Compositions of Marc Sabatella
Performance Notes
Play this as a straight-ahead bebop blues.
This ragtime piece was written to be played as is for solo piano, but it
easily be adapted for combo – horns double the melody, bass doubles piano LH
line.
This is a relatively difficult but effective piece in a modern mainstream
style. The intro establishes a three-against-four rhythm – a “hit” every three
beats on bass and one cymbal over a more basic 4/4 ride rhythm. The bass may
choose any notes he wishes; the more atonal and angular the better. This rhythm
continues through the first four bars of the head as indicated, going into a
straight 4/4 feel on the third beat of the fifth bar. The entire form (minus the
intro) is repeated for each soloist, so the melody may be played several times
in all. Each soloist rides over the “bridge” (the concert G7susb9 chord that
occurs toward the bottom of the first page) as well as the progression that
occurs at the end of the notated head, vamping as long as desired over the final
eight bars. The coda is taken the last time only.
An interesting device for more adventurous bands is to have the rhythm
section go out of time for the eight bar vamp at the end of the solo section,
perhaps ignoring the changes as well. You can either try to bring in the time
and changes again toward the end of the solo before returning to the head, or
just bring the head right in starting with the pickups to the sixth bar.
This is a straight-ahead bebop piece, to be played as fast as possible.
This piece is played with a straight eighths feel, and somewhat of a heavy
quarter note feel in the drums or even a bit of a backbeat, except for the
second page, which is much lighter. The entire form repeats for solos, or
else you can open up the concert Em7 chord at the end of the first page for a
vamp.
The time signature (6/8) and choice of key (“E” concert) should give a hint
as to the style of this piece – your basic twelve bar blues shuffle as played by
garage bands throughout America. There are, however, a couple of harmonic twists
borrowed from Thelonious Monk. For what it’s worth, it was originally written in
“A” concert, and may be played there if it fits the voice better or if it is
played instrumentally.
This piece is a vehicle for intense free improvisation. The head is played in
unison, with the drums and bass providing the “hits” in unison as well. The key
to playing the rhythms correctly is to think of each 5/16 measure as actually
being in “1”, and the 7/16 and 9/16 measures as simply being 5/16 measures with
an extra note or two at the end. Play it as fast as possible. When it goes into
4/4, the quarter note should be about where the eighth note was before, and the
tempo should be in the neighborhood of 300 bpm.
After the head (including the 16 bars of 4/4 vamping) is played twice, the
“solo” section should immediately go out of time. It is best to not have any
actual solos, but instead have collective improvisation that might involve
trading phrases conversationally at first before building to a cacophonous
climax. When you can stand it no longer, bring the head in again. There are two
options here: either have everyone play the head as they did on the way in, or
have the drummer continue bashing arythmically as he was during the cacophonous
climax that preceded the head, joining the rest of the band with time at the 4/4
section. If you can pull this off, it can be spectacular. Then play the head
normally one final time, taking the coda.
This piece has no underlying pulse and should have a spacious, somewhat
inquisitive feel – “easy listening avant-garde” is how one listener has
described it. It is based more on 20th century classical music than on jazz. The
piece is arranged and “notated” for two melodic instruments. The chart is read
left to right, top to bottom, just like any other score. There are six lines of
music to be read. The letters represent note names to be played in any desired
rhythm. The letters are connected by lines that indicate the direction of the
melodic line. When the lines diverge, this indicates the two different parts of
the duet.
Starting from the top left, then, the piece begins with a unison melodic line
that diverges after the fourth note, with the top part soloing in free
improvisation and the bottom part playing an accompaniment based on the given
trill. On cue, the two musicians play in unison again, with the bottom part
going into a free solo while the top part accompanies using the three notes
suggested in parentheses.
This segues into the third line, where the two musicians weave overlapping
melodic lines that gradually separate into short but distinct solo statements
represented by the circles. Think of these like a series of soap bubbles slowly
floating away. On cue, the musicians play the notated figure from the third
line, which leads to a rhythmic figure. Any pitches will do here; the more
percussive the sounds the better. This figure should enter abruptly, and is
repeated with improvised variations for as long as desired.
After a while, we move on to the fourth line, where the top part solos over a
“Jaws”-like accompaniment in the bottom part. On cue, the original unison
melodic line is played, followed by the rhythmic figure again. The melodic line
is played one more time, leading into an improvisation in the top part based on
the rhythmic figure, and an improvisation in the bottom part based on the trill.
Finally, on cue, the musicians play the sixth and final line, ideally holding
out their final notes while the rhythmic figure is gently suggested somehow.
One possible arrangement is to play the entire piece through twice with the
roles reversed between “choruses”.
This piece has a straight-eighths funk/rock groove. It is just a simple vamp
for bass or piano left hand with an improvised melodic line. It derives some
tension from the polytonality, although the bass line may end up sounding
ambiguous.
This is in the style of a classical art song. The entire piece should be
considered rubato, although on the change from 6/8 to 4/4, the eighth note
should remain roughly constant.
It is a very sad song, but the sadness is only hinted at during the first
page, so the piece should be played once through only for maximum effectiveness.
Solos may occur during the first and second endings at the bottom of the first
page. If there is to be one solo, do it in the second ending, vamping on the two
given chords for as long as desired. If there are to be two solos, I recommend
placing the other one in the first ending, vamping on the chords found in the
second ending but still playing the first ending after the solo. In no event
should any solo be long enough to interrupt the flow of the piece. The line at
the top of the second page (up to the word “sun”) should be done very slowly to
set up the change in mood to come.
This is reminiscent of standards such as “My Romance”. The melody may be
interpreted freely, although the tempo should remain constant and lightly
swinging.
This is a straight-ahead bebop piece that does not need to be played
particularly fast. The rhythm section should break for the last two bars of each
section (A-section and bridge). For solos, you need not play the changes
exactly; just try to keep the general feel of the “Well You Needn’t”-like
alternating chords, while also being aware that the overall form is that of
rhythm-changes.
This piece is not nearly as complex as it looks, and is well worth the effort
for bands interested in “third stream” sound with some bite, a la Mingus. It is
arranged for an ordinary jazz combo with a feature for piano, although the piano
part can be scored for a chamber ensemble (I recommend flute, clarinet, two
French horns, bassoon or bass clarinet, and bass). Wherever the music is written
in two staves and looks like classical piano music, the pianist or chamber group
should play as written, albeit rubato.
The entire first page, then, is to be played as written. On the second page,
the rest of the jazz combo enters, still rubato, followed by another
piano/chamber passage. It is the third page where we finally go into time – a
medium-up waltz. I recommend staying on this page a while, playing the whole
page once for each soloist. Solos are over “B” and “C”. The melody is always
played over “A”, although after the first chorus, the previous soloist may also
continue soloing over “A”. After the final solo, go back to “A” and take the
coda, which leads to the piano cadenza. This should be improvised based on the
material given.
After the cadenza, the pianist may play the melody at the bottom of page by
himself once, or he may immediately bring in the rest of the band. This melody
is repeated ad nauseum, interspersed with solos. Note that when the score
suggests singing “like a drunken sailor” here, I am absolutely serious about
this. The final time through should be a big climax that slows greatly at the
end. If you have are using chamber ensemble, try to score it to get the maximum
depth from the sound on the first two lines of the final page. Otherwise,
consider having the combo accompany the piano until halfway through the second
line. Also, it is effective to have anyone not playing make quiet rustling
sounds throughout the last page – air blown through horns without actually
sounding, key clicks, fingers sliding along strings, and so forth.
This piece is intended to be humorous, and should be played lightly. It need
not stay in strict time, although it is nice to have it swing while it is in
time. The bridge (second page) is completely rubato, however, and the almost
full measure of rest in the middle of the A-section is an opportunity for little
fills of arbitrary length. Consider placing solos at the end of the bridge,
after “that would be divine”, just cycling the A-section for changes.
This should be played in the spirit of Ornette Coleman. The head should be
played simply and melodically, but the bass line should be arbitrarily atonal in
places. The accompanied drum solo should be sparse and feel like a melody being
played on the drums, although the accompaniment need not be particularly
melodic. After the head, solos are completely open, and then the head is played
through again.
This should be played in a sort of off-kilter Monkish stride. Note that the
bar and a half of rest at the front of the piece is part of the form.
This piece alternates between the “floating” whole note portion and the 16
bars modal vamp. Solos are one chorus each, starting with the vamp and
continuing through the floating section. The first soloist can begin soloing
right at the beginning of the first floating section, giving him a chorus and a
half. Solos may be atonal, particularly over the floating section. Soloists
should trade choruses until they have had enough, at which point the piece ends
with the “Fine” at the conclusion of the last solo.
This is your basic rhythm-changes head.
This piece should have a very open feel, harmonically and rhythmically, not
unlike some of Wayne Shorter’s ballads. It was originally written a perfect
fourth higher but was transposed when the lyrics were added, so you may wish to
try to in the original key.
This feel for this piece is perhaps best described as a new age samba fusion
type of groove. At least, that is the best way I personally know how to describe
it.
The bass line at the start of this piece is a recurring motif throughout but
should only be played where it is specifically written. You may open the intro
up as long as you like before bringing in the head. The solos are primarily over
the modal vamp (with walking bass), but each soloist should end his solo with
one run through the changes used for the head. The soloist should cue when he is
ready to begin his run through the form.
This piece has a straight-eighths feel and should be played at a medium
tempo, a little wistfully. Don’t be put off by the title; played instrumentally,
no one will ever know it is a Christmas song. To be honest, it was actually
written as a birthday song, with really silly lyrics, before being recast as a
Christmas song.
This has a Latin feel not unlike a bossa. For solos, I recommend just
repeating the first four lines, although you can also end each solo, or just the
last one, by going on to the changes at the top of the second page. I then
usually take the whole first page for the head out before going to the coda. The
title is another of my bad puns, BTW, and comes from the fact that the first
three notes remind me of a darker version of "Everything's Coming Up Roses". The
lyrics were written later.
This piece is in the same vein as some of the mid-60’s material played by the
Miles Davis Quintet with Wayne Short and Herbie Hancock. The tempo is quick, and
during solos you should not feel obligated to keep the form.
This piece is best performed by a combo with at least two horns. There are
two primary sections: a fanfare-like opening and closing, and a hard driving
modal section in between. The fanfare is to be played rubato and somewhat
misterioso. The bass solo during the opening and closing should be played over a
pedal tone provided either by the bassist himself or by someone else. You can
instead choose to have another instrument solo over the drone. There should be
some obvious difference in tonal character, however, between the first solo
section and the collective improvisation section that follows a little later,
even if they are both generating approximately the same mood. The collective
improvisation should end on a concert F#7susb9 chord to set up the 6/8 section
that follows.
Once the vamp is established, other instruments may enter, playing “jungle”
types of sounds. There is no need to structure this section as a series of
discrete solos; it can consist of collective improvisation or traded phrases.
After it has had some time to develop, bring in the notated melody from page two
over the vamp, perhaps with some soloists still improvising in the background.
The acceleration in tempo and meter (to 4/4) at the end of this melody should be
sudden and dramatic, and after a little continued collective improvisation
should quickly dissolve into something different such as a saxophone/drum duet
that may go out of tempo. After this has had time to develop, bring in the bass
chord from the second-to-last line while the improvisation continues for a few
more moments. Then you may cue the return of fanfare. The final bass solo should
be the equivalent of a film screen slowly fading to black.
This is a ballad, somewhat more harmonically complex than the typical
standard but played in more or less the same style.
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