Big Band Arranging: Reinventing Stephen Foster's 'Beautiful Dreamer'

MASTER CLASS Woodshed BY PETE MCGUINNESS

Pete McGuinness Big Band Arranging: Reinventing Stephen Foster’s ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ hen thinking of material to arrange for big band, a song from devices I employed during the creation of the work that give the chart a 1865 might not be the first thing that would pop into a unique and interesting quality. modern arranger’s head. But in 2009, I received an unusu- One of the first important decisions I needed to make was to impart Wal arranging assignment for a special concert of the Westchester Jazz an overall feeling to the arrangement—tempo, style, any distinctive Orchestra (WJO) directed by Michael Holober, with the resulting rhythmic treatment of the melody, soloists, etc. A bright samba groove arrangement also being recorded and released later in 2014 by my own was eventually chosen, providing a clear contrast to the original’s slower big band on the CD Strength In Numbers (Summit records). The WJO tempo/style. The groove itself also suggested ways of treating the rhyth- concert’s theme was “Americana,” presenting material that was to rep- mic quality of the melody and other elements of the accompaniment. But resent some of the earliest well-known melodies created in this coun- I hit a roadblock when I more carefully considered the original song; it try, going back as far as the 1700s and 1800s. I was to pick a song and re- was set in a waltz meter and in three-bar phrases. This presented a chal- invent it anyway I liked, as long as it was a truly original and modern take lenge to make the arrangement’s melody work logically in the new cho- on the material. sen context (cut time with four beats per bar set in four-bar phrases). My Stephen Foster’s immortal “Beautiful Dreamer” came to mind as my solution was to stretch the melody to float over the bar line in an effort choice for its lovely and distinctive melody and clear song structure. to better reflect the general melody length of each phrase grouping of the Right away, I felt I could do something with this classic piece of early original. In writing the melodic rhythm this way, I also was able to cre- American music, and the resulting arrangement was nominated for a ate some interesting syncopated figures, which also implied a three-over- Grammy in 2015 in the category Best Arrangement–Instrumental or A four hemiola. Both ideas seemed to fit well with the chosen rhythmic Cappella. In this article, I have chosen to focus on a few of the arranging feeling of a samba, while also trying to approximate the melodic phrase

100 DOWNBEAT DECEMBER 2016 lengths of the original. See Example 1. Example 1: Recontextualizing the Melody The next challenge had to do with reuse of ideas. Since I planned on using this melodic rhythmic figure at several points in the presen- tation of the melody (and elsewhere, sometimes used only as a fragment), I needed to find some way to keep the listener’s interest, not allow- ing the music to sound overly predictable. So, I presented the melody in the first “A” section of the melody as simply a solo instrument: sopra- no saxophone accompanied by the tradition- al chords. Then, in the second “A” of the form, I kept the melodic rhythm the same as in the previous section, but taking a tip from heroes of mine such as Duke Ellington (think “Concerto Example 2: Second “A” Section of the Melody Chorus (Saxophones) For Cootie”) and Thad Jones (think “Three And One”), harmonized each melodic note with a different chord based on stepwise bass motions. The first phrase has a descending bass line/ chords moving by half steps (arriving on the “I” chord/C major), while the second phrase ascends (arriving on a surprise reharmoniza- tion of A 13 9). The third is a combination of the two ideas,b b where the stepwise bass line (first as a pedal, then descending) seems to stop on the reharmonization of B7#9, only to resolve back up to the tonic C major, this time voiced in unison—a further surprise after having had so many voicings in this section. This unison C idea is reused at several other spots in the arrange- ment, including the very last note, as one of sev- eral unifying elements. See Example 2. The sweet-sounding sonority of a soprano saxophone seemed to fit as the best choice to be the main soloist for the melody and as a fea- tured improvisational soloist (played with great musicality on the recording by Dave Pietro). I also knew I wanted to insert the original waltz tempo at the end, as a duet between the soprano sax and piano, so pianist Michael Holober was chosen as another featured improviser. On my recorded version of the arrangement, Holober lends a wonderful, harmonically adventurous the 2009 WJO concert, provided me with a responded by writing: “Wonderful writing— improvised solo-piano passage midway in the downloaded PDF file of the original first-edi- Pete extracted more music from the song form of the chart that adds refreshing contrast. tion arrangement written by Foster himself than most people knew was in there.” That, to This is where the arranger can use the tal- (available from the Library of Congress web- me, is the joy of arranging. Not only “extract- ents of the members of the band to his/her own site), originally published in 1865. As an added ing music from the song,” but by finding new service; I knew Holober would create a won- surprise, Alan played it himself as an addition- ways to present and complement an original. derfully abstract musical fantasy based on ele- al/inserted introduction during the 2009 WJO It is also like the old argument we arrangers ments of the original song. It was the perfect concert on a beat-up old piano he found in the often have: Is something “arranged” or “recom- missing piece to the puzzle to make the over- back of the concert hall. posed”? Sometimes, it is a bit of both—a truly all arrangement work well (Holober, as many After more careful study of Foster’s origi- fun way to honor any great song. DB of you may know, is himself is an excellent nal, I created the duet melody featuring the two composer-arranger). main soloists as both a final “goodbye” to the Pete McGuinness is a tenured assistant professor of jazz As both of the main soloists finish their song and a reminder to the listener of Foster’s composition and arranging at William Paterson University respective improvisational statements, the original vision. One last long ensemble unison in Wayne, New Jersey. Since 1987, he has been an active New York City-area jazz artist, as a trombonist, three-time chart moves into a long repeated vamp section, C (a unifying element) paired with some frag- Grammy-nominated composer-arranger and award-winning adding various layers of ensemble and building ments of the original melody in the piano, some vocalist. McGuinness appears on more than 50 jazz CDs as a sideman and has released four recordings as a leader. He also toward a big shout-chorus-type section at the last gestures from the soprano sax, and one leads his own quartet and a big band, the Pete McGuinness bridge of the song’s form. For the final “A” sec- final short C in octaves from the trombones Jazz Orchestra. His arrangements for jazz ensemble are available through Kendor Music (including this arrangement tion of this last chorus, I couldn’t resist using (aka, a “button”) concludes the work. of “Beautiful Dreamer”) as well as Smart Chart Music. This Grammy-nominated arrangement of “Beautiful Dreamer” is a paraphrase of Foster’s original presentation. Upon hearing the recording of the arrange- found on the CD Strength In Numbers–The Pete McGuinness Alan Farnham, fellow arranger and pianist on ment, renowned arranger Bill Holman Jazz Orchestra (Summit Records).

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