Big Band Original-Arrangements

Another superb Bob Mintzer original, 'March Majestic' is a New Orleans-flavored chart with a swing feel, which draws on the influence of composer Aaron Copland. Solo chord changes for tenor sax 1 and...

Pianist John Lewis wrote this arrangement of the Dizzy Gillespie/Milton Shaw tune for a 1946 recording session. The Gillespie band played this chart live during the 1940s and into the early 1960s. Fea...

Having long since entered the pantheon of jazz standards, this version of Benny Golson's 'Stablemates' was arranged for trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's 1956 State Department-sponsored big band. In many wa...

It should come as no surprise that bringing together the arranging prowess of Benny Carter and the iconic sound of the Count Basie Orchestra resulted in some of the greatest big band jazz ever capture...

Largely based off of pianist Ahmad Jamal's original recording, Gil Evans' arrangement of 'New Rhumba' serves as an outstanding vehicle for Jamal's devoted musical disciple, trumpeter Miles Davis, thro...

Frank Foster originally composed 'Manhattan Fever' as the title track for a 1968 sextet date of the same name. In 1977, Foster would release another album under the same title, this time featuring his...

Frank Foster's contributions to the Count Basie orchestra of the 1950s cannot be underestimated. Whether serving as the band's star tenor saxophone soloist or one of its definitive arrangers, Foster p...

This brilliant Frank Foster arrangement was written for the Count Basie Orchestra and recorded live in Detroit in 1992 for their Telarc CD 'Basie's Bag.' Foster takes this 1974 Cedar Walton tune and t...

In the story of 'Porgy and Bess,' a buzzard flying overhead is considered to be a sign of bad things to come. Although 'The Buzzard Song' starts out with the intention of serving as a warning, Porgy t...

ARRANGED AND RECORDED BY ROB MCCONNELL Here's Rob McConnell's tour de force arrangement of Just Friends from his 1981 album 'Big Band Jazz, Vol. 1' on Pausa Records. We have used the original manuscri...

Here is a great Billy Byers chart that epitomizes the laid-back Basie sound. This arrangement features written-out piano fills throughout and a harmon-muted trumpet solo (on trumpet 2, also written ou...