Big Band Original-Arrangements

The album Stage Door Swings, by the Stan Kenton Band, was one of the most popular recordings done by Kenton. All of the arrangements were done by Lennie Niehaus, and this is one of the best of the tun...

Here is a great, free-swingin' Opener, also written for Stan Kenton. Although it was never recorded commercially by the band, it was played a great deal in live performances throughout the country. It...

This is another one of those absolutely wonderful charts that Lennie did for Stan Kenton for what was known as the dance book. It was the hippest dance book ever! A medium-swing tempo sets this great...

Here is a terrific medium swing chart, also written for Stan Kenton in the 50s. Although it was never recorded commercially by the band, it was played a great deal in live performances throughout the...

As recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on Adventures In Standards, this is a medium-swing chart on a great tune. Lennie uses a neat vamp in the trombones to offset the melody in the saxes. The full...

As performed by the Stan Kenton Orchestra, here is one of the hippest charts from the Kenton book. It was a favorite with the band and audiences alik, and it swings like crazy. There is a nice, long t...

Finally, the up-to-date version that the Kenton Band played right up until the end. This chart has all of the solo space and all of the background figures and lines, and it differs from the 1947 versi...

As recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on 'Adventures In Standards', this is a medium, swing chart on a great tune. Lennie uses a very clever countermelody throughout the arrangement. There is solo...

This was recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on 'Stage Door Swings', and it is one of Lennie's wonderful charts on a great Broadway standard tune. It has very reasonable ranges for all. This shifts...

This was recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on Back To Balboa, and it is a highly original, exciting chart (latin/swing) on a great standard tune. Johnny Richards wrote for Kenton as well as anyone...

As recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on 'Adventures In Standards' CD, this is a wonderful, swinging chart on a great tune. As usual, Lennie does a great job arranging it, with terrific section wor...

Here is another terrific chart as recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on Adventures In Standards. Lennie sets the chart at a very fast, swinging pace, using countermelodies, a 6-horn group in places...

Stan Kenton had a certain touch in his arranging that stood out. He took a simple, slow-swinging approach to this great Neal Hefti tune, and it was one of the most popular charts played by the band in...

As recorded by the Stan Kenton Orchestra on 'Stage Door Swings', this medium-up swing chart comes roaring out of the chute with a brass 'pop' and leads into the piano stating the melody. There is addi...

There are a few charts from this library which are very playable by any reasonably well developed jazz ensemble. This surely is one of the best! Holman created a beautifully layered piece, based on th...

Holman wrote this to feature Bill Perkins in the mid '50's. It is a tenor saxophone feature throughout and a wonderful chart. Lots of blowing space and the usual swinging ensemble sections for which H...

This is the original version of the tune recorded in 1946, and also included in the Milestones LP. This was transcribed by Bob Curnow for Gunther Schuller's Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra concerts. Tenor...

This is one of those superb Holman charts written for Stan Kenton in the early '50's that just swings like crazy. It starts off very soft and easy, with clever linear writing. It then roars into an al...

Mulligan's writing for the Kenton Band was fairly minimal in quantity but extraordinary in quality. He had a profound effect on the band and the writers to follow him. This composition was recorded in...

Mulligan's writing for the Kenton Band was fairly minimal in quantity but extraordinary in quality. He had a profound effect on the band and the writers to follow him. This composition was recorded in...

This may be the all-time greatest jazz arrangement of a standard tune. Also from the Contemporary Concepts LP (1955). This great standard is turned into a marvelous vehicle for solo statements from al...

Another terrific chart from Kenton's Contemporary Concepts LP. Features trombone throughout this fast-paced, Cool Bop chart in the unmistakable style of the late, great Gerry Mulligan. Use this with 3...

The lush trombone section sound of the Kenton Orchestra on a gorgeous ballad. Rescored to be played without the mellophoniums. A wonderful concert or dance book addition. Recorded on the Romantic Appr...

This is one of the many wonderful charts arranged by Lennie for the Stan Kenton Orchestra. He was able to capture the Kenton sound without a lot of high-range problems or difficult concerns for the pl...

This is another of the many wonderful charts arranged by Lennie for the Stan Kenton Orchestra. He is able to capture the Kenton sound without a lot of high-range problems or difficult concerns for the...