Horn section voicing help

[kissmybASS01]

Hey there guys and gals!

I'm looking for a little help with a band I'm currently in. It's a 10pc 60s R&B band including a 4 piece horn section where I play trombone. Our horn instrumentation include an alto and tenor sax, trumpet and myself on bone.



A good chunk of stuff has unison lines but many have great parts to be harmonized. Help me figure out (generally speaking) where everyone should be. My thoughts are: trumpet on top ("Soprano"), alto sax ("Alto"), tenor sax (Tenor"), and trombone ("Bass"). However, there are some tunes in which tenor sounds better on the bottom and trombone above. Our trumpet player has his Masters degree in music, and I have my Bachelors in music too LOL. So…between the two of us, we can write out any parts we need, just need some direction here.

To make matters more confusing, the tenor sax player and myself are in another band together. In this other group, I play bass while he is the sole horn player…so he's usually jumping all over the place doubling melodies, solo lines, etc. It's difficult for him to switch "personalities" from lead horn guy in one band to section player in our R&B band

Please help...

 

[Bob_Ross]

It's not a simple answer. Arranging for horns is a lot like an orgy: you don't want to just decide "Who's on top?" and then stick with that all night, you want to mix it up for variety and contrast.

There are some great books on arranging/orchestration that get into pop-jazz horn sections. Don Sebesky's is probably the most widely known, but there are also some good ones from Berklee Press.

 

[kissmybASS01]

Okay thanks for the advice! We do usually switch it up a bit. For my trombone parts, sometimes I take things up an octave and closely harmonize the top part. Love the orgy analogy lolol!

By the way, do you paint much anymore… ;0

 

[Ed Fuqua]

Didn't Dick Grove do a set of books on arranging too?
Looks like he done gone digital....Dick Grove School Without Walls :: Home

 

[carl h.]

Are your saxes proficient in altissimo? It may be advantageous to put a sax on extended upper range stuff to save the trumpet player's chops.

 

[kissmybASS01]

Are your saxes proficient in altissimo? It may be advantageous to put a sax on extended upper range stuff to save the trumpet player's chops.

Our alto player more than likely could, and our tenor COULD, but intonation and stamina might be the limitations here.

 

[BassChuck]

So many ways to do this sort of thing. To add an idea to the mix.... You have two reeds and two brass. One approach that is interesting is in complex chords, have the reeds outline one harmony and the brass another. For instance, in a C79 chord have one group with Bb and D (outlining a Bb tonaltiy) and the other group C and E ) outlining a C tonality. There are hundreds of examples of this kind of voicing.
Another thing, to consider is the brass, being the more prominent sounds, should avoid being voiced in 4th's or 5th's since those intervals won't necessarily project a tonality. (I'm not talking parallel movement, just vertical voicing)
One of the things that gave BS&T their sound was to take a complex chord and use only the notes that could build a quartal chord. For instance the C79 chord voiced from the bottom up D G C (and some kind of 11th if the spirit moves you).

 

[kissmybASS01]

So many ways to do this sort of thing. To add an idea to the mix.... You have two reeds and two brass. One approach that is interesting is in complex chords, have the reeds outline one harmony and the brass another. For instance, in a C79 chord have one group with Bb and D (outlining a Bb tonaltiy) and the other group C and E ) outlining a C tonality. There are hundreds of examples of this kind of voicing.
Another thing, to consider is the brass, being the more prominent sounds, should avoid being voiced in 4th's or 5th's since those intervals won't necessarily project a tonality. (I'm not talking parallel movement, just vertical voicing)
One of the things that gave BS&T their sound was to take a complex chord and use only the notes that could build a quartal chord. For instance the C79 chord voiced from the bottom up D G C (and some kind of 11th if the spirit moves you).

hmmm…I like the way you think! So…we really shouldn't be too concerned with have "rudimental" chord tones such as 1-3-5-3, as this should be more than provided with our keys, guitar, and bass players.