 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2010-05-16 21:19
This is to all clarinetists who want to play in Jazz Band...but were probably turned down:
My new big band arrangement of Sleepy Creek Samba is a contemporary jazz piece. Not WWII-era big band. The clarinet has an essential role in this music. The score features not just one clarinet but THREE clarinets.
This piece was written to be like a dream for any clarinetist who wanted to play in Jazz Band but was turned down by the director. Revenge of the clarinets!
If you'd like to get in on this, here's what you do:
1.) Find 2 other like-minded and adventurious clarinetists.
2.) Get the music. Actually, this is the easy part. Simply email me, ask for the music, and a zip file with the score and all of the parts will be sent to you. No charge for the music.
3.) Print the score and parts. Note: print the score landscape legal. The parts are standard page.
4.) Your clarinet committee goes to see the Jazz Band director. Give him the score & parts, tell him it's a brand new arrangement in a contemporary style that uses 3 clarinets in the reed section, and ask him (her) to have the band give it a try. Note: the reed section is scored for flute (solo feature), 3 clarinets, and baritone sax.
Hopefully, this will enable you to play in Jazz Band (at least on this piece). If this arrangement works out really well for you (as I think it will), I could write more pieces that include clarinets in a large jazz ensemble.
Currently, there is a jazz quartet recording of Sleepy Creek Samba on my page at the American Music Center. Here's a link: http://www.amc.net/RogerMAldridge . In a couple of weeks I hope to add a recording of this big band arrangement. However, the quartet version will give one a sense of the music.
This is your chance for clarinets to take their rightful place in a contemporary jazz ensemble.
PS, Directors are welcome to request the music too. 
Roger
Post Edited (2010-05-17 11:49)
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Author: karlbonner82
Date: 2010-05-17 16:40
I never understood why almost none of the jazz-band repertoire called for clarinets. Sure, they might not be needed on all songs, but you'd think that at least a substantial minority of the repertiore would call for them. In three years of high-school jazz band I only ever saw two or three clarinet parts, one of which was for 42nd Street Rag.
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Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2010-05-17 17:23
It's more common for saxophone players in contemporary large jazz ensembles -- especially, those using original compositions/arrangements -- to play a variety of woodwind doubles such as flutes, clarinet, bass clarinet...even double reeds. The Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra is a good example.
Publishers have a role in how most big band arrangements used in high school and college/university jazz ensembles are written for a 2 altos - 2 tenors - bari sax section as a "standard".
There are composer-arrangers, like myself, who like to create new and different ensemble sounds. Seek them out.
PS....
If a band is interested in trying my samba arrangement but does not have 3 clarinets as doubles, the following alternatives can be used:
1st clarinet -- Clarinet is important.
2nd clarinet -- Soprano sax or trumpet in cup mute (if a band has 5 trumpets).
3rd clarinet -- I've written an alto sax part that is a transposition of the 3rd clarinet part. Another option is for tenor to play the part an octave higher than written (goes into alt range).
Thus, if a band has flute, clarinet, soprano, alto or tenor, and bari this reed section can be used. Of course, it will have a different sound than with using 3 clarinets; but, I expect it will also sound good. The essential idea in this chart is to have a fresh and distinctive ensemble sound in the use of a different sax section configuration than the standard 2 altos, 2 tenors, and bari.
Roger
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