Jazz Arranging for Dummies

So, while I did a lot of fun things this weekend, I spent most of that r & r time biting my nails over this arrangement I have to do. Today I finally holed myself up in my apartment and got a significant amount done. I plan to have the whole thing on paper today, and then this week all I have to worry about is throwing my computer out the window because Finale (the music notation software I use) is a huge pain in the ass. I just need to hire a copyist.

So I'm letting my brain take a break before writing the intro, because my head starts to hurt after thirty minutes or so of writing music. And I also have a short attention span (I like to say my brain has a small gas tank).

So the tune I'm arranging is a not-so-well-known Bill Evans tune called "Mother of Earl". I think it's from the 1960-61 recordings of him, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, these are some of my all time favorite jazz recordings. I cannot explain my love for Bill Evans in words.

Since I am being forced at gunpoint to write for trumpet, alto, tenor, trombone, bari and rhythm section, I'll try to make it sound as Gil Evans-esque as I can (tee hee, Bill Evans, Gil Evans, I'm a dork). But I'll probably mess it up since Gil Evans was the man and I'm a ditzy college student. Think "Birth of the Cool". That's what I want it to sound like.

So the first step to writing this was to write a lead sheet, which was a pain in the ass itself. I couldn't find one anywhere, so I had to transcribe the tune straight off the recording. This tune does not follow conventional "ii-V-I" jazz harmony, and had crazy Bill Evans/Scott Lafaro action which involves unconventional voicings and bass lines. So transcribing this took a really really long time. The things I love about the tune are making me bang my head into the wall over this project.

Now, in my writing process, I think I'm going a little bit crazy and unintentionally breaking all the rules Phil set down for us about good voicings for ensembles, etc etc. "Well, you know, this isn't wrong, but you are going against the grain." I don't really want to fit in his little box, but I also don't want to fail jazz theory. The case has generally been that as long as he likes how everything sounds in the end, I get an A. And I've written stuff before without the formal training I have now, and it sounded good, too. So I think I'm going to risk it and rely on what I think sounds good.

Deconstructing the things I hear in my head has also been really difficult. It's like, "Ok, I can't figure out what it is I'm hearing, but this note, this note and this note could work, so I'll just go with it." It becomes such a painful process, I feel like I'm compromising my original ideas just by putting them down on paper. Sometimes I almost feel like all the training gets in the way of being able to get my real ideas out. But that seems to be the universal dilemma of performing and fine arts everywhere: intuition versus intellect. Old news.

I also like to have snacks handy when I'm writing. Sometimes I think I would like to pursue a serious career in writing music after I finish my undergrad, but I would probably become morbidly obese, because I would never get out of my pajamas, and write all day while snacking on crackers, cheese, rasins, peanuts, and lots of coffee.

Another thing: I don't like doing my first draft on Finale. For some reason it makes me think differently, and I don't feel like things come out the same. I do everything on two staves on paper first, and then punch my complete sketch into Finale, so it looks all nice and pretty and I don't have to transpose and copy parts.

In other news: I just found out that I like Justin Timberlake, hehe! Rachel was playing a cd with a really good beat, and I was digging it, and I was like, "I like this! who is it?" "Oh it's Justin Timberlake! Yeah I like this cd too!" I think I've hit a new low in musical taste.

Man, what if Bill Evans and Justin Timberlake got together to do an album! That would have been tight ^.^