Can't We Be Friends

One of the things that made Frank DeVol such an effective arranger was his awareness of when to keep things simple. This arrangement, which was written for vocal legend Ella Fitzgerald for her 1959 album Ella Fitzgerald Sings Sweet Songs for Swingers, is an excellent example of that quality in action. It's a simple yet effective arrangement that largely stays out of the vocalist's way while providing some occasional excitement to break up the otherwise subdued proceedings. Things begin with a harmonically rich trombone chorale over a bass pedal point serving as backup to a simple woodwind and vibraphone melody. Fitzgerald enters with the classic melody at measure 5. The horn backgrounds during the first half start off simple and sparse, but a fanfare-like figure at measures 19 and 20 give a cue for the saxes to ramp things up a bit for the second half. These more complex figures are highly reminiscent of the classic big band sounds of the 1940s, and should be stylistically approached accordingly. The second verse of the melody is executed in largely similar fashion to the first, with the main difference being more frequent appearances from the brass section. Although these brass appearances are all rhythmically simplistic, they are a bit rangey, so be sure that you have a strong enough section to handle them. The parts for the second half are copied from before, with the ending being a simple tagged figure that allows your lead trumpet player to engage in some high note acrobatics if they're feeling particularly brave. This publication was prepared from the original set of parts used during the 1959 studio recording.