In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestration in that the latter process is limited to the assignment of notes to instruments for performance by an orchestra, concert band, or other musical ensemble. Arranging "involves adding compositional techniques, such as new thematic material for introductions, transitions, or modulations, and endings. Arranging is the art of giving an existing melody musical variety". In jazz, a memorized (unwritten) arrangement of a new or pre-existing composition is known as a head arrangement.
The double bass, also known simply as the bass, amongst other names, is the largest and, therefore, lowest-pitched chordophone in the modern symphony orchestra. Similar in structure to the cello, it has four, although occasionally five, strings.
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and dominated jazz in the early 1940s when swing was most popular. The term "big band" is also used to describe a genre of music, although this was not the only style of music played by big bands.
Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era, when people were dancing the Lindy Hop. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Musicians of the swing era include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and Django Reinhardt.
John McLaughlin, also known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer. A pioneer of jazz fusion, his music combines elements of jazz with rock, world music, Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s, McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the U.S., where he played with drummer Tony Williams's group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his electric jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, and On the Corner. His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences.
John Psathas, is a New Zealand Greek composer. He has works in the repertoire of such high-profile musicians as Evelyn Glennie, Michael Houstoun, Michael Brecker, Joshua Redman and the New Juilliard Ensemble, and is one of New Zealand's most frequently performed composers. He has established an international profile and receives regular commissions from organisations in New Zealand and overseas.
Oscar Marcelo Alemán was an Argentine jazz multi instrumentalist, guitarist, singer, and dancer.
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter.
The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 1950s, the band survived long past the Big Band era itself and the death of Basie in 1984. It continues under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart.
The Hot Club of Cowtown is an American Western swing trio that formed in 1997.
Walter Sylvester Page was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist and bandleader, best known for his groundbreaking work as a double bass player with Walter Page's Blue Devils and the Count Basie Orchestra.
The Pasadena Roof Orchestra (PRO) is a contemporary band from England that specialises in the jazz and swing genres of music of the 1920s and 1930s, although their full repertoire is considerably wider. The orchestra has existed since 1969, although the line-up has frequently changed. It has achieved success outside the United Kingdom, most notably in Germany.
Orchestral jazz or symphonic jazz is a form of jazz that developed in New York City in the 1920s. Early innovators of the genre, such as Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington, include some of the most highly regarded musicians, composers, and arrangers in all of jazz history. The fusion of jazz's rhythmic and instrumental characteristics with the scale and structure of an orchestra, made orchestral jazz distinct from the musical genres that preceded its emergence. Its development contributed both to the popularization of jazz, as well as the critical legitimization of jazz as an art form.
Nat Towles was an American musician, jazz and big band leader popular in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, North Omaha, Nebraska and Chicago, Illinois. He was also music educator in Austin, Texas. The Nat Towles band is considered one of the greatest territory bands of all time by musicians who played in it and by others who heard it.
Jazz violin is the use of the violin or electric violin to improvise solo lines. Early jazz violinists included: Eddie South, who played violin with Jimmy Wade's Dixielanders in Chicago; Stuff Smith; and Claude "Fiddler" Williams. Joe Venuti was popular for his work with guitarist Eddie Lang during the 1920s. Improvising violinists include Stéphane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty. In jazz fusion, violinists may use an electric violin plugged into an instrument amplifier with electronic effects.
The Beantown Swing Orchestra is a Boston-based 18-piece big band that was formed in 2006 by Frank Hsieh. Initially specializing in performing the classic dance music from the Swing Era, the band has since expanded its repertoire to include transcriptions of Frank Sinatra's big band arrangements, and most recently its own arrangements of popular and original songs. In 2007, the Beantown Swing Orchestra featured performer Jonathan Meath, who performed as Santa Claus in three shows. Since 2007, all of the band's charts have been transcribed or arranged by trumpeter Danny Fratina. The group's best-known vocalists are fellow American Idol sixth-place finishers Siobhan Magnus and John Stevens, although it also features other female vocalists including American Idol semi-finalist Jen Hirsh, NYC-based jazz vocalist Laura Brunner, and singer/songwriter Erin McKeown. The band performs regularly at weddings, galas, and concerts throughout the Northeastern United States. Former trombonist Nick Noonan is one half of the pop duo Karmin.
The Valentino Orchestra is a Canadian 17-piece pre-swing style big band formed in Montreal in 1996 and led by musicologist and composer Andrew Homzy. Gerald Danovitch was the lead alto player until he died in 1997.
The West Australian Youth Jazz Orchestra (WAYJO) is an Australian youth jazz orchestra based in Perth, Western Australia. WAYJO has 54 jazz musicians between 14 and 25 years of age and currently presents over 55 performances a year across Australia.
Richard David Carrick is an American composer, pianist and conductor. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition for 2015–16 while living in Kigali, Rwanda. His compositions are influenced by diverse sources including traditional Korean Gugak music, the flow concept of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Gnawa Music of Morocco, Jazz, experimental music, concepts of infinity, the works of Italo Calvino and Ludwig Wittgenstein, and his work as improviser.
Matt Tolentino is a musician and bandleader specializing in the live performance and preservation of pre-swing music, with a focus on American popular songs from 1895 to 1935. Originally from Dallas, Texas, he is the leader of The Matt Tolentino Band, The New Liberty Dance Orchestra, The Royal Klobasneks polka band and The Singapore Slingers, which have been named the "Best Pre-Swing Jazz Orchestra" and the "coolest, quirkiest, retro jazz group" in Dallas, and have garnered national attention for their authenticity, including arrangements, instruments, drums, microphones, and attire of the period.
