Edition: Jazz Big Band Arrangement

Description: Swing/Shuffle - Difficult

Publisher: Jazz Lines Publications

Newly engraved edition for 2025!

Stanley Turrentine's Sugar has become a popular modern standard due to its easy to play, yet deep to explore, melody and harmony. Bob Florence's arrangement takes things at a brisker-than-usual tempo, incorporating lots of counterpoint and revamped harmony to give the now-classic tune a unique revamp.

A hard-riffing piano solo sets the mood before an aggressive blast from the horns marks the chart's official beginning. An extended pedal point begins in the rhythm section, with new layers of horns added every few measures, starting from the bottom of the ensemble and gradually working to the top. Another piano solo, this one based over the actual form of the tune, precedes the melody, which is initially handled by tenor and baritone saxes before moving higher up in the woodwind section at measure 88. The complexity is upped here with the addition of two competing counter-lines behind the melody, with everything finally converging for an early shout chorus at measure 106.

Florence utilizes an extended tag to set up both soloists - first tenor sax at measure 128, then baritone sax at measure 180, both featuring the same set of simple yet effective backgrounds on their second choruses. The horn blast and extended tag from the beginning of the arrangement are reused to set up the final shout chorus at measure 260. Since it's a long blow from here to the end of the chart, it's recommended that the band holds back ever so slightly at first to avoid running out of gas. A transposed version of the extended introductory pedal point serves as the wind-up for the arrangement's final pitch - a loud, dissonant blast that serves as rather sour conclusion. Recorded by Bob Florence Limited Edition CD Serendipity 18.

 

Full Score
2 Alto Saxophones (Alto 1 Doubles Soprano Sax)
2 Tenor Saxophones
2 Baritone Saxophones
5 Trumpets
4 Trombones
Guitar
Piano
Bass
Drums

Trumpet 1: F6
Trombone 1: Bb4