Thoughts From the Chicken Coop

Talk is Cheep, Kris Berg’s newest chicken-themed title from the 2012-2013 new jazz ensemble releases!

My name is Kris Berg and I am director of jazz studies at Collin College in Texas and a long time composer/arranger for Alfred Music Publishing. I have to admit, I love Facebook and keeping in touch with folks from all over the world. I get many, many questions from young jazz students, but these are two of the most common:

How do I get started writing a big band chart? What’s up with all those “chicken” charts?!

It’s true; I have written a bucket full of chicken charts. I believe number 13 is in the works! It all started last century with an arrangement I did of a tune called “The Chicken,” composed by Alfred James “Pee Wee” Ellis, a sax player with James Brown and Van Morrison, and popularized by one of my favorite bass players, Jaco Pastorius. I actually wrote the arrangement as a grad student in college and then years later had the blessing of getting it published. I’m proud to say that “The Chicken” has gone on to become one of the best-selling big band charts of all time. Again, another blessing and I thank everyone for playing the chart (keep posting those videos on Youtube, they’re great!). More importantly, that chart has egged on an entire franchise of fun funk tunes, all with chicken titles. If you are familiar with some of these, you know that they are all funky, blues-based tunes with challenging lines for everyone, especially the bass player. For example; “Tastes Like Chicken,” “Chicken Scratch,” “Poultry in Motion,” “R U Chicken?,” “Fowl Play,” “Pecking Order,” “Rule the Roost,” “Flew The Coop,” “Feather Report,” “No Spring Chicken,” and the most recent chart, new for 2012, “Talk is Cheep.” I am not sure which will happen first, running out of ideas for tunes or running out of titles!

So where do I get all those ideas for new chicken tunes. I think the key here is listening — lots and lots of listening. When learning to improvise, we (jazz musicians) listen all the time to great players. We learn their licks in all 12 keys and we learn how to manipulate those licks to fit into our playing. The same idea is true for arrangers and composers. We listen. We listen to jazz, we listen to classical, we listen to just about every type of music. As a writer of music, everything you listen to becomes part of you — it’s mentally digested and becomes part of your internal jazz vocabulary. It can help suggest an idea for a new tune or possibly solve a problem with particular part of a chart. When I look back at the flock of chicken tunes I have written, I see influences from listening to a lot of funky music. Sometimes it’s Tower of Power, sometimes it’s Jaco Pastorius, sometimes it’s James Brown’s great recordings. The Internet has led me to newer groups like Groove Collection and Dirty Loops. It’s so easy to listen now — take advantage of the technology!

Let’s look at the tune “Feather Report.” The inspiration for that tune came about from the obvious word play in the title. To stay true to that inspiration, I pulled out many years of Weather Report recordings. They are one of my favorite groups and I have numerous albums, CDs and downloads I can listen to and I did — a lot! I listened for groove ideas, as that band has always had wonderful bassists and drummers. I listened for chords and chord progressions typical for that group. They have a very distinctive harmonic sound and it was important for me to try and capture that. I also listened to sounds the group uses, especially the synthesizer sounds from the great Joe Zawinul. This last part inspired several orchestration ideas as I tried to imitate those sounds and colors. For example, altos saxes blending with Harmon-mute trumpets and sub-tone tenors with a flugelhorn up an octave.

This leads me to the other question that students often ask me: How do I get started writing a big band chart? That first big band chart can appear like quite a daunting task. Aside from learning theory and melody building, a technique that I use that helps my arranging students is the concept of modeling. Let’s say you want to write a blues tune for big band. Start listening and put together a playlist of big band blues tunes that you like. From there start noticing how the charts are put together. Is there a BIG intro or maybe just a piano solo at the top? Which idea do you like better? Whatever it is, make that part of your chart. Who plays the melody? Is it saxes, trombones, trumpets, or some combination of horns? Which idea do you like better? Whatever it is, make that part of your chart. What do the rest of the horns do behind the melody? Are there counter lines maybe or punch-figures? Which do you like better? Use those ideas. Modeling can help you with the big picture. Where do solos typically come in? How long are they? How many are there? How does the writer build up backgrounds behind the solos? If there is a sax soli, where does that come in? Maybe you hear a great trombone or bass solo? Where does the shout chorus come in? How long does it last? What kind of range in the lead trumpet gets you excited? Are there any restrictions to lead trumpet range for the band you are writing for? Does the chart end with a repeat of the melody or something else? Does it end loud and exciting or does it bring it back down dynamically? The list of what you can learn from listening to big band charts goes on and on and on. So I highly recommend you begin now!

Thanks for taking some time with me. I hope you will check out my new big band CD, This Time/Last Year featuring Wayne Bergeron, Delfeayo Marsalis, Clay Jenkins, and Chris Vadala. It features some of my favorite Belwin Jazz charts, “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” and “R U Chicken?” Check it out — available now at www.krisbergjazz.com.

Kris Berg, Alfred Author

Why Every Jazz Enthusiast Should Join the Jazz Education Network

By Pete BarenBregge

Last month, Alfred and nearly 3,000 of our friends attended the annual conference for the Jazz Education Network, a group that brings together a variety of individuals and organizations, all for the love and passion for JAZZ.

WHO belongs to JEN and attends the JEN conferences? Aspiring and/or young jazz musicians, professional jazz musicians, jazz fans and aficionados, aspiring jazz educators, experienced jazz educators, jazz journalists, music technology individuals, and the related music industry all come together to perform, present, educate, nurture, cultivate, and push jazz forward in our society.

WHY do we join the JEN organization? Because in some way we have all been touched by the love and passion for jazz—it is a calling and we are all part of the jazz community.

WHAT can JEN do for me and why should I be interested in this non-profit organization?

The JEN mission statement includes three main areas: advancing education, promoting performance, and developing new audiences.

Advancing jazz education! JEN is a network of jazz educators at your fingertips—to seek answers to questions, get ideas, explore concepts, relate to, and challenge. JEN can assist you and educators at all levels to know and understand more about jazz and therefore become more skilled to teach and enjoy jazz. At the annual JEN conference, the daily schedule is packed with terrific educational clinics, master classes and presentations by highly-skilled educators and music technology/industry experts providing essential concepts and information on every conceivable aspect of jazz.

Promoting jazz performances! JEN will provide exceptional opportunities to hear and appreciate world-class jazz musicians perform—both outstanding students and superb professionals. At the three-day annual conference, the schedule each day and evening includes amazing performances by all types of ensembles, individuals, duos, trios and whatever you can imagine in a concert setting—both instrumental and jazz vocal. Where else can you hear such an array of brilliant performers indoors, in a quality acoustical setting? It is first class all the way.

Developing new audiences! JEN the umbrella organization, the JEN website and the JEN conference all provide a cross-section of students, musicians, educators, performers, music technology experts and related music industry. Add to that a well-organized and effective local jazz outreach to hundreds, even thousands of students, all taught by experienced jazz educators and provided with quality materials at no charge. Informing, demonstrating, inspiring, mentoring, nurturing and cultivating; this is how you develop new jazz audiences.

Check out the various outreach and scholarship programs that JEN offers for students throughout the year.

My own experiences at JEN have been remarkable. I have attended both the first three JEN conferences and definitely plan to attend the 4th Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA, January 2-5, 2013. As a musician and educator, I have attended clinics, master classes, heard and participated in concerts, jazz jam sessions of the highest level and benefited immensely from each.

I highly recommend every jazz educator, aspiring jazz educator, jazz musician aspiring or professional, all music industry related, all music technology related individuals to become part of JEN—you won’t regret it. Do it today!

For more information on all these topics, check out www.jazzednet.org.

Alfred's Booth at the 2012 JEN convention

Teaching Music Students How To Rehearse

In the traditional American public school band, chorus, or orchestra program, 90 to 95% of available class time is spent preparing the large ensemble for the next public performance. This in and of itself is a noble pursuit that is a valued experience for the majority of the students involved. In my instrumental music program, however, we spend most of the first marking period building basic independent musicianship skills and addressing basic concepts in tone production, rote technique work, basic music theory, and solo repertoire study. Marking period 1 concludes with a series of in-class clinics focused on performing major scales and excerpts from their solo pieces.

In marking period 2, we begin preparations for the winter concert, which occurs just before winter break. This program is abbreviated – only about an hour’s worth of material, and it features both chamber ensemble and combined class performances. The repertoire performed is technically less demanding. My classes are “leveled” somewhat in middle school, with my more experienced 7th and 8th graders getting their own class period. My other middle school classes contain a wide mix of experience levels from raw beginners to students who have been playing their instrument for four years.

Because there are beginners involved, I have to teach the basics of ensemble performance and rehearsal. I give demonstrations in basic conducting patterns, introduce concepts like balance, blend, and ensemble intonation, and provide students with strategies for playing with rhythmic integrity and finding their place if they get lost during a performance.

I also teach the basics of rehearsing as an ensemble. Efficient, effective use of time is paramount, especially since we have less time to prepare the repertoire in class. Ensemble rehearsing concepts that the student must follow are:

•     Performing assigned excerpts as instructed – stopping at the end of the assigned section without going on
•     Understanding directions for repetitions the first time they are given, including which instruments will be playing this time, where they start, where they end, and what the goal or emphasis for that repetition is
•     Simply performing excerpts for successful repetitions multiple times with little or no feedback given
•     Practicing fingerings while the director is rehearsing another section, or critically listening to the rehearsing section and offering constructive criticism when called for
•     Developing the mindset of improving some aspect of performance with every rep, or building consistency

All of these concepts are addressed verbally and reinforced by the teacher experientially. Rehearsing efficiently becomes the standard operating procedure that makes it possible to produce a quality public performance in a shorter amount of class time. As middle school students matriculate up to the high school, they bring with them foundational knowledge basic to intermediate tone production, rote technique, scale and chord theory, ear training concepts, basic melodic compositional skills, and effective, disciplined individual and ensemble practice methods.

Thanks goes to Thomas J. West Music for letting us use his blog!

Thomas J. West is an active music educator, composer, adjudicator, clinician, and award-winning blogger.
http://thomasjwestmusic.com

The Art of the Jazz Etude

By Bob Mintzer

Back in the early ‘90s, I composed a series of short pieces based on common jazz forms that combined the jazz tradition with my take on improvising. The idea was to have melody, harmony, and rhythm implied in the pieces in a way where you could play by yourself and have it sound complete (J.S. Bach did this so beautifully in his cello suites and partitas). This idea eventually morphed into a written jazz etude that could be played along with a recorded rhythm section track on a CD. I added a track with myself playing the etude as a demonstration. I think of these jazz etudes as something in between a play-along and a solo transcription. These etudes illustrated some of the things I like to play when I solo and hopefully they might be of value to aspiring students of jazz. I’ve written five etude books since then varying in difficulty and stylistic focus. All the books have recordings with the trio rhythm sections I usually play with in my own quartet or with the Yellowjackets.

The books serve multiple purposes. 1) A player can study and learn the notes of the etude by playing along with the CD demo track to match the articulation and inflection of my saxophone playing. In addition, to listen and interpret the way the rhythm section and I play the etude together. (2) The player can work on time and phrasing by playing the etudes on the CD play-along rhythm section track. (3) A player can solo over the play-along rhythm section track of the etudes and incorporate the various melodic and harmonic devices illustrated in the written etudes. In a nutshell: listen, practice, learn, and apply the knowledge. I include an explanation of the how-and-why with each etude. Finally, the fringe benefits include improving sight-reading skill, expanding jazz vocabulary, and getting the chance to play with a world-class rhythm section.

Is this a viable way to learn to play jazz? Probably not in and of itself. Nothing beats the painstaking process of transcribing solos of the masters, learning several hundred tunes, practicing soloing on the tunes, working on patterns and all the devices that give you vocabulary for soloing, going out to hear live music, and playing a lot with other musicians. But in these times of quick access to information, these etude books can provide a forum for live playing and individual study and serve as a springboard for further study of playing jazz. For example, take any phrase from one of the etude books, practice it in all keys, and see if you can find a way to use that melodic shape while soloing over a blues or standard. Or, take one of the etudes and write a contrafact on the form and changes. Or, use one of the etude grooves as a vehicle for writing a new tune. The possibilities are endless. My hope is that my etude books will inspire students to move past merely playing the etudes verbatim and use the information to further research this wonderful art form. The more the player listens and observes the detail in the way we play the etudes on the CD—details such as attack, sustain, decay, dynamics, accented notes, length of notes, and so on, the better jazz musician any player can become. It’s all about the detail!

The Real Story on Fake Books

By Pete BarenBregge
Jazz Editor

What is a Real Book?
A Real Book is also known as a Fake Book. Either way, it is a collection of song lead sheets. The term “fake book” comes from the original idea that with the fake book, you could “fake” your way through a tune you may not actually know.

What do you do with a Real Book or Fake Book and why do you need one?
There are many Real Books available, so select the one that serves your stylistic or genre needs—but make sure it is a legal version that has all the copyrights clearly notated at the bottom of the first page of each song. A jazz Fake Book is simply a collection of jazz lead sheets with the melody and the chord progressions. Usually it will contain a mix of standards both new and old, bebop, more contemporary jazz tunes, various Latin tunes and styles, and lyrics and a verse on many of the standards. Books are sometimes available transposed for B-flat or E-flat instruments, but usually the C edition is the most common and therefore the default.

The uses are varied, for example:

• For use on jazz gigs, jam sessions, club dates/casuals.
• For combos or individuals.
• For teachers, or instrumental/vocal groups.
• To study and analyze compositions.
• Educational—learn essential jazz tunes.
• A reference of jazz repertoire.
• Style guidelines are provided for each song, such as swing, ballad, rock, salsa, bossa
• nova, and so on. Suggested tempos are usually included as well.
• Learn the form of various songs. The lead sheets are often notated with rehearsal letters
• to assist with understanding the form and musical phrases.
• Play through tunes on piano (or guitar) with right-hand melody and left-hand chords.
• Practice comping as well.
• Learn to play through chord progressions.
• To practice sight reading and to gain experience.

Other features and tips:

• Many arrangements of jazz tunes include introductions and optional endings.
• Clear lead sheets with accurate chord symbols.
• Suggested substitute chord progressions are shown above the main chord symbols.
• Many jazz standards include the song verse.
• An authorized (jazz) real book or fake book is a professional-quality legal resource.
• An invaluable tool for musicians.
• Practice the songs in different keys and tempos.
• Arrange songs to practice arranging and to make a more interesting performance.

Click here to check out Alfred’s available Real Books!

Format a Tune: Making Your Small Group Sound Their Best!

By Kris Berg
Composer/Arranger/Bassist/Educator

Arranging can involve complex issues such as re-harmonization, counterpoint, horn voicings and so on, “formatting” a tune involves simply taking the time to imagine what a tune will sound like when it is actually performed. Think of it as washing and detailing your car—certainly not a new paint job and a custom interior, but nonetheless, it makes it look better in the driveway. Many student jazz combo performances can be greatly enhanced with a little bit of formatting.

I suggest approaching the concept of formatting by imagining that you are in the audience watching your student combo perform. Think about the details of the presentation while the tune(s) are being played. What do you think the audience wants to see and hear from the performance?

• Here are a few questions to ponder:
• What style is the tune?
• Is the style accurately performed?
• How fast or slow is the tempo?
• Can the group handle the tempo?
• How many soloists?
• Too many, too few soloists?
• In what solo order?
• Are the rhythm section players working as a unit?
• Is there an introduction to the tune?
• Is there an ending?
• Is there development?

These are all simple questions to answer and will involve very little time.

Here are some things to consider:

Style/tempo: These are big priorities as it affects most of the remaining decisions you will make. Both style and tempo are great ways to change things up. Try playing a tune much faster or slowing it down. Alternate styles or grooves as in a tune similar to what typically occurs in “On Green Dolphin Street” or change the style completely. Try changing the meter. Play with it—step out of the box!

Introduction: Typically vamping the first four bars, the first two chords or depending on the tune, a I-VI-II-V cycle may be a good intro. But why not change things up? Maybe eight bars of drums as an intro or a solo before the melody. Sometimes, no intro is a good intro too!

Orchestration: An easy way to bring color to your performance is to experiment with sounds. Try a solo horn on the melody, and then try different combinations of melody instruments. Try various brass mutes. Add guitar or piano to the horns or have them solo by themselves. You might even try bass on the melody!

Melody style: This is very important to the style of your performance. Often real book or fake book lead sheets are notated in a simple style and usually don’t really swing as written. I strongly suggest a simple change of a few notes to upbeats at the beginning or ending of phrases can do wonders for the feel. FYI, listening to jazz recordings is THE BEST way to get ideas.

Order of soloists: Too often groups fall into the common sequence of first horn solo, second/third horn solo, piano solo, then trade fours with the drummer—that is so predictable. Switch things around like by asking the bass player to solo first and then have that lead into a horn solo with just the bass playing a solo walking bass line as the accompaniment. Just having the piano or guitar solo between the two horn solos will change the sound of the group enough to make the presentation more interesting.

Rhythm section: Changing the sound of these instruments can produce big benefits to the performance. Behind melodies try having the rhythm section start with a two-feel and then full swing in four for the solos. Try some stop-time figures a la “Autumn Leaves.” How about omitting piano and/or drums behind the melody or try having everyone play the melody with drums keeping time? The interaction in the rhythm section behind solos is also critical.  Avoid having guitar and piano comp at the same time—it usually sounds cluttered. Have the player alternate behind soloists. Try dropping either guitar or piano out during the second solo of a tune or perhaps no piano or no drums. I strongly suggest directing the drummer to alternate ride cymbals for each solo because it will produce nice color changes.

Ending: Bop tunes typically end with a short hit on the last note—simple but effective. A slight ritard and a fermata on the last chord can also be effective. Perhaps have the group play the last four or eight bars three times before the ending. Try holding out the last three chords and have short cadenzas on each. There are many, many possibilities.

Listening to great jazz recordings is THE BEST way to learn jazz and certainly to explore ideas that you can adapt for your group. Here are a few of my favorite jazz artists and their groups:Horace Silver, Bobby Watson, Art Blakey, Wayne Shorter, Conrad Herwig and Clifford Brown.

Remember, it’s about effecting what the audience hears when the group performs. Don’t ever forget that music is ultimately entertainment. Changing things up will certainly make things more enjoyable for your listener and I am sure, more enjoyable for the performers. I guarantee that just a little bit of time spent formatting will produce some big results for your small group or jazz ensemble!

Kris Berg is available for clinics, guest appearances and commissions and can be reached at

kberg@collin.edu or by searching “Kris Berg Jazz” on Facebook.

The Art and Craft of Jazz Arranging and Composition

The Big Picture = global + local planning

By Eric Richards
Assistant Professor of Composition/Jazz Studies

My name is Eric Richards and I’m the assistant professor of composition and jazz studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Prior to beginning my 2nd career as a college professor, I spent 20 years as composer/arranger with the US Army Field Band based near Washington, DC. I’ve had the good fortune of having my music played in world-wide venues and jazz festivals by groups such as the US Army Jazz Ambassadors, the USAF Airmen of Note, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra and many others. As a professional writer and an educator of composer-arrangers, I’ve seen the importance of what I call “global planning” (I’m not talking about carbon footprints here) with regard to a clear, compelling structure for a composition or arrangement.

Many new writers have already developed a solid basic vocabulary of harmony, melodic concepts and the most important component in jazz composition or improvisation, RHYTHM. The challenge is assembling these components into a musical “story” with an effective arc that unfolds in the time allotted for the piece. I think the challenge is very similar to the one faced by improvisers: “I’ve spent all of this time working on ii–V patterns, bebop scales, hip licks, and learning the changes, now how do I put this all of this vocabulary and technique together to tell a story?”

Developing a master plan for a chart helps to sort out these “global” organizational issues prior to working out the very important “local” issues of reharmonization, voicings, orchestration, and so on. This process is not very time-intensive and will yield great results.

CHART SYNOPSIS
A simple, but useful exercise for writers is to carefully think through the chart. The writer should be able to summarize the concept of the chart in no more than 2 sentences. Example: “RECORDA ME” is a setting of composer Joe Henderson’s jazz classic for medium-advanced big band. Use the original Latin groove as a point of departure and be set in the standard key.
• This provides clarity and focus in the initial sketch score process.
• The concept can change mid-stream and that’s okay.
• Develop the concept from the perspective of the conductor: where would I program this chart in the concert program design?

CHART OUTLINE
So, what would a chart outline look like? Here’s an example of one I used for my new arrangement of Freddie Hubbard’s great tune “The Intrepid Fox.” The timeline helps to see how I ensure the chart maintains the artistic balance frequently cited as “unity vs. variety”.
• A general sense of how the structure unfolds reduces the probability of a piece that is too long (common error) or too short or unbalanced (e.g., wide open spaces for improvised solos with little substantive ensemble writing).

Example: “The Intrepid Fox”
Comp. Freddie Hubbard Arr. Eric Richards
CONCEPT: An up-tempo medium-advanced arrangement of Freddie Hubbard’s classic that features trumpet 2 and the saxophone section.
TEMPO/FEEL: quarter note = 240+/straight-ahead groove
LENGTH: 5–6 minutes PROGRAMMING: Opener, central anchor, or closer.
FORM: AABA (melodic form); solos: modified variant on A

LAYOUT

• Intro: full band into brief free-drum solo
• Groove (bar 11): drums sets up straight-ahead groove in rhythm section, band layers in.
• A1 (bar 28): saxophones, trumpet 2 and guitar on head
• A2 (2nd X): add brass commentary (Harmon trumpets, open trombones)
• B (bar 51): parallel 11th chords, open brass
• A3 (bar 59): saxophones and trumpet 2 on head, open brass commentary but more assertive
• Set up solos (bar 75): reference intro to setup solo section
• Solo chorus 1 (bars 81–102): backgrounds as desired: sparse, comping trombones derived from opening rhythm section groove @ m. 11 w/sparse melodic references in saxophones and trumpets.
• Chorus 2 (bars 103–124): increase energy by adding more assertive brass section figures derived from trombone figures beginning in m. 81.
• Short interlude (bar 125): modal riff functions to dissipate energy and set up lighter feel for the beginning of the 4 horn soli with rhythm section.
• Small band soli (bars 133–154): lighter texture for 4-horn soli. Voiced in octaves, build to shout chorus
• Shout chorus (bar 155): climax of chart. Maximum range demands within guidelines.
• B recap variant (bars 179–186): variant on B w/drum solo over rhythm section figures, brass layer in to add energy setting up final A statement.
• Final A section (bar 195): final restatement of A phrase in saxophones, trumpet 2 and guitar, open brass.
• Outro (bar 211): closing variant on introduction.

Not all details will be in the initial draft of the outline, but there should be enough detail/structure so that the writer has a big picture sense (global) of where things are going before starting to sketch the detailed notes and rhythms (local). If the concept changes while the chart is in progress, that is okay—be flexible. However, do update the timeline/outline. The whole point of the timeline/outline phase is to separate the “big picture” issues like form and architecture from the details like voicings and rhythms, etc. For composers, arrangers, and conductors, spending some time on the BIG picture issues will yield BIG results!

Best wishes,
Eric Richards
Assistant Professor of Composition/Jazz Studies
University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music

http://fpadirectory.unl.edu/user/erichards2

The Jazz Concert

By Pete BarenBregge
Jazz Editor

It’s time to schedule, plan and begin to program a spring jazz ensemble performance. Where to begin? How many times have you heard another jazz ensemble play a chart you wish you had selected it for your band? Hey, it happens to all of us, that’s how we learn. The selection of music that fits your group is no mystery but the process should be logical and practical. The selection of music can make a significant impact on your program.

Goals: jazz education—to educate in the jazz idiom; select music that appeals to the band; select music that will appeal to the audience; and select music that is playable by your band.

Additional tips:
1)      Morale. Avoid selecting music that is simply too difficult for your band to play. It  will frustrate the players and you. Plus it will consume a lot of valuable rehearsal time and even potentially damage young embouchures.

2)      Programming. Always keep your audience in mind. Try a strong opener followed by something new and creative then something familiar. Offer a nice mix of swing charts, a ballad or two, a Latin, perhaps something funky or something more traditional or historic. Pace the band and avoid too many “power” charts or music that sounds similar back-to-back—imagine yourself in the audience as the critical listener.

3)      Choose quality music. How about jazz charts you are familiar with and can count on to fill a programming niche, perhaps a jazz standard? Or new charts that you have selected this year, perhaps an original composition or something a little out of the box. Listen to the publisher demos, they provide you with a very good example of how the chart should sound. As you make your selections, get a feel for the style, phrasing, articulation, rhythmic complexity, brass range and so on. Does the chart fit your band? Select music that will be a valuable addition to your music library—a jazz chart that will sound good five years from now.

1. Evaluate your groups’ performance level.
2. Accurately assess the practical range of each player in your group.
3. Who are the strong or weak players in the ensemble?
4. Who are the (potentially) strong soloists and what is their improvisation skill level or knowledge? Do they require written-out solos?
5. Featured soloists.
6. Brass section endurance.
7. Can the rhythm section players comp or do they need written-out parts?
8. Do you need to include any non-traditional instruments such as flute, auxiliary Latin percussion, F horn or tuba?

4)      Work it. Spend time working with the rhythm section before the winds.

5)      Listening. It is the most efficient way to learn jazz—use the demo recording to assist in teaching the chart to the band.

Most importantly, educate, enjoy and have fun playing jazz!