MICHAEL COLLINS JAZZ

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Type: Up-tempo Swing Difficulty: Advanced; highest trumpet note is written E Instrumentation: 2 altos, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums Doubles: None BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		Sketch Artist Composed and Arranged by Michael Collins Sketch Artist is an incredibly energetic and deliriously twisty chart that has been leaving Southern California and South American audiences with their jaws wide open. Performers and audience members alike love this chart. After an opening drum solo, the quirky melody builds into an alto solo with some exciting backgrounds and exchanges with the band. Following a piano solo is a development in which the main theme gets tossed all over the band while being turned inside-out and upside-down, and the recap is ridiculous!
Type: Medium to Up-tempo Swing Difficulty: Advanced; highest trumpet note is written E Instrumentation: 2 altos, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums Doubles: None BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		Old Habits Composed and Arranged by Michael Collins Have a saxophone section that can handle anything? Do they sight-read better than Finale? This chart will bring them back down to earth! Get ready for a conscious-altering experience; Bill Watrous referred to this arrangement as a "chart of divine inspiration." Old Habits is a modern motivic tune with a bebop bridge that tumbles its way from the exposition to trumpet and alto solos to a modern-mixed-with-bop contrapuntal hoedown. That's only the beginning; a breakdown section follows during which the saxophones contrast flowing lines with the broken feel of the rhythm section. It all explodes into a swinging ensemble section that is guaranteed to excite and to challenge even the most accomplished band, and the ending is oh-so-satisfying.
Type: Medium to Up-tempo Swing Difficulty: Medium-advanced; highest trumpet note is written E-flat Instrumentation: 2 altos, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums Doubles: None BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		Too Dark For Clarke Composed by Armand Boatman Arranged by Michael Collins This arrangement of Too Dark For Clarke is a perfect union of jazz legend Armand Boatman's infectious, swinging bebop melody and Mike's adventurous arranging style. The perfect set-opener, it grabs attention with its intense Count Basie-like intro. After an energetic melody and ensemble section, the trumpet takes it on a standard-like bebop progression. After a sax soli reminiscent of Thad Jones, backgrounds under the guitar solo become more and more intense and contrapuntal, leading into an exciting, swinging shout chorus. The energy keeps building through the twisty, metrically-altered recap and the chart ends just as intensely as it began. You won't be able to get this melody out of your head.
Type: Medium Swing Difficulty: Advanced; highest trumpet note is written E Instrumentation: 2 altos, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums Doubles: None BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		Just Go With It Composed and Arranged by Michael Collins Just Go With It is a great change-of-pace tune: another quirky chart, it features totally swinging a cappella horn sections. With the trombones setting up a groove, the rest of the horns gradually enter in, spinning the rhythm, melody, and harmony into what eventually becomes the head. After the exposition, there is a wide-open trumpet solo over the form which features a bluesy +11 chord vampish A-section and a John-Coltrane-changes bridge. Following a transistion and trombone solo intercut with shouts from the band, the chart moves through a swinging shout chorus to a surprise ending that will have everyone smiling.
Type: Relaxed Swing Difficulty: Advanced; highest trumpet note is written D Instrumentation: 2 altos, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums Doubles: Alto 1 to flute, trumpets to flugelhorns BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		Before I Sleep Composed and Arranged by Michael Collins Before I Sleep is a contemplative, lyrical, interval-based piece that begins with the brass stating the melody in tight clusters made possible by some precision lead-trumpet playing. Thoughtful backgrounds accompany a spacious blowing section for the lead tenor saxophone; following a brief transitonal theme, the large jazz ensemble expresses a continuous, compounding cascade of emotions that build into fury and release into a peaceful calm. The rhythm section gives us a brief emotional breather before the horns return for the final word.
Type: Neo-New Orleans Groove/Medium to Up-tempo Swing Difficulty: Advanced; highest trumpet note is written F Instrumentation: 2 altos, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums Doubles: None BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		It'll Be Fine Composed and Arranged by Michael Collins It'll Be Fine is a fun modal chart based around 13sus4 harmonies with a twisty, recurring motive that takes place in one bar of 6/4 meter. It begins with that motive in unison before plunging into a groove similar to that of Caravan on Marsalis Standard Time Vol. 1. The 6/4 motive happens again, this time acting as a springboard into a hard-swinging, minimalist melody reminiscent of Don Grolnick's compositional style. After a trombone solo, an ensemble section moves the chart into an alto solo with some tasty background figures. We return to the Neo-New Orleans groove for some seriously disturbed lines by the saxophones which lead into an energetic shout chorus with the saxes continuing their furious lines. The recap adds (or subtracts?) a great twist and the tune comes to an energetic end courtesy of a series of descending chords and some soloistic drumming.
Type: New Orleans Street Beat/Medium to Up-tempo Swing Difficulty: Advanced; highest trumpet note is written F Instrumentation: 2 altos, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums Doubles: Trumpet 4 to flugelhorn BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		Left Ear Composed and Arranged by Michael Collins Left Ear is an ever-quirky, minor blues with a bridge. Following an introductory guitar solo, the quirky melody and even quirkier accompaniment figures set the tone for the, well, quirky nature of this piece. Following the exposition is a transitional tenor saxophone solo which leads into an extended section of counterpoint that is simultaneously swinging and disjunct. The development continues with a saxophone soli interwoven with brass hits while being supported by a New-Orleans Street Beat and an ostinato from the low voices suggestive of a 7/4 metrical feel! The shout is even more metrically jarring but it grooves oh-so-nicely. During the recap, the 7/4 ostinato and street beat fade in and out of the swing feel, eventually taking over to end the tune.
Type: 5/4 Peruvian Festejo Difficulty: Advanced; highest trumpet note is written C (two ledger lines) Instrumentation: 2 altos, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums, percussion Doubles: None BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		El Norte Composed by Gabriel Alegria Arranged by Michael Collins Commissioned by gabrielalegria.com, El Norte is modal, bluesy, and powered by a relentless 5/4 festejo groove. The A section begins with the cool-school combo of tenor saxophone, trombone, and harmon-mute trumpet laying down the catchy, syncopated melody while the rest of the horns percolate away on background figures as part of the 5/4 groove machine. Though we get a break during the lyrical, contrapuntal B section, the percolation returns to bring the exposition to a close and to fuel the haymaker trombone solo. The tenor saxophone then leads us on a bluesy, contrapuntal journey to another ridiculous Collins ensemble section in which the trumpets are Hank Mobley, the saxophones are John Coltrane, the trombones are McCoy Tyner, and somehow, everybody gets along! Until the recap: melody + displaced melody = SWEET!
Type: Peruvian Festejo Difficulty: Advanced; highest trumpet note is written E Instrumentation: soprano (lead), alto, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums, percussion Doubles: Lead alto to soprano BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		El Sur Composed by Gabriel Alegria Arranged by Michael Collins Also commissioned by gabrielalegria.com, El Sur is an energetic and beautiful Peruvian Festejo in the traditional 12/8 meter. Although the rhythm section sizzles beneath, the melody, lead initially by flugelhorn and soprano saxophone, is delicate and subtle. It is passed on to the trumpets, who perform the lyrical melody in unison with consonant harmonic support from the trombones. The saxophones continue, presenting the C section in a magical, neo-classical style before the brass returns to lay the groundwork for a flugelhorn solo accompanied by warm brass backgrounds. Following the flugelhorn is an extended development featuring an intricate saxophone soli laced with turns that are subtle yet impossible to miss. The initially beautiful brass interjections become increasingly agitated and subtlety is abandoned in favor of gratification. After the lyrical recap, the agitation returns in a series of exchanges between the drums and the band, with a guitar and bass ostinato tying the whole piece together.
Type: Peruvian Festejo Difficulty: Advanced; highest trumpet note is written D Instrumentation: 2 altos, 2 tenors, bari, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, guitar, piano, bass, drums, percussion Doubles: None BUY THE PUBLISHED SCORE AND PARTS: $75		Piano Del Patio Composed by Gabriel Alegria Arranged by Michael Collins Also commissioned by gabrielalegria.com, Piano Del Patio is a blues-with-a-bridge, metrical odyssey that begins on a dusty patio in Lima. This tradition-grounded, Peruvian 12/8 Lando is quirky from the get-go with a chatty introduction courtesy of the bongo and tenor saxophone. The melody begins on blues changes and features a gradually compounding theme that fully engrosses the multiple pulses within the 12/8 lando feel. A singing, hopeful saxophone melody and classic big-band brass hits highlight the bridge which acts as a springboard into a raucous tenor solo. After the solo and ridiculous backgrounds, the band drops out and we are once again left on that dusty patio with the piano as our tour guide. The horns mosey back in and eventually take over in a twisting, turning, metrically-jarring, bebop-inspired ensemble section from which the listener's only relief is a mid-chart drum solo intercut with hits from the band. An abbreviated recap energizes a sendoff into a raucous(-er) section of group improv on blues changes which, in turn, sets up a percussion-featuring coda which will have your percussionist glad that he kept up his zapateo (or bongo) chops!
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