Blues for Charlie

(1988), for jazz ensemble. 5 minutes.

Blues for Charlie is a twelve-bar blues for big band built around solos for alto sax, tenor sax, and trumpet. The harmonies are a little outside for a blues, but the main distinguishing features of the chart are 1) three sections of "sound clouds" where there is no tempo, just each player independently repeating a short motive, and 2) the use of accelerando, or gradual increase in tempo. The “Charlie” in the title is Charles Mingus, who pioneered the use of these techniques in the jazz world.

[score] PDF score (150 KB).