three-piece trumpet section where one or two of the folks could play auxiliary percussion if only one or two trumpet parts are required. Of course, a clarinet can also cover trumpet parts, if necessary. Hey, a clarinet is a "little trumpet" after all.

After all this, I'd go with a bass player, keyboard player, drummer and a couple trombone players. Not much need for French horn -- in most cases -- because it could be written into other parts.

===============

As a next step, an idea came to me about writing scores for flexible instrumentation instead of specified instruments as I had always done. The scores would be concert pitch with the horn parts identified as Line 1, Line 2, etc. Then, transposed parts would be provided for an assortment of instruments within the range of each line. In this way the music could be performed by many configurations of instruments. A horn section could be built around available players or use specific instruments. FLEXIBILITY!

I'm all over that.

When I was working making arrangements for the various groups I played in/directed, I did some variations on your idea because I was never exactly sure what instrumentation I'd have from one week to the next. I'd occasionally write cues for other instruments if I had something like eight sax players and one French horn player or something like that. I didn't necessarily WANT to do that, because I do think tone color can suffer, but it was better than nothing. The major problem would be if the bass player wasn't around and I played the bass line on bari sax: I didn't mind playing bass on keyboard, but I wasn't good enough on keys to play complex pieces, so it was again the "it's better than nuttin'" argument.

 

[SOTSDO]

He could also switch to bass clarinet if you've got some interesting bassoon cues, with a bit more tone color loss but still sound similar enough to fool a lot of the audience.

Or, he could just play the bassoon stuff on the bassoon...

In the very first Lawrence Welk show ever telecast (back in the days of glorious black and white, sponsored by Geritol and Dodge), the sax player who sat on the left end of the line (as viewed from the front) had a bassoon in his horn rack. I don't recall it being used, but it was there.

(Back then, Larry even carried a bass sax...)

 

[Roger Aldridge]

Pete, One of the benefits of writing scores with flexible instrumentation is that one can take either a conventional or unconventional approach to the instruments being used.

Most mid-size jazz ensembles I've heard represent a "little big band" concept -- which is based on sections. The concept that I have for a mid-size ensemble is different. Instead of it being based on sections (or scaled-down sections), I envision the ensemble as being a collection of colors. With that in mind, if one really wants to stretch out and have an unusual collection of colors, the wind instruments could be something like alto flute, soprano sax, English horn, French horn, bassoon, and tuba (as an example). That would be a really interesting sound!

Nevertheless, by using flexible instrumentation, a more conventional horn section could also be used like 3 saxes and 3 brass. In this way, one has LOTS of options.

Another thing that's really cool about flexible instrumentation is how a chart can sound quite different by using different kinds of instruments....like with the two examples I gave above. This enables a director or band to experiment with different instruments.