Pike Street Shuffle

This Bb shuffle/swing/blues is a tribute to the late, great Ernie Wilkins. It makes a nice opener and you can add some rhythn choruses up front if desired. Saxes jump right out of the starting gate with a basic blues riff over a medium-fast shuffle groove. Brasses first comment on the sax idea before they take over the lead. The second chorus is a slightly fuller orchestration of the first which leads into a tenor solo. The solo section can be opened up as needed: it is 12-bar blues (with a couple of ear-catching substitutions) but the rhythm section switches from shuffle to a straight-ahead swing feel. There are two more solo choruses with back grounds that fragment and pass around the opening riff building to another restatement of the theme. This time the entire brass section shouts the melody while the saxes take a supporting role. At the end of this melody chorus there is a half-step modulation (Bb-B) leading into a phat, boppish, 2-chorus sax soli. The modulation is only a teaser, though, as the first chorus winds its way back to Bb over the first 4 bars using an old Fats Navarro rhythm -changes substitution. The second chorus actually does stay in the key of B throughout (the saxes will need to shed a bithere but the tempo is not that fast...a good high-school band should be able to cut it). At the end of the sax soli another modulation gets us back to Bb for the trombone solo (again, this section can be opened up). A chorus of backgrounds builds to the shout chorus: octave brass riffs are echoed by the saxes i 5-part harmony. This is followed by a slightly altered version of the opening chorus which is capped by a 'surprise': ending (apologies to Diz!) Lead trumpet C (D Opt.)Optional Vibes and guitar. Medium Difficult.