Bass Line in a Jazz Trombone Choir Arrangement

[TexasTBone]

I'm venturing into arranging a Latin jazz chart for trombone choir and percussion. I'm kind of stuck trying to decide if I should give the bass line (written not just changes) to one of the bass trombonists or if I should make the arrangement for trombone choir, drums, and bass. I like the idea of giving it to one of the bass trombones, but I'm afraid a choir looking to play it might think it's odd or inappropriate. I suppose I could always suggest performers make the decision at their own discretion.

Any thoughts?

[robcat2075]

It will be odd and inappropriate if the guy can't play it convincingly.

...if I should make the arrangement for trombone choir, drums, and bass.

If you do that, it means they have to recruit those extra players just for that one piece. Or are they already part of the group?

[stewbones43]

Do you have a bass trombonist who can double on tuba?

Could be a solution.

Cheers

Stewbones43

[hyperbolica]

College bass bone players are rarely good at the nuance required to play a bass line like a string bass, but that's in part because they don't see a lot of music written that way. Personally, I do write walking bass for bass trombone when I arrange for my quartet. At least it's a good exercise for them, especially if they have some direction from a good coach. Yes, it's easier on tuba, and easier yet on electric bass, but it's not a bad thing to stretch your legs in a new style. I also agree that sometimes recruiting a rhythm section can limit the performance of a work.

A good example of tuba doing this is the Berlin Brass Quintet recording of Puttin On The Ritz. On YouTube. You can totally imagine a bass bone pulling that off almost as well as that tuba player.

[boneagain]

... I'm kind of stuck trying to decide if I should give the bass line (written not just changes) to one of the bass trombonists or if I should make the arrangement for trombone choir, drums, and bass. ..
Any thoughts?

Does this have to be an "or" situation? One of my LEAST favorite types of arrangements has a bass part faithfully lifted and plunked onto the bass trombone part. The worst of those are ones that drone on forever (or mabye it just SEEMS like forever because of this approach) with "walking bass."

Why not go ahead and include the bass? Then you can have them together (very neat sound) OR have the bass trombone carry the bass line while you give the other bass some room to show off, OR vice versa. Nice to put the melody and/or a ride or two down there from time to time.

My favorite performances (big band, orchestra, you name it) have been where I can latch in with the bass (upright, electric, again, you name it) then surprise the audience with what each of us can do.

So, yeah, does it have to be "or?"

[Wilktone]

My suggestion is that you write a bass (register) part, but not try to write a bass (instrument) part unless you actually want a rhythm section to play. You can have the bass trombone emulate a walking bass line, but do so in a manner that is idiomatic for bass trombone and be sure to break it up with rests, different rhythms, and playing in conjunction with the rest of the choir.

There are better examples out there than my work, but since that's what I have access to I'll post a couple to maybe give you some ideas.

A number of years ago I wrote a tune for a trombone choir I was playing in (see link to demo recording below). We played it a bit, but when it came time to record it we added a bass and drums. It didn't work. The bassist worked off of the bass trombone part, but they ended up getting in each other's way and it just didn't sound as good as the original arrangement.

http://wilktone.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... -Blues.mp3

That is the original work as a demo, recorded by me on the cheap. Here's the score so you can see how I chose to use the bass trombone. Maybe it will help give you some ideas.

http://wilktone.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... -Score.pdf

I've also done something similar with some saxophone quartet arrangements, using the bari sax to emulate a walking bass line. Again, just to give you some ideas of how I approached it, here is a score and recording of one.

http://wilktone.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... riends.mp3

http://wilktone.com/wp-content/uploads/ ... s-copy.pdf

I don't try to make the "bass" voice imitate a jazz bass part. Instead I try to do what boneagain was suggesting, a little bit of both. Ultimately, I think you will want your bass trombone part to be idiomatic for the instrument. If you decide that it actually needs a walking bass line, then write it to include a bass part and get your bass trombone out of the way.


Dave

[bassclef]

One of my LEAST favorite types of arrangements has a bass part faithfully lifted and plunked onto the bass trombone part. The worst of those are ones that drone on forever (or mabye it just SEEMS like forever because of this approach) with "walking bass."

Agreed, this is the worst.