This content is a score study of the big band jazz composition "Kangaroo Bruised Blues" by Drew Zaremba, detailing its origins, compositional choices, and musical structure.
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[Music]
that's the intro of the song that we're
gonna be looking today at my little
score study thing here and so for those
of you new to the series my name is Drew
Zaremba and the arrangers facebook page
nominated me as their Ranger of the
month and they asked me to walk through
a couple of my scores so without being
too narcissistic here we're gonna take a
look at this chart of mine called
kangaroo bruised blues the story behind
it and some of the we'll look through
the score together and tell you I'll
tell you what I was thinking at
different times during the chart so
thanks for your interest and let's move
over to the main scene thanks OBS these
aren't high quality videos as far as
video production but hopefully they are
entertaining and useful for what they
are for we give the lag if there is only
on the screen so before you before we go
any further I recommend you listen to it
you can just check it out here
soundcloud.com my site and kangaroo
bruise blues it is a long chart but it's
a lot of solos - blues for solos so we
got to record this with Toshi clinches
big band he's an amazing arranger who
now lives in Australia but he asked me
to supply a couple tracks for the album
so here we are and so here we are
kangaroo bruise blues I like to say here
we are a lot the story behind it if you
listen to the head that sort of thing
it's kind of similar to another blues
head and that's because this actually
started as an arrangement of mumbles by
Clark Terry this was written for the
Carmen Caruso international trumpet
competition and
and Clark Terry had recently passed and
the judges were Ingrid Jensen Bobby Shue
and clay Jenkins and there was another
trumpet featured on this chart the Denis
Dotson of Houston and so they asked me
to arrange mumbles to feature these four
trumpeters so I was like oh my goodness
how how is this gonna work and I
immediately thought okay well it's a
blues so there's a lot of flexibility
there and that means it could be treated
a number of different ways the Blues as
we know is very flexible and so I
thought okay perfect we can just have
these four amazing soloists featured in
their own limelight and then they'll do
some trading and all that stuff so but
you know in as in that will change the
chart as it conforms to the personality
of the soloist and so that's basically
how the chart was born and then after
and I'll walk you through that part
rather than explain all of them now and
then I want it to be able to sell the
chart and play it a lot and so I just
modified that melody and a couple of the
other parts so that way it would work
together as an original composition all
the respect and love to Clark Terry but
I didn't want to have to deal with all
the publishing and and copyright
rigmarole so this is now kangaroo bruise
blues because it was recorded on Toshi's
album and kangaroo bruise blues just
sounds like a great chart title if I had
to retitle it it would be retitled like
study on the blues
but that just sounds so much more
academic so this is more fun and yeah so
traditional big band with an optional
vibraphone part here and 12 good old
twelve bar blues four bar intro I do
like that intro I like I like trumpets
and I like fourths and I blue be modern
saxophone counter lines I love this is
Thad Jones more or less upper structure
triads dumb lots of Dominic lots of
dominant passing chords down here
generally typical voicings and octave
octaves and thus axes and we come down
immediately to a small group some people
might say oh why not start with a in two
head well it is walking the entire time
but there are enough other textures in
the tune and I just want this thing to
be swinging from the get-go so we are in
four we are walking and we are and
there's gangbusters right out of the
gate so small group melody here alto
tenor trumpet and trombone with the alto
ideally with the vibraphone introducing
our four soloists when it was a trumpet
feature it was all four trumpets playing
the melody mumbles and and now but I
adapted it for a big band so that way
you don't need for extra trumpet
soloists and so it's within the band
so splitting up between different
timbres bone trumpet rhythm and
saxophone so little that's this is how
we get to our small group melody here
the choice that's why how I made that
choice a lot of groups don't have
vibraphone so alto becomes the soloist
to help carry that and then we have the
second time through the melody this
these bars are moving pretty quick so
I'm not trying to change too much too
often because time is going by as just a
the bars are moving by quickly but time
is still the same and so you know even
if it looks like there might not be a
lot happening on the page it's only
occupying a few seconds so I'm not
afraid of a lot of rests at this
particular moment and we have just a
good old block voicing in the saxophones
here unison counter lining the bones [Music]
this whole section is leading to another
shout chorus moment but it's short-lived
we move immediately on to one of my
favorite textures from bill Holman and
many others of course but bill home and
did it most famously which is three part
counterpoint where I'm just seeking to
have as much rhythmic and harmonic
balance between the three parts as much
as possible and so even though it looks
like there's not a lot happening here
but the saxophones are taking over
so contrapuntal writing is one of my
favorite things to do
even though not a lot of the time I get
to use it but it's just a great
technique that I think is underused in
big band writing especially more swing
kind of charts so there's balance for
everything this is a score study not a
teach not a pedagogical thing drew shut
up so a little cannon effect here with
while a descending bass line sustains
interest and we this whole contrapuntal
section culminates here in this moment
here the homophonic climax as it were
good old upper structures upper
structure trumpets over the trombones
covering the 37:13 bass trombone in the
depths where he or she belongs and we
and that leads to a nice send-off to our
first soloist the viber phones and
guitar if no fiber phone so there we
have it we're on to the first solo and I
leave it open for them as long as they
want to go backgrounds we bring in the
second time the last two times cueing a
new section rather than making everyone
confused and saying oh let's do e the
last time but not the first time I I
can't deal with all that
so just new section we can always print
more music and always
print more pages it's worth it for the
clarity of the musicians and we layer it
in this is kind of stolen from Oliver
trombones providing some kicks of a
second time and then we get to 13 of my
favorite bars in the piece this is Thad
Jones technique 101 I said this a lot of
this chart comes out of fad and
naturally out of John Clayton two of my
favorite composers ever and arrangers
almost entire it's basically the
pentatonic scale with a blue note so
that's what that is but the harmony is
all of these dominant chords [Music]
[Music]
sorry so that is the approach they're
descending baseline moving in contrary
motion with the melody always a recipe
for success
and what are the saxophones doing well
they're playing a bunch of notes as they
darn well should be I am a saxophone
player and so I always want to write
myself some fun lines and make everyone
else curse at me so this is just some
core once I established the harmony then
I wrote the counter line to connect
through all of those changes so
repetition is your friend so we do
almost the exact same phrase here but
different harmonies because it's blues
and it's the new part of the harmony and
we want it every part to lead into the
other and then we are going into one
more climactic phrase I just really
didn't feel like 12 bars was enough we
arrived at this climax and this moment I
felt like needed to be bigger and so I
just wit I said it needs another bar oh
why not
stretch it out we are often too confined
by form and so I try to break that down
when I can it serves the music it serves
let the melody sir let the phrase serve
the melody the phrase length that is not
the other way around there's sometimes
you got a fees squeeze it in
but it's my chart so I can do all sorts
of things and so this sets up for oh and
write the soloists so this was Dennis
Dodson's original part and it was just
the normal blues a nice place to start
and build from right and then we get to
the mumbles in Clark Terry would often
do a stop time in the middle of his solo
and so I thought this would be a great
way to start the solo of the trombone in
this case Bobby Shue and just as a new
texture we've been listening to swing
for a long time now let's break it up
with some stop time and directly came
out of mumbles although it might be
something I just do normally on a blues
works really well and then we start to
it's just one beat every two bars on
beat one keep it real simple
and then we embellish it a little more
in our second chorus de bois duh
you know it's just a lot of traditional
blues writing here Alou a few more hits
so that way we communicate to the
listener that things are changing things
are evolving and we move ahead and a
break that leads to another send off and
walking voila and a toy because the
leads we got it gotta feed the lead
trumpet player some red meat every once
in a while and so here we are
the soloist continues continues blowing
and I think this was just a fun I you
know we're still in sort of traditional
blues here and so I thought keep the
backgrounds bluesy you don't get too
modern don't get too crazy plungers came
to mind Wow Wow Charleston right this is
kind of where this all came from and
then they're done with their solo and
between each soloist I put a 12 bar
interlude because it gives the listener
a chance to appreciate the soloist and
wonder oh what's going to come next
and I get to express myself a little bit
in terms of the writing to connect some
of the this material together and let me
take a solo the writer right do dodo a
lot of chromaticism here I'm just trying
to what I'm trying to do is transition
us to Ingrid Jensen's
solo part which is a double blues with
all 13 chords [Music]
and so that's she's known for her modern
playing she can play just about anything
really but this is a kind of Ingrid
changes and when she saw them she's like
oh you went all Ingrid on it and that
really touched me
so she's just an amazing person and an
amazing musician very fortunate to get
to write for her and another piece
coming but that's for another time
so I'm in this transition here I am
starting to lengthen the phrases in
order so that the transition into the
double sus Blues feels natural
so these b-flat 13s us starting to set
that up
whoo that's that's where that sort of
ideas comes from repeating the idea of
the saxophones in the rhythm section to
signal that we're bringing it down
decrescendos of course all around the
trumpets are out so and then we get to
our sauce blues double blues which just
gives so much more flexibility and
options to the improviser to play on
they can take it out a lot more because
now I'm controlling the copping -
there's a little birdie outside my
window hello and the yes so I'm
controlling the comping now so they're
always gonna get the same thing so it's
really up to the soloists to make things happen
happen
telling the drummer mostly cymbals
transparent yada yada yada we get
through our first blues and we bring in
some backgrounds and I don't want to get
in the way the soloist so this is a
softer section and we still want to grow
so I do cut mutes bucket mutes and I
tell the Saxons you better play soft so
that's where this idea comes from and
then we still have this you know pads
essentially I'm orchestrating the rhythm
section now in the saxophones and the
trumpets Harmon mutes fun for that and I
have a little counter line in the bones
and later the barre in order to just
have a little
motion through it so it's not completely
barren yeah this was this is a fun
little texture whenever I can I want to
use mutes and and other things like that
it seems like I've frozen if I can fix
it quickly I will and yeah so all right
I think we're back sorry about that
and so yeah whenever I can try to fix
the texture I do so fix the texture when
I change the texture big band is a bunch
of horns you know the saxophones are
horns and so if I can get new colors
other interesting things going on in
there then that's what I can do yeah
sorry about the frozen video there I'm
gonna keep trudging on and another
send-off but this time we're coming down
rather than a big send-off because of
the sensitivity of the section previous
so here we go a little more backgrounds
and finally one more transition and I'm
starting to get not bored of E flat but
it's starting to feel a little stale it
feels like we've explored a lot in E
flat and so I and B flat is another both
be flat and B flat are great keys for
the trumpet to improvise in ice open
keys very flexible and so I think I said
alright it's time for a modulation this
is a long tune and so going to different
key centers is welcome so here we go
with a little couple seconds and which
completely cleanses the palate oh what's
happening what's gonna what's going on
that's the fun part of this so and then
a little saxophone solely we go to
soprano here to get a little extra range
blah blah blah and you know taking the
pressure off the trumpets all the whole
time passing it between the sections so
that way the trumpets don't yell at me
too much more than they already do
anyways and so finally we arrive at clay
Jenkins solo section and so I thought ah
he's known for his abstract playing and
he can play really out you can also he
can all these trumpet players can do
anything they wanted to but I wanted to
kind of capture a little bit of their
essence and what they're known for and
what I assume they enjoy doing so I
thought why not break the whole thing
down at the time it was rich to Rosa my
old mentor and teacher for many years
who's gonna play drums and so I knew he
and rich would have a great chemistry
and and make something happen
and so I decided to go with this very
barren texture that would bring the
whole thing down a breakdown of sorts
and from here it would develop and go
crazy out from here on out
and so in it also I changed the changes
we harmonize the blues and another
alteration so whereas before it was sus
I think it as a warm color you know like
a big hug and then this is more angular
because of all these major sevenths
present in the voicing and so that's
going to be more aggressive and just by
simply working here
it's more open there's fewer movements
it's not quite modal it's still tonal
but it is has a much different flavor in
a more open feel because of that and
rather than backgrounds just let the
rhythm section comp freely for clay and
really nice and open here so that's kind
of the philosophy of the chart here and
how I was able to create a structure out
of it going up and down doing different
things so that is that and now it's time
to wrap things up of course after four
trumpet solos we have to make them fight
each other as per the international jazz
treaties command it so here we are with
a bunch of trading so as is common the
band will take four bars and then we'll
trade so fives
then the trombone in the same order that
they so load in four more bars for the
band then trumpet and tenor and then we
let them go crazy trading force for four
choruses which means everyone gets to
play three times and we lay our
backgrounds on top as is very typical
for this style building in to a raucous
shout chorus that actually comes down
before it comes up again what am I
thinking here I'm just thinking about
moving out in harp in contrary motion
bass moving down trumpet moves up Alka
tonic scale as it happens as it so
happens and many different chords
happening there these are some Duke
Ellington chords why do I say that
because they are a alot of saxophones
orchestrated very high actually
everyone's kind of in a very high
register there's not a lot of bottom to
this voice voicing that was intentional
there actually might not be a third and
a there might not be a third in this
voicing which was another intentional
move oh there is but it's very
orchestrated very high and because I
wanted something more abstract and just
because we're about to get to some
really thick voicings and so I wanted
something different to build in tension
and I just want to experiment I'm always
trying to experiment and learn this this
chart was written for that's three four
years ago four years ago yep so more
contrary motion and then this is one of
my I stole this from Dave Brubeck it's
just a contrary motion again but this
time the Germans are coming down
basement was moving up and it's just triads
triads
so that's pretty fun sorry anyways that
is he did it in one of his pieces and I
just thought that is a really cool
texture how cool would that sound with
big band pretty cool so and then to
break it up a little
unis encounter unison brass leading back
into our head out with a little surprise
here little two four bar that I kind of
regret writing the band's usually mess
it up because it's like how do you do
that after like ten minutes of making
you know crazy great music and then the
arranger decides to screw it up with
them but it's part of the humour of the
piece and so I really wanted to like oh
is it over is it over is it over no it's
not so and then we finally have a good
old fat Jones ending splat Black Flag
and the last chord is basically the last
chord of three and one I think I might
have changed one or two things but it's
just such a perfect ending to a blues or
a bluesy song so that is kangaroo bruise
I hope you dug it thank you for
listening hope this was insightful and I
didn't drown drawing on too long [Music]
[Music]
thanks for watching if you dug it please
consider liking and subscribing and all
that good stuff there's a lot of other
music on the YouTube channel so I hope
you have a chance to check that out have
a beautiful day and we'll talk to you
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