If I Could Be With You

This re-imagining of a pre-World War II classic comes courtesy of Thad Jones. Originally written for the Harry James Orchestra's 1965 album 'New Versions of Down Beat Favorites,' the arrangement had several sections cut from the original recording, likely due to a combination of artistic reasons and time constraints. This publication presents the full arrangement as originally written by Jones. The arrangement begins, appropriately enough, with James stating the melody at a medium slow swing tempo. On the original recording, a majority of the saxophone backgrounds were cut out to allow James the spotlight to himself; these cuts include from measure 1 through 6, and from measure 9 through 16. The original backgrounds are simple, yet effective, with some occasionally tricky chord substitutions. On the original recording, at this point the band cuts from the end of measure 17 to measure 36, which is unfortunate as the next chorus contains a very nice brief ensemble section to set up a short tenor saxophone solo at measure 22 and a slightly longer (but still fairly short) piano solo at measure 27. The full ensemble shout beginning at measure 36 is classic Jones: harmonically creative, rhythmically thrilling, and unquestionably swinging. The band tapers back down toward the end of the shout to prepare for James' re-entrance with the melody. As before, the saxophone backgrounds are largely cut from the recording; in this case, the saxophones do not play from measure 55 through measure 62. James then briefly plays an in-time solo break at measure 65 to set up the final ensemble fanfare. This arrangement is written for jazz big band featuring trumpet soloist. There are only three trombone parts as opposed to the usual four. This is not a transcription; this arrangement has been prepared from Jones' original score.