Jazz Arranging Power
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Jazz Arranging PowerBy Scott HealyWed, 19 Mar 2014
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In my last lesson back in the January 2014 issue, I demonstrated how adding just onenote can change a chord’s color and character. This month, I’ll offer up ways to give yourarrangements added punch, power, and clarity. I used many of these techniques on mynew album Hudson City Suite.
1. Call and Response
Ex. 1 illustrates the timehonored technique known as “call and response,” which creates excitement by wayof a musical “dialogue.” Here’s a traditional big band example: The saxes riff with a closevoiced,harmonized line, and the first brass chord is voiced with a wider spread between notes at the bottom butmore closely at the top. Then the brass play a unison riff doubled in three octaves. The sax riff will soundtight and swinging, the brass will be powerful and full and the octave unison passages will be clear and loud.
2. Sweet and Light
Doubling across instrument choirs (i.e., woodwinds and brass playing the same notes or lines) is often mysecret weapon of choice. Pairing tenor saxes with trombones, trumpets, with alto saxes—or even bass withbass clarinet—helps enrich and widen the music at hand. Just about any combination will work. Ex. 2acomes from the “less is more” school and features threepart harmony with unison doubling, here with a sixpiece horn section. The voicing comes from melodic moving lines.
Ex. 2b fully maximizes the sound of a small section with unisons: alto and the trumpet double the lead, andthe trombone and tenor sax follow in fourths and thirds below.
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3. Richen Up
You can fatten up your chord voicings with inner unisons. I call this “crossdoubling,” where the doublednotes spread and richen the sound. Here you can use more instruments on fewer notes. In Ex. 3a, middleC and the D below it are doubled. Eight instruments play six notes. Both the trombone and sax voicings aresolid, and crossdoubling makes the section resonate.
In Ex. 3b we voice a big chord with crossdoubling. Here, 12 instruments are playing a sevennote chord.This sounds full, the instruments will blend well together, and no one in the band will feel left out!
4. Make It Scream
Even with a small ensemble at your disposal, you can still roar. Your assignment: In a moving “shout”passage, harmonize the notes under a riff. My band has seven horns, so I always have to weave the brassand reeds together, and keep most of them relatively high in their range. This passage is a harmonized Bbblues riff. In Ex. 4a, both the brass and sax voicings each have a nice spread, and everything movestogether.
In Ex 4b, the line is harmonized in a tight and punchy band of moving chords. Remember: Always makeevery voice count!
Rules and Caveats
There are just a few rules to keep in mind when constructing your arrangements—rules that you canchoose to break as long as you know them first. First, don’t put the root in the middle of the chord, as it
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choose to break as long as you know them first. First, don’t put the root in the middle of the chord, as itreally detracts and makes things sound classical. Second, try to use wider spacings in the lower register ofa voiced chord. Otherwise, it will be a muddy day in overtone city! Finally, don’t write two instruments on theroot of a voiced chord. You gain nothing but intonation problems while losing another available voice.
Hit the Books
“Arranging and orchestration textbooks actually work,” says Scott Healy. “My former teacher Ray Wright’sInside the Score takes apart famous big band arrangements by Thad Jones, Bob Brookmeyer, and SammyNestico. Ray explains large ensemble voicing and voice doubling in detail. Also Don Sebesky draws on hisdecades of experience in the studio in The Contemporary Arranger. Both texts come with CDs so you canhear the notes in action.” Healy has worked Tony Bennett, B.B. King, Bruce Springsteen, and ChristinaAguilera, and is the longtime TV band keyboardist for Conan O’Brien. Healy’s Grammynominated albumHudson City Suite is out now. Find out more at bluedogmusic.com.
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