In The Absence Of The Soul Jazz Ensemble - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1667441

In The Absence Of The Soul is a brooding jazz ballad centered on featuring lead alto sax, but accelerates into a medium swing (double time ballad tempo) during the lead alto's solo. Potential soloists should heed the chord changes in the bridge section as there is a fair amount of modal interchange, though it is mostly isolated to the last 8 bars of the solo section. While lead alto is the feature of this arrangement, the rest of the ensemble is still very involved, both with full band melodies between the sax solo, as well as with backgrounds to add to the atmoshpere and drive of the piece. All trumpet parts have an intrument switch to flugelhorn, which can be ignored if the instrumentation proves difficult, but otherwise the orchestration is standard for a 17-piece jazz band. Lead Trumpet goes up to high D (concert C6) and Lead Trombone does up to concert Ab, however both parts have exposed parts high in these registers, so having lead brass players with control and stamina in their upper register is essential. The overall difficulty of this piece is about a grade 4-5 depending on which publishing company's difficulty scale you're comparing to, with the major linchpins to this difficulty being the sax solo and lead brass parts. This arrangment is an excellent option to feature an ensemble's lead alto saxophonist in a ballad and medium swing setting, as well as a test of control for the full ensemble during dramatic moements! If you have any questions regarding this arrangement or have an ensemble planning to play it, you can contact me at [email protected].