I might have the opportunity to play in a Big Band but I've never played in such a big setting. Which Big Band albums would you recommend listening to to prepare myself?
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Double Bass Big Band Essential Albums
- Thread starter snowdenwald
- Start date
The Big Band I play in does a LOT of Glen Miller so I've spent a lot of time listening to the originals. If you have an opportunity to video the Big Band prior to joining (which I did) I've found that to be very useful in my prep as they all have their nuances. Having never been very good at sight reading, playing in the BB has really helped as they don't do a lot of rehearsals. Good luck!!
Find out which publisher and arranger many of their charts are done by. Type that into google/YouTube and you’ll find plenty of recordings of these exact arrangments (promo samples, live recordings, etc).
eg. “MacArthur Park - Hal Leonard Publishing, arranged by Danny Green”.
Take a photo of any charts you’ve done in rehearsal. Go over them daily at home to improve your sight reading and familiarised with tricky bits the next time you play that song.
If you want, record on your phone these songs, then play along at home with them with the chart. I had to get a Dep a few days before a gig (family funeral). I emailed them the pics of charts and audio files and they were totally fine.
eg. “MacArthur Park - Hal Leonard Publishing, arranged by Danny Green”.
Take a photo of any charts you’ve done in rehearsal. Go over them daily at home to improve your sight reading and familiarised with tricky bits the next time you play that song.
If you want, record on your phone these songs, then play along at home with them with the chart. I had to get a Dep a few days before a gig (family funeral). I emailed them the pics of charts and audio files and they were totally fine.
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Basie, more Basie, some more Basie, Thad Jones, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Ellington, Benny Goodman is a good start.
Definitely Duke Ellington and Count Basie...anything (and everything) by them.
Personally...
I would just show up and read the gig charts. It will improve your sight reading and spark synapses you didn’t know were there. Then I would take notes on where you are having difficulty and work on it.
I would just show up and read the gig charts. It will improve your sight reading and spark synapses you didn’t know were there. Then I would take notes on where you are having difficulty and work on it.
If you're not already, I'd at least familiarize myself with the big band standards...In the Mood, Take the A Train, Sing Sing Sing, etc. Maybe get a compilation album that has the classic versions of those.
Well, "big band" covers a tremendous amount of ground. If you are going to dive deeply into it, you need to start at the beginning (Whiteman? early Goodman? early Ellington? the Moten brothers? Lunceford?) and go through the whole thing.
But if you are just trying to get an aural image in your head of what the band should sound like and how you should fit into it, you need to find out what style they're playing and whose arrangements are being used. Every single instrument's performance practice evolved over time and the role of the bass (for example, since we're on a bass forum) in the Mound City Blue Blowers is quite different than teh Basie band of the 1950s than the Kenton band of the 70s than Buddy Rich's band in 1980 than Ellington in 1941.
For what you're asking about, not a deep dive (not yet), you should be listening to recordings from the general time and style.
Even tune names aren't always a firm guide: for example, there are two commonly played charts for In the Mood - there's the old Miller stock, written and arranged by Joe Garland, that every experienced big band musician can play from memory in his sleep while drunk, and there's the one from the Tonight Show band, about 1980, arranged by Jeff Tyzik - and these are two VERY different charts with VERY different sounds, of a very simple basic tune, even though the basic roadmap of the two is actually quite similar.
But if you are just trying to get an aural image in your head of what the band should sound like and how you should fit into it, you need to find out what style they're playing and whose arrangements are being used. Every single instrument's performance practice evolved over time and the role of the bass (for example, since we're on a bass forum) in the Mound City Blue Blowers is quite different than teh Basie band of the 1950s than the Kenton band of the 70s than Buddy Rich's band in 1980 than Ellington in 1941.
For what you're asking about, not a deep dive (not yet), you should be listening to recordings from the general time and style.
Even tune names aren't always a firm guide: for example, there are two commonly played charts for In the Mood - there's the old Miller stock, written and arranged by Joe Garland, that every experienced big band musician can play from memory in his sleep while drunk, and there's the one from the Tonight Show band, about 1980, arranged by Jeff Tyzik - and these are two VERY different charts with VERY different sounds, of a very simple basic tune, even though the basic roadmap of the two is actually quite similar.
If I get a new bassplayer in one of my big bands, and he hasn't played in a big band before, I would appreciate it if he bothered to listen to some standard recordings to be familiar with the style first.
Forgive me for having to remember that far back...
Sure, I would listen to it... But reading charts for it in advance? Depends on what you want to achieve. But, I cannot fathom never hearing big band music. Besides, I still think jumping in is better... As long as it isn’t Thad Jones or something difficult.
I did it for two west end shows and learned a lot in the process. Big band bass rhythms aren’t usually hard, and c’mon... They’ll have you sitting around as they do sectionals. There is nothing to fear etc...
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The original question was "Which Big Band albums would you recommend listening to to prepare myself?". That's a good thing.
Yes, but I don’t want the OP to think reading the stuff in advance is related to listening habits. If he can swing, he can swing... That’s a third of the battle imo.
