Big band swing chart with vocal feature! This is Mark singing. He sang on one of my previous charts and here he is again. There are some real flashes of swagger and confidence in Mark’s vocal take and the chart goes from being loud to louder! Some charts are like that. I did strive for some dynamic contrast with the clarinet background lines and muted brass (and even the rhythm section markings). Some things in this chart sound very well-defined while others (especially early in the chart) seem a bit meandering, but oh well.
One of the fun things when arranging is working out how the saxes will switch from their doubles back to saxes - all those transitions, as well as the mute changes in the brass, have to be thought out and I think I did a good job on those. As a trumpet player, I know all about mute changes and I’d played enough charts through junior high, high school and college to know how effective mutes could be.
This chart sounds similar to my “Nice and Easy in Seattle” big band chart that I wrote for the indie movie “The Stranger By The Bay” (written by Andy Foster and directed by Mary Jeanne Reynales) - it’s comforting to know that I was at least copying from myself!