Four Brothers : Woody Herman. Jimmy Giuffre wrote this now classic jazz standard in 1947 and Woody Herman recorded it with his second herd at the end of the same year. The arrangement was a showcase for his legendary reed section of Zoot Sims, Herbie Sterard, Stan Getz and Serge Chaloff. Our transcription is also scored for three Tenors and a Baritone, plus Woody's Clarinet part. We recognise that not all bands can accommodate this sectional line-up, so we have included an extra Alto sax part in the pack, to substiture for one of the Tenors. The saxes take the melody fight from the start. We have scored the reeds so that all three Tenors take turns leading the section. In the second chorus all four Saxes take their own improvised 16 measure solos. The third chorus is call and response between Reeds and Brass, with the Clarinet taking a quasi-solo over the Reeds in the middle section. The fourth chorus is the shout, with a pianissimo to forte Sax middle eight. The chart finishes with descending two measure solo breaks across the Reeds followed by an accented descending Sax soli into a half-time rising Tenors lick under sustained Brass. This is a difficult chart to play and needs a really good Reed section to do it justice. It can be played with either a CTTTB or CATTB section.
