Edition: Jazz Big Band Arrangement

Description: Swing/Bossa Nova - Difficult

Publisher: Jazz Lines Publications

Recorded in 1966 and released in 1967 on his final album Aquí Se Habla Español (Spanish Spoken Here), Imprevu showcases several of the trademarks of Johnny Richards's instantly identifiable writing style. Grandiose, brass-heavy, and harmonically dense, it manages to harken back to Richards's past successes with the Stan Kenton Orchestra while simultaneously looking forward in new directions.

From the get-go, the ensemble springs to life via a screaming unison trumpet line atop a roaring lower horn section. Switching to a bossa nova groove a few measures in, the exotic melody is only played through once in entirety, with the spotlight shifting between the sections in a way that expertly utilizes each instrument's natural tonal colors and textures. There should be a subtly implied sense of swing to the 8th notes in the horns, while the rhythm section stays in a more straight 8ths groove.

The volume should remain fairly reined in until measure 40, where the brass section goes full Kenton in terms of both loudness and intensity. This, along with the thinning of the melody down to a single mellophone, makes the sudden drop-off at measure 54 even more effective. Another quick build and decay occurs at measure 70, eventually culminating in one last ensemble blast underneath a screaming trumpet solo.

Richards typically wrote for unusual instrumentations, but we have provided a number of alternate parts to allow this piece to be performed by more traditional ensembles (see the contents tab).

 

Full Score
Woodwind 1: Alto Saxophone
Woodwind 2: Tenor Saxophone
Woodwind 3: Tenor Saxophone or Alto Saxophone (Optional Added Part)
Woodwind 4: Baritone Saxophone (Or Tenor Saxophone)
Woodwind 5: Bass Saxophone (Or Baritone Saxophone)
5 Trumpets
Mellophone (Or Horn in F Or Flugelhorn)
4 Trombones (Trombone 4 Optional)
Tuba
Guitar (Optional)
Piano
Acoustic Bass
Drum Set

Trumpet 1: E6
Trombone 1: B5