An original composition, 'Occam's Edge' is an aggressive a cappella chart that will challenge your singers, but is quite attainable. It comes off almost as a fusion tune because of the groove, the stabbing lush chords and quickly moving harmony. A scat solo is featured and a vocal percussionist is important to the performance. An exciting shout section connects the solo section and the head-out. This one is, again, like nothing you've ever heard vocalists sing! Commissioned by Valenica High School, 'His Eye is on the Sparrow' starts out simply as a rubato ballad with a soulful solo, but then adds vocal percussion in a jazz waltz groove. When the vocals come in after a short percussion break, it sounds highly reminiscent of a Take 6 tune with quickly moving harmonies, lots of great dominant sounds and exciting hits in the background vocals. This will surely be a crowd pleaser and a fun and challenging chart to sing. The arrangement of 'Mas Alla,' features a tenor soloist. The wonderful Spanish lyric was written by Pedro Aznar. Some thick and challenging harmony, but an attainable and worthwhile chart for most college vocal jazz groups. A completely new perspective on the great Pat Metheny composition, with 'Unequity Road,' Marsh has transformed a powerfully aggressive and asymmetrical chart into a simple, floating and mesmerizing tribute to a great set of chord changes and a beautiful melody that is almost hidden in Metheny's original performance on Bright Size Life. or vocalists who may not have been exposed to the harmonies of cutting-edge big band writers Maria Schneider, Jim McNeely and Vince Mendoza,'The Big Crunch is a great learning piece. It is also a moody and yet hard-grooving a cappella chart that will provide a fun challenge to your group. A very open solo section is included as well as a nicely crafted shout section that builds to a great climax before leading into the head-out. Vocal percussion is necessary on this chart. |
