The Twelve Days of Christmas

The 1961 Capitol Records recording of Christmas music was a smash hit for the Stan Kenton Orchestra. It contained arrangements by Kenton and mostly Ralph Carmichael of traditional Christmas music. This arrangement of The Twelve Days of Christmas by Ralph Carmichael is one of the more complex charts on the album. It goes through a series of meters and textures and ends up with a no-holds-barred swinging section at the end. A great chart! The original arrangements were written for 4 trumpets, 4 mellophoniums, 4 trombones, tuba, keyboard, bass, drums and auxiliary percussion. Optional saxophone parts which take the place of the mellophonium parts are included. They work quite well! From Kenton's "Merry Christmas!" recording.