Big Band Jazz (with intermidate level of bass)

[beelzelboss]

I'm looking to expand my playing abilities, and I want to get into jazz music. I really don't know any bands out there, or anything about jazz, but I do know that I like big band jazz.

If you guys would please give me a few bands with songs you like, or songs that have tabs/music that can point me where to get them I would be thankful.

So please, throw me some of your big band jazz!

or any good jazz for that matter.

[colcifer]

For big band right now, it's all about Clayton-Hamilton. And there's too much good jazz to put in one post; start with big band if that's what you like and go from there.

[bassybill]

I can't resist - here's a big band I threw together rather hurriedly for a family party earlier this year, playing the old Gene Krupa classic, "Leave Us Leap".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTwMOuZw14I

And Jaco's big band arrangement of "The Chicken".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1jVRv3W3mg

This is a different line up and it ain't jazz, but it's a big band alright and sounds pretty good here and there (and rough elsewhere).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etm1AF8HPk4

Just so I don't fill this post entirely with my own vids, here's the Buddy Rich Big Band playing Love For Sale. One of the greatest big bands playing their best stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBwigXsYA3I

This is also very cool. John McLaughlin playing way outside his own normal musical style - Cherokee with the Tonight Show Band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om6HDUKBbzE

I hope there's something in that lot that you can enjoy.

[BassChuck]

Tab..... with big band jazz? No, I won't go there.

[Febs]

Originally Posted by beelzelboss

If you guys would please give me a few bands with songs you like, or songs that have tabs/music that can point me where to get them I would be thankful.

You won't see tabs in big band music. You typically see something like what I've attached.

In terms of recommendations, you can't go wrong with the Count Basie Orchestra. Here's one example out of thousands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVcBIs44eCY

Gordon Goodwin has been doing some pretty stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo-yyWE-28k

[beelzelboss]

I said tabs or sheet music. Tabs are preferred but I see that is not happening, so I will be happy to take sheet music. I need to work on my reading anyways. So far what I've found that I really like is:
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Gordon Goodwin
Brian Setzer Orchestra Band

I'm still looking for more stuff though! And sheet music! Please send me some!

[Tampabass]

first-rate big bands still performing?
Not a ton, but a few (some of these play only sporadically):

Mingus Big Band
Maria Schneider Orchestra
Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra
Either/Orchestra (Boston)
Jimmy Heath Big Band
Dave Holland Big Band
New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (led by Irvin Mayfield)
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (led by Wynton Marsalis)
Jazz at Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
WDR Big Band (Germany)
NDR Big Band (Germany)
Chuck Owen & the Jazz Surge (Florida)
McCoy Tyner Big Band
Sam Rivers Rivbea All-Star Orchestra (Florida)
Dan McMillion Jazz Orchestra (Florida)
and there are various "ghost" bands playing the music of Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, etc.
and as someone else mentioned, Clayton-Hamilton

[billhilly66]

Originally Posted by beelzelboss

I said tabs or sheet music. Tabs are preferred but I see that is not happening, so I will be happy to take sheet music. I need to work on my reading anyways. So far what I've found that I really like is:
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Gordon Goodwin
Brian Setzer Orchestra Band

I'm still looking for more stuff though! And sheet music! Please send me some!

You probably won't find much in the way of bass sheet music either. the last written bass parts I saw for big band tunes was in jazz band in HS. Get a real book and learn to deal with lead sheets. You'll need to know what to play over (or under) a given chord anyway.

[dalkowski]

Originally Posted by billhilly66

the last written bass parts I saw for big band tunes was in jazz band in HS.

Me, too. That was 30 years ago.

Originally Posted by billhilly66

Get a real book and learn to deal with lead sheets. You'll need to know what to play over (or under) a given chord anyway.

+1. Real Books rule.

[Tampabass]

Yes, I agree you ought to learn and memorize everything you can from Real Books. That's what you need for small-group jazz.

But that won't be enough for reading modern big band charts. You have to know how to read notated lines, too. And many times, you have to read them on the spot - sight reading. That's why there's no such thing as tabs for big-band music.

[greenboy]

Big band bass parts will still have written notes in some areas, if there needs to be some guidance to show the composer/arranger's intentions - even if later that gets improvised. There are also lines when some exactitude is needed in a counterpart/sectional things, or unisons with other instruments. When it's not full notation, it's usually advanced changes.

I still listen to some classic Basie and Mingus and Ellington, Woodie Herman, Don Ellis, stuff by Buddy Rich in the late 60s and early 70s can be killer, and Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Gil Evans... lots of others too, and newer stuff from David Murray, Carla Bley (she is amazing, crazy and droll, and Steve Swallow is a great electric jazz player)...

One of the best rock connections is Frank Zappa starting with Waka/Jawaka and proceeding through The Grand Wazoo. The more recent Zappa tour recordings from the same period as those albums, like IMAGINARY DISEASES and WAZOO, are great stuff in a similar vein.

There is a gentleman named Ed Palermo who has a big band that does tons of other Zappa material that was originally arranged differently, and a lot of it is pretty fun.

[greenboy]

Also, in my estimation the connection between Afro-Cuban and jazz should be a big part of it, starting with all the great stuff when Dizzy was getting connected, Machito and a lot of others, leading into the period when small big band salsa was coming on, and checking out all the stops along the way like Irakere too.

[phmike]

Originally Posted by beelzelboss

So far what I've found that I really like is:
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Gordon Goodwin
Brian Setzer Orchestra Band

If you like those (I do too) have a look at the Cherry Poppin' Daddies and around CDBaby's Jazz sub-genre list. Look on the left side for the sub-genre menu list for Bebop, Big Band, Boogie Woogie, Retro Swing, etc. There is no sheet music there but there are lots of bands you can hear examples of for further research.
http://www.cdbaby.com/Style/jazz

Example 'Retro Swing':
http://www.cdbaby.com/Style/536

[greenboy]

Oscar Peterson and the All-Star Big Band comes into this if you want to hear a classic smokin' trio supported by incredible Ernie Wilkin's arrangements for big band including tuba, and Ray Brown on the big standup moving the whole thing along like gangbusters...

[greenboy]

Originally Posted by phmike

If you like those (I do too) have a look at the Cherry Poppin' Daddies and around CDBaby's Jazz sub-genre list. Look on the left side for the sub-genre menu list for Bebop, Big Band, Boogie Woogie, Retro Swing, etc. There is no sheet music there but there are lots of bands you can hear examples of for further research.
http://www.cdbaby.com/Style/jazz

Example 'Retro Swing':
http://www.cdbaby.com/Style/536

Ah, yeah, Setzer has killed in all the right ways for that period style. Cherry Poppin' I've seen quite a few times, doin' classic period funk AND Jump Band stuff. Kid Creole brought a similar outfit to Seattle once, doin' the Cab Calloway trip... If you look at that you might as well also look at Joe' Jackson's JUMPIN' JIVE album too. There were actually a lot of pretty exciting neo-swing bands around for awhile, some of them also dabbling a little in ska...

[Febs]

Originally Posted by billhilly66

You probably won't find much in the way of bass sheet music either. the last written bass parts I saw for big band tunes was in jazz band in HS. Get a real book and learn to deal with lead sheets. You'll need to know what to play over (or under) a given chord anyway.

Big bands work almost exclusively from written charts. While the bass charts will sometimes consist entirely of chord changes, it is common that at least some part of the chart is a written line.

For example, the OP mentioned that he likes Gordon Goodwin. Goodwin tends to write out bass parts for large portions of his arrangements. The chart for "The Jazz Police" is entirely written out with the exception of 24 bars of the 32 bar solo section. "Sing Sang Sung" and "Bach 2 Part Invention" are each probably about 50/50 written part/chord changes. "Hunting Wabbits" is entirely written out except for the solo section.

Some charts are like the example I posted earlier from the Count Basie song "Ya Gotta Try," and consist mostly of changes with a few bars written out here and there.

Some charts have written out lines but also include chord changes. (Sammy Nestico's arrangement of "Wind Machine" is the first one that comes to mind off the top of my head.)

Some charts are written out in their entirety. This is particularly true of older charts (Joe Garland's arrangement of "In the Mood," for example).

I don't disagree with your advice about getting a Real Book and learning to play over changes, but for big band jazz, reading is a critical skill.

[billhilly66]

Originally Posted by Febs

Big bands work almost exclusively from written charts. While the bass charts will sometimes consist entirely of chord changes, it is common that at least some part of the chart is a written line.

For example, the OP mentioned that he likes Gordon Goodwin. Goodwin tends to write out bass parts for large portions of his arrangements. The chart for "The Jazz Police" is entirely written out with the exception of 24 bars of the 32 bar solo section. "Sing Sang Sung" and "Bach 2 Part Invention" are each probably about 50/50 written part/chord changes. "Hunting Wabbits" is entirely written out except for the solo section.

Some charts are like the example I posted earlier from the Count Basie song "Ya Gotta Try," and consist mostly of changes with a few bars written out here and there.

Some charts have written out lines but also include chord changes. (Sammy Nestico's arrangement of "Wind Machine" is the first one that comes to mind off the top of my head.)

Some charts are written out in their entirety. This is particularly true of older charts (Joe Garland's arrangement of "In the Mood," for example).

I don't disagree with your advice about getting a Real Book and learning to play over changes, but for big band jazz, reading is a critical skill.

Great post. I haven't looked into the big band thing well, since hs. I thought the OP sounded like he might be new to jazz so that's why the real book advise. That and my reading improved significantly once I got a handle on chords.

[Febs]

Originally Posted by beelzelboss

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

The changes to You and Me and the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby) are something like this:

| Bb    | Cmin7  F7  | Bb    | Cmin7  F7  | 

| Bb    | Cmin7  F7  | Bb    | Cmin7  F7  || 

| Bb    | Cmin7  F7  | Bb    | Cmin7  F7  | 

| Bb    | Cmin7  F7  | Bb    |            ||

| D7    |            | G7    |             |

| C7    |            | F7    |  Gb7   F7   || 

| Bb    | Cmin7  F7  | Bb    | Cmin7  F7  | 

| Bb    | Cmin7  F7  | Bb    |            ||

PM me your e-mail address and I will e-mail you a PDF of the bass part from my arrangement of this tune.

[greenboy]

Hey bassybill,

Got any Ian Carr/Nucleus? he had one album in particular that sounded large scale: LABYRINTH, I think it was.

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by Febs

Big bands work almost exclusively from written charts. While the bass charts will sometimes consist entirely of chord changes, it is common that at least some part of the chart is a written line.

For example, the OP mentioned that he likes Gordon Goodwin. Goodwin tends to write out bass parts for large portions of his arrangements. The chart for "The Jazz Police" is entirely written out with the exception of 24 bars of the 32 bar solo section. "Sing Sang Sung" and "Bach 2 Part Invention" are each probably about 50/50 written part/chord changes. "Hunting Wabbits" is entirely written out except for the solo section.

Some charts are like the example I posted earlier from the Count Basie song "Ya Gotta Try," and consist mostly of changes with a few bars written out here and there.

Some charts have written out lines but also include chord changes. (Sammy Nestico's arrangement of "Wind Machine" is the first one that comes to mind off the top of my head.)

Some charts are written out in their entirety. This is particularly true of older charts (Joe Garland's arrangement of "In the Mood," for example).

I don't disagree with your advice about getting a Real Book and learning to play over changes, but for big band jazz, reading is a critical skill.

I've played "The Jazz Police" and "Hunting Wabbits" recently. Those are great charts.

There's nothing like modern big band music. The fortunate or unfortunate secret is that the only way to gain exposure to big band charts is to play in a big band, creating a chicken and egg situation. This isn't a problem for other jazz players, who typically come from a classical or school band background. I was lucky to be asked to play bass in the school jazz band, which got my jazz "career" rolling.