One for Rosie

Jazz Band (4:36) - July - August 1999

Commentary

This piece has a little of everything in it. It's roughly divided into three parts and a coda. The introduction is played by a solo and then duet alto saxophone and is based on a guitar riff I had in my basket of unused goodies. Every so often, I look through my stash of unused melodies and motives to see what can be used. The fourth movement of The Hero was based upon some of those fragments, and you can hear a few further down in the menu.

After the saxophone solo, the piece kicks off with the melody in the trombones, in a particularly cheesy funk beat, very reminiscent of some Earth, Wind & Fire material. After an interlude that's cheery and upbeat by the trumpets, the trombones repeat the theme before fading away. In transition, the piece makes use of fourth and fifth in chords.

The next section features the trumpet in a written solo. This section has a light Latin flavour to it and builds into a heavier Latin section with the trumpets playing over the other sections.

The third section is somehing of a funk waltz, if such a thing can exist. The saxophones play the original melody over an ostinato bass line before passing the buck to the trombones. This is followed by a rapid key change, putting the piece a whole step above the beginning key of Bb minor.

After a series of rising and falling, the piece returns to common time with the bass line from the beginning. This doesn't stick around for long before the piece moves into a 2-feel, with two trumpets playing the second melody over the first melody's chord changes. The piece ends with a massive free for all, based on the material from the first interlude by the trumpets.

This piece was written with no particular band in mind, and titled for a friend who had asked for a song.

visitors since November 2003