The excellent high school band director who hired me to fill in for his student bass player for the school musical last year asked me to fill in for him again for the school jazz band concert. The student must be a skilled player, because two of the charts featured Jaco Pastorius basslines written out. Virtually everything other chart was a fast swing tune. These made for a fun sight-reading challenge at rehearsal, although I did have the advantage of having played both tunes before a long time ago.
I was impressed by 1)how hip the charts were and 2)the challenges they posed for the rhythm section, especially the bass player. In ancient times, when the Eagles charted and I was in jazz band, we were lucky -- our band director threw lots of challenging stuff our way. But when I briefly led a high school jazz band back in 2011, our group met up with a lot of bands that were playing pretty polite Ellington and Basie charts. I was surprised. They were surprised, too, when we played Sea Journey with a free-jazz introduction and a Bohemia After Dark chart that I'd written.
If you're a younger player, or still in high school jazz band, how would you rate the challenge and hipness of the charts the band director chooses?
I was impressed by 1)how hip the charts were and 2)the challenges they posed for the rhythm section, especially the bass player. In ancient times, when the Eagles charted and I was in jazz band, we were lucky -- our band director threw lots of challenging stuff our way. But when I briefly led a high school jazz band back in 2011, our group met up with a lot of bands that were playing pretty polite Ellington and Basie charts. I was surprised. They were surprised, too, when we played Sea Journey with a free-jazz introduction and a Bohemia After Dark chart that I'd written.
If you're a younger player, or still in high school jazz band, how would you rate the challenge and hipness of the charts the band director chooses?
