Hallelujah Time

This is a great up-tempo swinger, written by Oscar Peterson and to our knowledge only ever performed by the great Woody Herman bands. It starts with a solo hi-hat opening with offbeat tutti ensemble accompanying phrases, leading into the first chorus of saxes voiced in thirds, a brass middle eight measures, and re-statement of the sax theme. From then on it's a rip-roaring alto sax 2 and tenor sax 1 solo chase with occasional punchy brass figures backing the soloists. The solo space gets ever compacted, going from 16 to 8 to 4 and then 2-bar interchange sequences, until just when it feels that they will collide, the band is back with the opening chorus, followed by a frenzied coda and finish. Brilliant! Needless to say, if you have a couple of sax players to show off, this is the vehicle. The Herman band played it in 2 at around 250 beats per minute!