traditional New Orleans jazz for tuba ensemble

[Happyhungarian]

Hello Friends,
I am looking for tuba ensemble music and suggestions for a Fat Tuesday( Feb 12) celebration that is being held in Grand Rapids, MI that evening. We have at least five players now and will be going in and out of different restaurants and pubs as a strolling ensemble. This should be a hoot if we can pull it off.
Any ideas for tunes will be greatly welcomed.

Happy Mardi gras,
Tom Harsay
Tsharsay@gmail.com" target="_blank" target="_blank

[eupher61]

...not to be snarky, but it's a little late to start thinking about non-essentials such as repertoire. ..
if you have good jazz chops, find the Dixieland Real Book. If you have to read everything...well, good luck.
Maybe Tennessee Tech has some charts.

[Happyhungarian]

Thank you, Steve.

[Carroll]

TN Tech does,indeed, have a "New Orleans" type book...mostly done by Jim Garrett. They call it their "Light Book". Contact Winston Morris and he can apprise you of the situation.

Good luck on you stroll gig. I have had a lot of fun with just that type scenario around Oktoberfest time.

WMorris at tntech dot edu

[Happyhungarian]

Thank you all for the encouragement! Good ideas, all!
Tom

[eupher61]

At the risk of turning this away from the OP's question, I feel a need to respond.

Yes, I take last minute gigs all the time. But, I know what will be played. I can call any number of people and we can work things out on the fly. If it's a jazz thing, there is a large number of tunes that a player should know. If it's a call for a legit gig, I have or know where to get charts for that group--usually from one of the people I would call. I have fakebooks for ethnic tunes, dixie, standards, rock.

2 weeks IS plenty of time. With a foreknowledge of what can be played. The OP is just now starting the search for appropriate music. It seems a little shortsighted, to me, to take a gig and have no idea whatsoever of what the group can do.

I'm not saying it's not doable. If the players involved have the ability to play from fakebooks, it will be easy. That's not what the situation seems to be. Professionalism (NOT being a professional) is implied when soliciting gigs; part of professionalism is being prepared to do what it takes for the gig.

I really hope it works out well for you all! Karen gets some great ideas goin' up there.

[eupher61]

.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Just tubas? Playing the line, backgrounds/harmonies, and the bass line?

Yuck. There are some genres where using only tubas works fairly well. IMO, New Orleans jazz just isn't one of them.

We do a Mardi Gras stolling ensemble here but use 2-3 trumpets, 3-4 bones, tuba, and 2-3 drummers. We pull it off on a couple of short rehearsals but we play mostly "head" charts that are VERY repetitive so they're easy to memorize.

I've got my arrangements of "Do Whatcha Wanna" and "Feel Like Funkin' It Up" for that group if the scores would help you any.

Showing up and playing a rodeo band gig is fine, assuming you have the appropriate instrumentation. Playing from fake books is also fine, but you're going to find that very difficult with only tubas.

[David Richoux]

Just tubas? Playing the line, backgrounds/harmonies, and the bass line?

Yuck. There are some genres where using only tubas works fairly well. IMO, New Orleans jazz just isn't one of them.

snip.

Kirk Joseph puts together a mostly Sousaphone band each year for Jazzfest, but it doesn't work all that well - even with top level players. It ends up being a round of solos after a head chorus, just a bit of polyphony. The audience thins out pretty quickly, leaving only other tuba players and a few other crazies...

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Kirk Joseph puts together a mostly Sousaphone band each year for Jazzfest, but it doesn't work all that well - even with top level players. It ends up being a round of solos after a head chorus, just a bit of polyphony. The audience thins out pretty quickly, leaving only other tuba players and a few other crazies...

Exactly. And that's "mostly" sousaphones (with, I'm assuming, at least drums and some sort of "comping" instrument - piano or guitar). Imagine taking away the rhythm section. Just isn't going to sound good at all.

[Donn]

Not that the same couldn't be held against bands with more conventional instrumentation. I don't know if guys really think their solo breaks add a lot to the music, or maybe they know better but do it anyway because they're doing it more for fun than for the meager money anyway, but it's a very distinct minority of horn players who can bring enough to a solo break that it really pays off.

My guess for a working approach would be

• pick two tunes. An opener and a closer, and that's all you play in each venue. Jazz Me Blues is a good one for example.
• keep the bass line simple enough that it will be clean with 3 guys playing it in unison, but syncopated and interesting because bass is what you got.
• simplify the melody line if necessary. add harmony if it works, but I'd try to get a couple horns on the melody in unison. print this out if you like, but ideally limit the printed music to using this as a cheat sheet for the melody notes.
• do not play square note values off the page. listen to how it's done - I'd look for examples from the late '30s on, by the way, not the oldest (or newest) stuff you can find. do not play square!

[Jobey Wilson]

decent St Louis Blues http://www.jwpepper.com/5145875.item" target="_blank

[David Richoux]

There is a particular list of music that is associated with Mardi Gras in New Orleans, traditional and current - most are NOT in typical "Dixieland Fakebooks!" I am not a total expert on the subject, but I have been playing a lot of this kind of music since the late 1970s and also was a DJ with a weekly New Orleans jazz program for about 25 years. (Although I am of "Cajun" decent, my father always told me to stay away from New Orleans during Mardi Gras - too many drunk people who will throw up on your shoes... I have followed his advice

This "Top 40" is not wrong and if you did even 10 of them it could be a good show. There are many others I could add to this list, but that might be overkill.

I did several Mardi Gras specials on my radio show and it was easy to fill 2 0r 3 hours with historical and contemporary music associated with the event. Here is a play list from 1998 and 2005 (first half of the show.)

If you have Spotify there is a good Mardi Gras playlist there.

[Veloise]

At the risk of turning this away from the OP's question, I feel a need to respond.

Yes, I take last minute gigs all the time. But, I know what will be played. I can call any number of people and we can work things out on the fly. If it's a jazz thing, there is a large number of tunes that a player should know. If it's a call for a legit gig, I have or know where to get charts for that group--usually from one of the people I would call. I have fakebooks for ethnic tunes, dixie, standards, rock.

2 weeks IS plenty of time. With a foreknowledge of what can be played. The OP is just now starting the search for appropriate music. It seems a little shortsighted, to me, to take a gig and have no idea whatsoever of what the group can do.

I'm not saying it's not doable. If the players involved have the ability to play from fakebooks, it will be easy. That's not what the situation seems to be. Professionalism (NOT being a professional) is implied when soliciting gigs; part of professionalism is being prepared to do what it takes for the gig.

I really hope it works out well for you all! Karen gets some great ideas goin' up there.

A few points of clarification:
This gig found us (me). For years the sponsor has been pleading with me to return and play (solo souzie) similar to what I did for them in 2005-08. This year they got a grant, posted an open call. "We need 30 musicians, pay is $75, please e-mail [person]@[email address]." No vetting, no auditions, no concept, no plan. (I've been making extensive suggestions, greatly appreciated on their end. And I am foregoing my usual playing on Fat Tuesday in the French Quarter to do this gig.)

I contacted folks who performed a similar gig with me in fall 2011, most of whom aren't available this time. (One moved out of state. One died. I am not making this up.) Put ads on Craigslist to round out the instrumentation, acquiring a couple more players. (Someone who responds with "I will do Dixie clarinet" knows what's going on.)

Then I sent a message to my Tuba Christmas folks...where it exploded. ("I play trombone. I will play trumpet. I can find us another sax.") So many people replied that I am supplying half of the available musician slots. And because we have four+ tubas, I thought it would be really cool to have a group called "Fat TUBASday."

These are folks who are regulars at a certain holiday-themed musical event: walk-in rehearsal (open call), followed by a gig; the audience loves it. Sound the least bit familiar?

I've dug up a few suitable charts, and will be distributing them ahead of time (which is more than the typical TC newbie gets). We are playing in bars (audience = low expectations). We're not doing lengthy pieces or a lot of material. The client doesn't care; it could be folks with hubcaps mounted on a pole and beat with a drumstick (a la the founder of the group I've played with in New Orleans for three years). But it will be better than that.

Hope this clarifies the situation.

[Donn]

Sounds great, I wish I could see it!

[Veloise]

They asked me to do a media thing for this morning. Since I was already in the studio, they used me in most of the settings ("we take you now to the weather desk!") playing something.

http://www.wzzm13.com/video/default.asp ... dyssey=mod" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank