Building on my earlier adaptation and considering feedback from other trumpet players, this is an EXTENDED adaptation of the Clark Study #2. Once more, the arrangement expands the playing range both up and down from a midpoint. To make play-along a little more interesting for students, the exercise is accompanied by Band-in-a-Box musicians.
This extended version includes repeats and (brief) rests. But if you’re short on practice time you may want to check out my short version.
An audio-only file available for download at Soundcloud.
This is an adaptation of the Clark Study #2 for trumpet, arranged to expand the playing range both up and down of a midpoint. To make play-along a little more interesting for students, the exercise is accompanied by Band-in-a-Box musicians.
The audio recording for play-along is available on my YouTube channel.
The power of [producer Andy Wright’s] system is amply illustrated by the trumpet part on ‘I Saved The World Today’. At an early stage of the production they recorded some trumpet jamming along with the track, but the part wasn’t really very well structured, so Andy set to work editing it into shape. He extensively reordered the elements within the two available takes and from these snippets, some less than half a bar long, he constructed the entire solo.
I’d say its a very well constucted solo now! Sadly the original musician was not credited in the liner notes, as happens all too often. But, whoever you are, we thank you for your artistry.
The band Los Pinguos recorded the song Flecha in support of the Playing For Change Foundation. A very noble cause that I’d like to draw some attention to.
Their brief:
Playing For Change (PFC) is a movement created to inspire and connect the world through music, born from the shared belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. The primary focus of PFC is to record and film musicians performing in their natural environments and combine their talents and cultural power in innovative videos called Songs Around The World.
Creating these videos motivated PFC to form the Playing For Change Band — a tangible, traveling representation of its mission, featuring musicians met along their journey; and establish the Playing For Change Foundation — a separate 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting music programs for children around the world. Through these efforts, Playing For Change aims to create hope and inspiration for the future of our planet.
A very dramatic Shirley Bassey song, “I (Who Have Nothing”, performed beautifully by my friend Jasmine.
Accompanying Jasmine are Janet on flute, Vicken on guitar, and me on trumpet. But most amazingly Vicken has sequenced the entire orchestra to accompany us!
Here’s the trumpet chart that I transcribed, very closely reflecting the original recording.
Transcribed for trumpet, tenor sax, and trombone, for an upcoming gig.
Santana has performed many unique arrangements of this tune. This chart aligns to the recording “Live In Las Vegas 2015” where he added a two-piece horn section to his line-up.
Some related trivia from Wikipedia that I found interesting about this tune’s origins, composition, and meaning:
As Carlos Santana stated, “Neshabur is where the army of Toussaint Louverture – who was a black revolutionary – defeated Napoleon in Haiti. So that’s what it’s about. I think by writing songs like ‘Incident at Neshabur’ and ‘Toussaint L’Overture,’ we felt we were our own kind of revolutionary […] Alberto Gianquinto, our pianist on Abraxas, helped us a lot putting it together. The first part of the music is from Horace Silver’s ‘Señor Blues.’ The slow part is […] from Aretha Franklin’s ‘This Girl’s In Love With You.'”
There seems to be no place called Neshabur on Haiti or associated with the Haitian Revolution, nor has there been a single event in which the French army under Napoleon (who was never on Haiti) was defeated by the rebels under Toussaint (who had by then died in a prison cell in France). Possibly Santana confused the 1804 Haiti massacre, in which almost the entire white population of Haiti was killed, with the destruction and subsequent massacre of the entire population of Nishapur (also called Neshabur) in current day Iran by the Mongols in 1221.
I can’t count the number of times that I’ve heard guitartists and bass players bashing away at the main riff, through the walls at rehearsal studio complexes.
Now it’s our turn… Transcribed for a three-piece horn section to play at an upcoming gig.
