Jazz Combo - Level 4 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.970743
Composed by Mike Strand. Concert,Jazz. Score and parts. 3 pages. Michael M. Strand #4987843. Published by Michael M. Strand (A0.970743).
By Mike Strand, ASCAP
This is a swing tune lead sheet with lyrics*, chords, and guitar fret boards, for a jazz group, small to large, with a singer. It is a good basis for a variety of arrangements, improvisations, and contra facts.
The audio sample is a jazz combo swing accompaniment from iReal Pro, combined with my tune from Finale PrintMusic -- a jazz quartet arrangement.
This tune and harmonization involve a lot of half-steps (chromatic scale). The two guitars in this audio sample may or may not have been Fenders.
Composer's Note:
Problem: How can a jazz composer write more expressive and innovative jazz music, without leaving the boundaries of traditional jazz or classical chords?
Jazz composers and improvisers have made jazz more expressive in at least two ways: (1) Melodies free of harmony, and (2) modal jazz, using tonalities other than the usual major or minor. These methods, however, break the so-called "boundaries".
One Solution: With Chrome Fender, I believe I've demonstrated how to expand expression in jazz music without leaving the boundaries of classical and jazz chords. In this case, I stretched those boundaries with chromatic melody and with varied or unusual chord progressions for a given melody.
In Chrome Fender, you'll hear a melody with more than one possible set of accompanying chords. This lends interest and variety to the piece. Two examples of this are:
1. In bars 27 and 28, you might want to harmonize the tune with D, A, D, instead of the unusual F#m, C#, F#m, which I prefer for this piece. The sequence D, A, D shows up anyway, in bars 29 through 32. Therefore, my preference gives the larger range, bars 27 through 32, more harmonic variety.
2. In the first and second lines I use the same tune, but I harmonize it in two different ways. This has the attractive effect of making this fixed tune sound as if it has moved in pitch, at least to my ears.
The first two lines of Black Orpheus, by Luiz Bonfá, is a great example of harmonizing nearly the same tune in two different ways. The only difference is an 8th G-sharp note in the first line, versus a natural G in the corresponding place in the second line (tune in A minor).
*Here are the Chrome Fender lyrics, based on my family's 1949 Mercury V-8, which my dad gave me when I turned 16:
My '49 Merc' needs one chrome fender,
And I can't get the cash from a lender.
It was a scrap pile, but it's been worthwhile
To fix her up, not just forget her.
I don't want to be just a pretender,
At the show for old cars, but a Contender!
My Merc' will look sharp, when I take off her tarp!
But I still need that chrome fender.
Or I'll go on a big bender!
About Digital Downloads
Digital Downloads are downloadable sheet music files that can be viewed directly on your computer, tablet or mobile device. Once you download your digital sheet music, you can view and print it at home, school, or anywhere you want to make music, and you don’t have to be connected to the internet. Just purchase, download and play!
PLEASE NOTE: Your Digital Download will have a watermark at the bottom of each page that will include your name, purchase date and number of copies purchased. You are only authorized to print the number of copies that you have purchased. You may not digitally distribute or print more copies than purchased for use (i.e., you may not print or digitally distribute individual copies to friends or students).
Instant Download
Share