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- Solos
Man From Mars is an uptempo puncher with some slick solo spots and cool riffs for each section. A little intricate for a level 3, but not quite as demanding as a level 4, this piece swings hard and ends with a bang.Instrumentation Big Band Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO 
= 230Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Man From Mars is an uptempo puncher with some slick solo spots and cool riffs for each section. A little intricate for a level 3, but not quite as demanding as a level 4, this piece swings hard and ends with a bang.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 230Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Melanchology is a moody medium tempo piece that is designed to be sophisticated but accessible. The opening march-like texture is supported by colorful nonfunctional harmony, leading all the way to a diminishing spacey ending. It's an easy level 3 with solo space for your best trumpet soloist and a little space for guitar and piano.Instrumentation Big Band Style Modern Jazz Level 3 TEMPO = 150Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
This wild piece starts out with Fletcher Henderson quoting of Mendelssohn's "Wedding March," but after two bars it's off to the races with tons of intricate riffs, solos, and a rowdy shout chorus at the end. Watch out for the lightening quick mute changing, which was standard practice in the 1930s. This piece makes a great wedding reception opener and many working bands using it now will open up the first solo section as a vamp to introduce a wedding party.Instrumentation Big Band Style Swing Era Level 4 TEMPO = 185Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
This wild piece starts out with Fletcher Henderson quoting of Mendelssohn's "Wedding March," but after two bars it's off to the races with tons of intricate riffs, solos, and a rowdy shout chorus at the end. Watch out for the lightening quick mute changing, which was standard practice in the 1930s. This piece makes a great wedding reception opener and many working bands using it now will open up the first solo section as a vamp to introduce a wedding party.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 4 TEMPO = 185Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
From the Beantown Swing Orchestra 2011 holiday album A Beantown Christmas, what starts as a traditional-sounding orchestral jazz arrangement of the Christmas classic warps into a Duke Ellington style R&B swinger. Reflective and introspective moments balance against soulful bluesy cries in this powerhouse arrangement that has a little something for everyone.Instrumentation Big Band Style Swing Era Level 4 Vocals Male TEMPO = 65Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Written for Cab Calloway's band, Pickin' the Cabbage is Dizzy Gillespie's first ever big band composition. The slick tune features a great melody for a trio and many hints of modern bebop and afro-cuban music that would later be Gillespie's trademark.Instrumentation Big Band Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 184Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Written for Cab Calloway's band, Pickin' the Cabbage is Dizzy Gillespie's first ever big band composition. The slick tune features a great melody for a trio and many hints of modern bebop and afro-cuban music that would later be Gillespie's trademark.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 184Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Pletchtastic is a tongue-in-cheek titled song commissioned for Club Drosselmeyer. A simple Bb blues riff melody, solos for every instrument, no backgrounds, and a big intro and ending makes this a great opener, closer, or mid-set rest piece for your horns.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 2 TEMPO = 175Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Rendezvous with Rhythm is a unique tune that bridges the gap between hot jazz and swing with plenty of space for solos. Simple riffs and a tidy shout chorus drive this deceptively swinging Ellington/Hodges chart to a quiet and abrupt ending.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 194Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Ruined is a funky chamber jazz tune with feature space for guitar and trumpet. It starts with saxes only with no rhythm section, adding in trombones, then trumpets, before building into a guitar solo. The trumpet solo gets some space over trombone chorale before the rhythm section jumps back in, and it ends with a dismantling of each section until nothing is left but the five saxes. Each horn player keeping good time is critical for this composition, but the reward is a lush and exciting groove-based piece.Instrumentation Big Band Style Modern Jazz Level 4 TEMPO 
= 90Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Savoy Strut is a major hidden gem from the swing era! Duke Ellington starts the tune up with an unusually angular intro, which takes us to a winding but singable head. The soloists play over a beautiful and remarkable chord progression which also features some player-specific orchestration choices that take advantage of the unique sounds of his players. A must-have for any Ellington 7-piece ensemble!Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 160Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Skunk Hollow Blues is a very laid back colorful blues and a fantastic rare gem of the swing era. The intro and head features plunger trumpet on one line, bari and trombone on another, and the alto on a third melody, a rare true 3-part counterpoint! Riffs and triadic voicings back up a couple of solos, leading to an ending chorus that is half based on the head and half new material full of creeping chromatic motion full of dynamics.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 2 TEMPO = 125Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
This swingin' Bill Finegan arrangement of a traditional Russian folk shanty has some great ensemble work, several peaks, and a rare jazz canon for the brass! Some simple plunger work helps ground it in the swing era, and a huge finale with harmony way ahead of it's time makes Song of the Volga Boatman a killer addition to any big band book.Instrumentation Big Band Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 135Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Swing Psychometry is a trumpet feature that pushes the limits of swing era vocabulary. Full of 10 bar phrases and Ellington and Coltrane-inspired harmony, this interesting piece pops out in your book as something unusual yet familiar.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 4 TEMPO = 175Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Swingin' on the Campus is an aggressive hard swinging tune jam packed with killer riffs and solo space. This simply-constructed piece is built on a variation of rhythm changes and is a difficult level 2 because of the relatively high tempo and brass endurance.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 2 TEMPO = 195Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
This early Count Basie barn burner absolutely crushes on the blues, with catchy section work, a killer shout chorus, and solo space for both tenors and two trumpets. Starting small up front in the key of C, this arrangement builds up with great riffs, a Durham/Lunceford style chromatic modulation, and a massive shout chorus in two parts.Instrumentation Big Band Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 225Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
This upbeat Hodges/Ellington piece is a variation on the old nursery rhyme The Farmer in the Dell. After a statement of the melody, it's all solos with background riffs until the melody comes back at the end. Swinging in the Dell is a very simple solo vehicle that's great for getting dancers on the floor!Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 2 TEMPO = 190Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
The unassumingly-titled "That's Rhythm" is a colorful tune that straddles the line between the swing era and the bebop era. Written by Ellington sideman Rex Stewart for his own shorter-lived 4-horn band, "Rhythm" features a punchy and memorable head and lots of solo space.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 2 TEMPO = 148Trumpet
Range
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- Solos
Back Room Romp is basically a simple blues in Ab, but there is a twist: the head is a series of building independent lines, thus a "Contrapuntal Stomp." Every horn player gets a solo chorus. The lead trumpet part is a bit of a blow, but this was written for longtime Ellington sideman, trumpeter Rex Stewart, who had the chops to play all day.Instrumentation Ellington 7-Piece Style Swing Era Level 3 TEMPO = 154Trumpet
Range
Solo Instrument: Trumpet
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