With a sit-up-and-take-notice introduction, Blackwing Blues is a straight-ahead shuffle chart played at about 138 bpm that provides an abundance of teaching and performance opportunities. With the melody in the sax section and strong support from the brass, it falls into a comfortable groove that progresses to a stop-time interlude before the solos. The strong melody, solid ensemble writing, blues-based changes, and an open written or improvised solo section all combine to create a really nice chart. Highly recommended!