This arrangement of the lovely traditional Christmas carol is set in a lush, sometimes romantic style of a quasi-jazz saxophone section. It is packed with interesting harmonic movement and yet always stays true to the original melody that all know and love. The writing is challenging enough to make it interesting and yet it never crosses over into the “too difficult” category that some jazz saxophone section writing can stray in to. The short “Supersax” two thirds the way through is guaranteed to give listeners goose bumps and all in all this chart is sure to be a crowd pleaser no matter where it’s performed.
The story behind Bach’s Pianola.
J.S Bach is working on a fugue late one night when suddenly a pianola from the 20th Century drops into his room. Bach puts aside the piece he is working on and wanders over to the pianola and sits down. As he begins to pedal he hears music that he’d never imagined-ragtime, waltzes and swing! The more music he hears, the faster he pedals.
He plays the pianola for a few hours and then after nearly destroying the pianola with his energy and untamed enthusiasm, he goes back to writing his fugue. But as he begins to write again, he is unable to block this new and wonderful music he has just heard from his mind and as such begins to incorporate it into his fugue.
Dedicated to Philippe Geiss and the Strasbourg Saxophone Ensemble.
Commissioned by Sax & Co for the XVI World Sax Congress in St Andrews Scotland - 2012.
Includes Score and Parts: sopranino, soprano 1, soprano 2, alto 1, alto 2, alto 3, tenor 1, tenor 2, tenor 3, baritone 1, baritone 2, bass sax
