Spanish “saxofonista” José Luis Santacruz invited me to join him to record a cover of Chuck Mangione’s composition The Cannonball Run Theme. José expertly transcribed the flugelhorn part for me to play, shared here with his kind permission.

Chuck Mangione composed and recorded the theme for the 1981 movie The Cannonball Run, which starred Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dom DeLuise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and a long list of others.

I recall my surprise at hearing the theme for the first time while watching the movie with several friends at my local cinema. I was about age 14 and had been listening to Chuck’s recordings day and night. I had no idea that Chuck had contributed to the movie soundtrack so I wasn’t listening for it, but when I heard his unmistakable flugelhorn sound I immediately recognized it and excitedly shared the news with my friends seated next to me. Of course, they had no idea what I was flipping out over…

In addition to the movie soundtrack, the original recording was released on Chuck Mangione’s 1982 A&M album 70 Miles Young.

Resources:

• Chuck Mangione – Cannonball Run Theme collab video.
• Chuck Mangione – Cannonball Run Theme flugelhorn chart.

Transcribed by José Luis Santacruz and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

PS: Fans of Chuck Mangione’s music may be interested in joining the Chuck Mangione Facebook Group, where I’m a member of the admin team.

Trumpet parts transcribed from the 1979 American musical anti-war comedy-drama film Hair, which was based on the 1968 Broadway musical.

Resources:

• Aquarius – Easy to be Hard trumpet chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Trumpet and tenor sax charts for this Rolling Stones classic.

Resources:

• The Rolling Stones – Let It Loose – Trumpet and Tenor Sax chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Here’s the opening trumpet solo as played on the performance Caro Emerald Live – A Night Like This @ Sziget 2012.

Resources:

• Caro Emerald – A Night Like This trumpet chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

In my formative years, I considered Bryan Ferry to be one of the coolest cats around. He seemed to look the part of a lady’s man, while his persona oozed with confidence. I loved that a horn section was featured in some of his recordings. Even the comedic monotony of the horns repeatedly playing a single note to feature in Let’s Stick Together was somehow epic.

My favorite Ferry song has always been This is Tomorrow. The lyrics captured my youthful imagination and made me feel optimistic about what might be ahead in life. It felt promising! Musically, I loved that the horn section was dropped in at a key change (like a gear change?) and was then embedded into the band for the remainder of the song. Almost as rhythm section instruments!

It’s always fun to be able to record a song that you love, and to be able to do it with some of my great friends from our time on Bandhub makes it even better. Here’s a video of our musical collaboration, with charts for trumpet and tenor sax for you to print and play.

Resources:

• Bryan Ferry – This Is Tomorrow collab video.
• Bryan Ferry – This Is Tomorrow trumpet and tenor sax charts.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Chuck Mangione composed the song Soft, showcasing the beautiful vocals of Esther Satterfield, and released it on his 1975 album Chase the Clouds Away. The intro and outro feature delicate flute lines played by Gerry Niewood, while Chuck accompanies on Fender Rhodes without ever picking up his flugelhorn.

For our 2022 recording of Soft, we’ve not attempted to clone the original. Instead, the flute melody became my flugelhorn part, Jean Michel covered the piano lines on baritone guitar, and Jasmine added the voice of an angel.

No transcription to share this time around. The melody is simple enough, but for the chords I (finally) used a piano sheet from the long-out-of-print Chuck Mangione 1977 Song Book that has been in my collection since I was a teenager. Finally, after all those years on my bookshelf, it feels so good to be able to play something from that book. 😉

Chuck Mangione – 1977 Song Book. Copyright © 1977 Gates Music Inc.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

PS: Fans of Chuck Mangione’s music may be interested in joining the Chuck Mangione Facebook Group, where I’m a member of the admin team.

All too often brass and string players quietly bottle up the disappointment of hearing “their” parts performed on keyboards instead of the real thing. Occasionally we get our own back and turn the tables when a producer wants to hear something done differently. This is a Moog synthesizer part transcribed for flugelhorn, adding a little extra tone color and personality to our recording.

I transcribed this in both 6/4 and 12/8 times because I couldn’t decide which was the most appropriate. Ultimately I played the 6/4 version because visually it helped me to think about playing with lots of space…

Resources:

• Pink Floyd – Shine On You Crazy Diamond collab video.
• Pink Floyd – Shine On You Crazy Diamond flugelhorn chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Paul McCartney & Wings recorded this song in the studio without brass, but later added horns to their live performance for obvious reasons. 🙂

I’ve transcribed for trumpet, two saxes, and trombone based on a YouTube video from one of the band’s 1976 live performances. Trombone players don’t grow on trees in this neck of the woods, so for our recording I played the trombone part on bass trumpet.

Resources:

• Paul McCartney & Wings – Jet collab video.
• Paul McCartney & Wings – Jet – charts for trumpet, alto sax, tenor sax, trombone.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

I first heard this tune performed by Sky on a cassette tape that I purchased, back in the day. Masterpieces – The Very Best of Sky was essential listening on my car stereo when I was driving on the open road, away from the distractions of city driving. Carillon was performed by classical guitarist John Williams so beautifully that it never left me, even when the cassette tape did.

Here is my adaptation of Carillon for flugelhorn and trumpets, recorded with a Band-in-a-Box rhythm section.

Resources:

• Sky – Carillon – flugelhorn, trumpet solo video.
• Sky – Carillon – flugelhorn, trumpet charts.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Crazy, as recorded by Gnarls Barkley, does not feature any trumpet. Crazy, right?

That oversight was addressed when we recorded this cover.

A fun project to be a part of too…

Resources:

• Gnarls Barkley – Crazy collab video.
• Gnarls Barkley – Crazy trumpet chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.