I’m new to the community and thought I’d share a song of mine. I wrote the introduction about 10 years ago when I acquired my first virtual instrument library; I think it was miroslav orchestra. I wrote the short fanfare just to figure out how to make things work, and to hear the sounds. I always expected to build on it to create a much longer piece, but never could figure out what to do. Recently, I decided- why not just turn that melody into a big band chart, and here are the results.
Starts off with an orchestral introduction. Then enters the rhythm section, with a fast samba groove.
Once the samba kicks in, alto states the melody, then solos for two choruses. Then bari for two choruses, then the two trade off, leading to the two playing over drums alone, followed by a shout, and then melody to the end.
Main Instruments used:
Addictive drums
Kontakt Classic Bass
Kontakt Grand Piano
Kontakt Trumpet section
Kontakt Trombone section
Kontakt Bari sax
Native Instruments Salsa percussion
Dimension Pro for the alto sax
The orchestra at the beginning is all from Cinesamples Cinesymphony Lite.
Very nicely done, Steven! Great groove and feel to the whole piece!
I’ve always liked the idea of incorporating a fanfare into jazz pieces. My one constructive criticism here is the fanfare here feels a bit like an “add-on” rather than part of the overall work. The shift from fanfare to salsa struck me as a bit abrupt but perhaps that was your intent. Totally fine with that, too!
I don’t know if you’ve listened to much of the late Patrick Williams’ work. He’s been one of my race horses (the ones I try to emulate and catch!) over the years. He used the fanfare idea in "Aurora" (and in “On The Sixth Day” on his “Threshold” album) to great effect. He takes his time and integrates the latin rhythm underneath the brass fanfare, sneaks in some sax soli elements, and, eventually transitions into the full big band part of the chart.
Stan- thanks for the encouragement!
That Aurora- a very cool arrangement- incorporating orchestral elements into the big band- loved it!
And he had a few decent players on that recording, :^)
The fanfare at the beginning of my piece is the whole fanfare…i was never able to add to it something i liked. So now its just a brief intro to the rest of the piece.
Definitely keep the fanfare in your back pocket and find ways to expand and develop the piece. Fanfares can be tricky. Don’t sell them short or give up on them. They can really set the tone for a concert or show.
My hard drive is full of what I thought were false starts yet ended up as the perfect bridge to another song or fodder for an entirely new piece.
“Calling All Bones” is the opening fanfare for my Stan Bann’s Big Bone Band concerts. Shards of this are littered across other Finale sketches, etc. I finally tried it in 7/8 and it worked. We segue from this to “Star Spangled Banner” then straight into our first tune.