John Brown's Blues

Initially released on Leonard Feather's 1967 compilation album "Encyclopedia of Jazz," Oliver Nelson's take on the classic American song "John Brown's Body" wraps it in a veneer that could have only come about in the mid-late 1960s. Featured throughout the track are trumpeters Clark Terry and Joe Newman, who are both at their peak abilities and engage in some thoroughly engaging musical repartee. The arrangement begins with a four-bar introductory figure that features some typically Nelson-sounding brass hits. The melody begins in the two trumpet soloists at measure 5, with one trumpet playing in Harmon mute and the other playing with no mute. A few quick trombone hits at measures 19 and 20 set up a repeated melody statement, this time with backgrounds from the rest of the band. Some high-note trumpet blasts for the final measures of the melody set up a 2 bar solo break for the first trumpet soloist (Terry on the original recording). Each trumpet soloist gets a full chorus over the form (with some minimal saxophone backgrounds behind the 2nd solo trumpet's chorus) before the two engage in some trading at measure 53. On the original recording, this section is repeated 3 times, with the trumpets trading 4s the first time, 2s the second time, and soloing together the final time, although things can be opened up as much as you like. After the solos are done, the arrangement effectively repeats back to the beginning and proceeds as it had before. The only major difference this time is that at the end of the melody, a drum break sets up a final held chord. Once again, in typical Nelson fashion, this last chord is hit hard at first, backs off almost immediately to nothing, and is rather alarmingly dissonant. This arrangement is for jazz big band featuring two trumpet soloists. This is not a transcription - it has been prepared from Oliver Nelson's original score.