Superbrass, page 6 |

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Red Hot Pepper Stomp - Jelly Roll Morton

Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, professionally known asJelly Roll Morton, was an Americanragtimeandearly jazzpianist, band leader andcomposer who started his career inNew Orleans,Louisiana. Widely recognised as a pivotal figure in earlyjazz, Morton is perhaps most notable as jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential spiritand characteristics when notated. His composition "Jelly Roll Blues" was the first published jazz composition in 1915. Morton is also notable for writing suchstandardsas "KingPorter Stomp", "Wolverine Blues", "Black Bottom Stomp", and "I Thought I HeardBuddy BoldenSay". Notorious for his arrogance and self-promotion, Morton claimed to have invented jazz outright in 1902, much to the derisionof fellow musicians and the critics. At the age of fourteen, Morton began working as a piano player in a brothel (or, as it was referred to back then, a sporting house). In that atmosphere,he often sang smutty lyrics and took the nickname "Jelly Roll". While working there,he was living with his religious, church-going great-grandmother; who he convinced that he worked as a night watchman in a barrel factory. After Morton's grandmother found out that he was playing jazz in a local brothel, she kicked him out of her house and told him that "devil music" would surely bring about his downfall. Born in downtown New Orleans,Louisiana, his exact birth date differs depending to whichever source you want to believe; his half-sisters claimed he was born in September 1885 but his World War 1 draft card showed September 1884 and his California death certificate listed his birth as September 1889. He died in 1941 in Los Angeles.
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Say Cheese - Jock McKenzie

I felt the urge to write something happy; something with a smile on its musical face. The end result...? Well, maybe it wears more of an inane grin than anything else, but at least it's cheesy! A bit of a sun-drenched, lively Latin groove built around a persistent (almost to the point of annoyance) four bar harmonic 'vamp', this piece seeks to find a smile on its face via the various melodies & counter-figures written around it - rather like being persuaded to say "cheese" for an exasperated photographer. J.M.
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See Ya Later - Jock McKenzie

This is my attempt to write an encore type piece in a South African 'township' style - inspired by some of the great South African musicians such as Abdulla Ibrahim, Hugh Masekela and Dudu Pukwana. So much of their music really wore a smile - J.M.
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Showboating - Jock McKenzie

Showboating makes use of many cliche Balkan musical traits, not least it's shifting use of the 7/8 time signature. Due to all things Covid-19 related this piece was written to challenge students to record their part remotely to a 7/8 click track. Hence, no rall's or accel's just the proverbial '**** off a shovel constant driving pulse.
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Silent Night - Franz Gruber

This carol (one the most popular in the world) was composed in 1818 by Franz Gruber to words by Joseph Mohr. It was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818. This took place in St Nicholas parish church in the village of Oberndorf near Salzburg, Austria. A popular (but spurious) tale tells how the priest Joseph Mohr, whilst making preparations for the Christmas Eve mass, found the church organ to be not working. This supposedly was caused by rats having chewed through the leather bellows of the organ. Joseph Mohr, having previously written the words presented them to Franz Gruber (a local schoolmaster and organist) in the hope that he could set them to music ready for use that same day, but on guitar rather than the broken organ. It is Gruber's distinctive melody and simple harmonic accompaniment that has allowed this carol to become so enduring.
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Strigoi - Jock McKenzie

Inside the house, family and friends gather for eating, drinking, singing and dancing to 'put a brave face on the situation'. It is of course this very same custom that once gave birth the idea for the novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker.
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Sussex Carol - Traditional

This carol is also known by its first line "On Christmas Night all Christians Sing". It was discovered by Cecil Sharp in Gloucestershire and notably by Ralph Vaughan Williams in Sussex. Vaughan Williams heard it sung by Harriet Verrall of Monk's Gate, near Horsham, Sussex (hence "Sussex Carol"). It is the melody that Harriet Verrall sang that Vaughan Williams transcribed and published in 1919. It is this same version that is still very popular today.
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Tango de Buenos Aires - Keiron Anderson

Tango de Buenos Aires was written to celebrate the harmonic and rhythmic idioms used by the great Astor Piazzola, composer of dramatic Argentinian Tango music. This work attempts to capture the atmosphere with a modern adaptation of the dynamic rhythms and descending chromatic harmonies. It is a colourful addition to any programme and good for a quite serious or light concert.
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The American - David Wheeler

It utilises the energetic rhythmic elements of the western film genre made famous by the music of Aaron Copland, Elmer Bernstein and Jerome Moross. Look out for the homage to the movie "Big Country" in the repeat of the trio section, an idea suggested to me after sending the first daft to my old friend and mentor Major Denis Burton MBE, to who's guidance I will be forever grateful.
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The Count of Funkendom - Jock McKenzie

Flares, platforms, oversized collars, lapels and more...A throwback to the great and flamboyant funk bands of the 1970's.