1. for having about the coolest name for a saxophone quartet
2. for their fantastic, spirited performance of my Wade in the Water arrangement.  

Dig it:

After 8 years of asking, Hal Leonard has granted me license to publish my jazz ensemble arrangement of Bohemian Rhapsody.

This calls for a major woo-hoo!

LISTEN TO PREVIEW RECORDING

A timeline

2002:  thought it'd be cool to arrange Bo Rhap for jazz ensemble.  But I couldn't figure out how to do it without having it sound like musak.

2004:  I figured it out.

2005: started performing said arr. with my local big band, the Valley Jazz Orchestra.  Bo Rhap soon became a staple of our repertoire.  I shared the chart with a couple of friends—not realizing at the time that this was unlawful.  One of them actually used this chart with a couple of All-State Jazz bands he directed!  (thanks, M.O.!)

2005 or 2006:  I contacted Hal Leonard seeking permission to self-publish.  Request denied.

2007:  I sent Brian May (Queen's guitarist!) a bootleg recording of the chart.  He listened, and wrote me back.

2006-present:  I've received loads of requests for this music from people I don't know, but who found the bootleg recording buried in my website.  I've denied every request, because I did not have permission to distribute.

2012:  Doggone it, already!  I decided to contact Hal Leonard again, after redoing my web store.

2013:  Asked permission once again.  Was denied.  I responded with, in a nutshell, "Pretty Please, with sugar on top?".  THEY SAID YES!

So now what?

I have to tweak the parts and score, prepare them for printing, get the proper © notice, etc.  Then, start selling these charts.

I figure, even if I simply break even on the licensing and printing costs, I'm thrilled to be finally getting this chart out there!  (Of course, I'd be even thrilled-er if I were to make a little profit...).

I'll keep you posted. :-)

In the meantime, though, I'd like to encourage you to check out my existing combo charts, most of which are scored for 3 Horns and Rhythm.  The cool thing is that there are loads of alternate horn parts for each chart, so you can mix-and–match instrumentation as it best suits your band.

For the rest of the month, you can save $5 per chart on your Jazz Combo downloads.  At checkout, use the coupon code COMBO-SAVE-5.

Remember, there is never a shipping/handling charge on digital downloads.  There's no sales tax.  You'll get your charts instantly.  And you'll be able to make easy back-up copies any time you need them.

Nice!

You can preview the score & purchase the chart here.

About a decade ago I composed Mirage for my trio.  I resurrected and updated it recently for a sextet I play with called Hexagon.

The melody, harmony, and vibe of Mirage come from what I refer to as the "Jewish Mode."  (Some theory-savvy folk will think of this as the 5th mode of Harmonic Minor).  Anyhow, the result is this Middle-Eastern-sounding thing that won't leave you alone, kind of like getting sand in your eye.

LISTEN TO THE SEXTET VERSION

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CLICK HERE to preview the score and see some parts.  And, if you want to play it with your band, you can purchase and download the chart there, too.