New Small Band Chart - Samba (Listen)

I just got a rough recording of another small band chart I wrote this summer.  You can listen to it below. I thought it came out very nicely and I think I'll make it into a big band chart eventually.  This instrumentation is 2 tpts, 2 bones, alto, tenor, bari, and rhythm section.  I'll add it to the upcoming "small band" page on the website as soon as I get some time.

I have a hard time writing original tunes, writing completely from scratch.  It helps me to have something to go on.  If you are in the same boat, try this next time.  Take the chord changes to a standard tune that you like and write an entirely new melody to it.  Then go back and see if you can alter the changes or add new ones, maybe extend a section or even add a section (i.e. change the form).  That's what I did with this chart.  See if you can tell which nice standard tune I started with.  Maybe it's obvious, maybe not. The changes are similar but I found that as I wrote the melody, new chords kind of worked their way in, and of course the melody is different. 

Check out the contrapunctal fugue-like section at the end!  Here it is....

Frank Mantooth CD Now Available

Before he died, Frank was working on a CD using strings and orchestra, a medium that he was really excited about since he had mainly worked and wrote for big band and strictly jazz groups.  Shortly before his death he expressed his excitement to me about the project and how he had been studying orchestration with a professor from Wichita State.   One of the many things that inspired me about Frank was the fact that he never stopped learning and he never considered himself musically superior to anyone.  He was amazingly humble for the talent he possessed.   Regarding the string sessions in Prague, he remarked to me in typical Mantooth form "they are a little light on the air conditioning over there"..Thanks to the efforts of his wife Carrie, John Blane and Freddie Breitburg, Frank's last CD reached completion.   Here are the details..

The posthumously produced LADIES SING FOR LOVERS
by FRANK MANTOOTH (http://www.frankmantooth.com/) has been
released by Manchester Craftsman's Guild.

 

The CD features arrangements and orchestrations by Frank Mantooth and feature the following vocalists....

Karrin Allyson - "If You Could See Me Now"
Kirsten Gustafson - "When Did You Leave Heaven?"
Paula West - "You'll See"
Sunny Wilkinson - "You Don't Know What Love Is"
Jay Clayton - "It Never Entered My Mind"
Margaret Carlson - "Good Morning Heartache"
Oleta Adams - "My Heart Won't Lie"
Rebecca Parris - "Imagination"
Stacy Rowles - "Why Stars Come Out At Night"
Sheila Jordan - "Ballad Of The Sad Young Men"
Ann Hampton Callaway - "Nearness Of You/You're Nearer"
Diane Schuur - "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good"

Order CD's directly from MCG at:
https://secure2.nidhog.com/mcgstore/prod_grp.cfm?action=detail&prod_id=71