BlackWhite

What are the common big band/jazz/swing/latin etc. instrumentation for trumpets?

Is it Solo,1st,2nd,3rd and 4th? Or somethign else?

Thanks

Brekelefuw

Bigband: 1st, 2nd (who sometimes plays solos, also known as the ride book) 3rd. There is sometimes a fourth and 5th depending on the arranger.
Usually if there is a 4th or 5th, they are they solo book.

The instrumentation depends on the arranger.

Bourbon City

I was 3rd trumpet in the Signature Jazz Orchestra (Louisiville, KY) for a few years. We played what I called Big Band and Swing music mostly. Jazz is a difficult thing to define in some parts of the world - some a wide definition and some a very narrow definition.

But this is what we did in the trumpet section:
1st - lead
2nd - took the adlib solos or ride or what ever its called in your neighborhood
3rd -
4th -
and 5th when we were lucky to have five.

We also passed around parts so the solos, rides and lead (depending on the degree of difficulty and who could play it well) were played by any seating position.

This is what I have found to "be common."

BlackWhite

Ah I see

Anymore?

wlrube

4 trumpets is standard for big band. Some bands and charts use a 5th trumpet, and some only use 3, but usually you have 4. The 1st player does most of the high stuff, and the 2nd player takes most of the improvised solos.

Latin music played by big band is no different. For a real salsa band, though, you pretty much only need 1 or 2 trumpets -- but they both need to be able to play higher and louder than a big band lead player.

BlackWhite

Oh, I see.

Thanks

tedh1951

Ed Wilson (of the 1970s Daly-Wilson Big Band) uses 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, in his Ed Wilson Big Band and Ed Wilson Wacky Band, but you occasionally see him with !st, 2nd, and 3rd.

At the other end of the scale - Ed is the Patron of the Georges River Community Bands and provides many of the arrangements) - these Bands include a Stage Band for High School Students yrs 7 to 11 (and a couple of demented adults) and a Show Band for University students (and a couple of the same demented adults) - both groups use a four trumpet arrangement although not all scores have a fourth part included (we just double the third to accentuate the "baseline").

Solar Bell

Through the 30s, the top swing/big bands used only 3 trumpets

1st
2nd-Hot as was called.
3rd

In some bands such as Jimmie Lunceford and Benny Goodman, all three trumpet books had hot players.

Others like Basie, Ellington, Shaw and Chick Webb's band had two hot players.

By 1940, some bands like Basie's had added another trumpet and bone.

-cw-

BlackWhite

Well,it wont hurt if the big band gets a new peice and rearrangers some parts to suit the arrangement to its band instead of changing instruments to suit the arrangement?

r d they have to get the publisher's consent etc?

Elliot84

I heard that maynard had 4 trumpet players, then he would play the 5th part an octave over the lead player??