Edition: Jazz Big Band Arrangement

Description: Swing - Medium Difficult

Publisher: Jazz Lines Publications

Bill Holman's Evil Eyes was first written in 1958 and recorded by his own big band for the album The Fabulous Bill Holman. The chart was contributed to the book of the Terry Gibbs Dream band and first performed live in 1959 at the Versailles Room in Hollywood, CA. The following year The Dream Band recorded the chart in the studio for their 1960 album Swing Is Here and it became a fixture of the band's live book. A medium-swing Db blues, its riff-based melody and straightforward structure is heavily influenced by the sound of the Count Basie Orchestra, and is easy to open up to feature several soloists.

The Basie comparisons are obvious from the get-go, as the arrangement starts with a solo piano chorus. The melody is a simple riff in the tenor saxophones; Gibbs plays fills around the melody the first time, while the trombones provide a response on the repeat. On the studio recording, the melody is followed by two choruses of vibraphone, but on live dates this solo was sometimes handled by tenor sax instead. Following this is two choruses of trombone, with an almost shout chorus-like sequence of backgrounds on the first chorus.

Holman breaks out of the Basie mold at measure 75 with an ensemble interlude that starts out with the brass and saxes playing interweaving unison lines before coming together to set up two choruses of alto sax at measure 87. A shout chorus follows that is pure Basie, complete with gradually building dynamics and a strong rhythmic drive. The mood calms down via a four bar bass solo before the melody returns at measure 143, wrapping up with a final ensemble shout that ends on a slightly dissonant note.

This publication was prepared from the set of parts used by the Terry Gibbs Dream Band - this is not a transcription.

 

Full Score
Vibraphone Soloist (Optional)
2 Alto Saxophones
2 Tenor Saxophones
Baritone Saxophone
4 Trumpets
3 Trombones
Guitar (Optional)
Piano
Bass
Drum Set

Trumpet 1: Eb6
Trombone 1: Bb4