Full jazz-band charts with strong ensemble writing and room for improvisation.
One for Miles is dedicated to Miles Davis. This is a romantic ballad with interesting chord changes. The trumpet parts go quite high but can be transposed an octave down. The chart includes a bass solo with horn backgrounds. This chart is a healthy challenge for intermediate to advanced students in terms of the harmonic movement.
McCoy was originally composed in 1995. This big band arrangement was completed in 2025. The piece is dedicated to McCoy Tyner and utilizes a series of quartal inversions in the opening vamp. The feel is 6/8 Afro Cuban. The chart is extremely enjoyable to play and solo on. The changes are not difficult. This would be a good chart for an advanced High School or University band.
Forward Motion is a medium tempo straight 1/8 note composition. There are no woodwind doublings. The blowing form is basically a C minor blues form. This is a challenging but not terribly difficult chart. A really talented high school jazz band would find this chart fun and accessible.
Twilight is a rather long form big band composition with a slow intro and ending. The middle section has a great straight 1/8 note groove and a blowing section which is quite modal, not very complicated. There is a bit of woodwind writing for flutes and clarinets, and several brass sections using different mutes. This would be a great piece for a college big band.
Tribute is a slow ballad that swings. The piece includes some woodwind doubling on flute and clarinet. The form is quite lengthy. The blowing, however, is rather simple, using only two chord changes. This piece is challenging but not overly difficult and lots of fun.
This big band chart is a ballad I wrote after Miles Davis passed away. The harmonic motion is interesting but not too esoteric. There is a nice sax soli in this piece that is challenging but very playable.
This is a solo piano composition. The music is atonal. The harmony itself comes from the modern jazz language. The rhythms are eclectic. This is not too difficult technically but still somewhat challenging.
This is one of my first compositions from the late 1970’s. In the late 1990’s I created this big band chart. This chart really swings. The blowing changes begin with a Cmi7 – F7 vamp and then proceed through a series of chromatic harmonies that end on a Gbmaj7 chord. A bit challenging for beginners but definitely fun. If the ranges are too high you can move everything down an octave when necessary. There is a challenging sax soli section that is really fun to play.
This is the first big band composition I wrote as a member of the BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop in the mid to late 1990s. The attached recording features The Brooklyn Jazz Composer’s Orchestra performing the piece with Dave Liebman on soprano saxophone. This is a very complicated and challenging piece of music and should only be performed by a more advanced big band ensemble.
This composition was composed while I was in residency with the dance department of Virginia Intermont College. During the week-long dance project composed this piece in one of the campus practice rooms. This big band arrangement is not difficult and has no individual solos. The entire group solos at the beginning and the end of the written piece. It is extremely tonal and would fit into any high school or college big band program.
This is an extremely swinging big band arrangement. The introduction of the main theme is built around a very strong 12/8 groove. The blowing section switches to a straight ahead swing feel. The changes are built on an extended series of dominant chords moving through the circle of fifths. Great piece for a high school big band. Challenging and fun at the same time.