There are lots of large arrangements of this theme for bands, most of which reflect the updated Hollywood movie franchise version. But I was wanting to pay homage to the original TV series version, that so effectively captured the attention, anticipation, and excitement of its late 1960s audience.

So here, with about 15 minutes worth of effort behind it, I present for you the trumpet and French horn lines (transcribed for flugelhorn) from the original TV series version. In my case, I was able to blow the dust off of my old Getzen Eterna 4-valve flugelhorn in order to play the bottom F♮ correctly and in tune. 😁

Resources:

• Lalo Schiffrin – Mission: Impossible Bandhub collab video.
• Lalo Schiffrin – Mission: Impossible trumpet & flugelhorn chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

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

This instrumental composition of Herb Alpert’s has “trumpet ego” stamped all over it, and it reeks of someone taking themselves far too seriously in an era of late 70s disco and funk. Which, of course, makes it perfect for me!

The tune appears on Herb’s 1979 album Rise. To my knowledge, the track achieved no success or notoriety whatsoever, and as a teenage trumpet player in the 1980s the opening chord signaled to me that the preceding track (Rise) was over and it was time to rewind my cassette tape. I was so captivated by the first two tracks of the album that I never paid any attention to this third one, whatsoever.

I rediscovered the album early 2017 after being invited to play Rise, and finally gave Behind the Rain the attention that I think it deserved. I’d wanted to play this tune ever since.

This transcription is not the full chart and is limited only to the trumpet parts played in the chorus. This was all that I needed to transcribe because the rest of the piece was available commercially as a lead sheet (which also contains the solo transcriptions) I purchased for just $2.00 from Music Notes.

I added tenor sax to double the trumpet chorus for extra weight.

Resources:

• Herb Alpert – Behind the Rain Bandhub collab video.
• Herb Alpert – Behind the Rain trumpet and tenor sax chart.
• Herb Alpert – Behind the Rain trumpet lead sheet from Music Notes.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

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

Be sure to check out my other Herb Alpert transcriptions!

A well-known classic, I thought I would have no trouble finding a chart for this online. But what I discovered was that all the arrangements I found had deviated from Stevie Wonder’s classic and morphed into something else. That’s well and good if you’ve got a 17-piece big band and you want to take the song to a new place, but I was keen for this to be played as a tribute to Stevie in the manner in which he intended.

So here we have my transcriptions of the trumpet and sax parts for Master Blaster (Jammin’), just as Stevie Wonder’s musicians recorded for his 1980 album Hotter than July.

Resources:

• Stevie Wonder – Master Blaster Bandhub collab video.
• Stevie Wonder – Master Blaster trumpet and alternate alto/tenor sax charts.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

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

Be sure to check out my other Stevie Wonder transcriptions!

Some understated harmon-muted lines from French jazz trumpeter Erik Truffaz.

Resources:

• Erik Truffaz – Let Me Go trumpet chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

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

These Snarky Puppy guys are incredible. There are multiple videos on YouTube of their live studio recordings, showing the most incredible performances captured live, flawlessly, and seemingly without studio overdubs. Gone Under, from the DVD album Family Dinner – Volume One is no exception.

Charts here are for 2 x trumpets and 1 x tenor sax.

Resources:

• Snarky Puppy feat. Shayna Steele – Gone Under – 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.

A transcription of a very nice flugelhorn solo, this song featuring on blues singer Katie Melua’s album of the same name.

Resources:

• Katie Melua – Call Off The Search flugelhorn solo.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

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

What started as a silly joke was suddenly and unexpectedly taken seriously by my musical collaborators. Despite my initial reluctance to invest any time in this, it ended up being a lot of fun to play the Gilligan’s Island Theme with my friends while being true to the original TV recording.

This made us think of those accomplished and talented studio musicians who find themselves playing corny and catchy jingles with hooks, but with true conviction and professionalism. So that’s what we tried to do here.

Trombone parts from the original recording are transcribed for flugelhorn.

Resources:

• The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island Bandhub collab video.
• The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island trumpet chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

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

Tired of the Joe Cocker and Tom Jones versions of this song? This version by Etta James was like a breath of fresh air when brought to my attention.  Though I’ll admit I was tempted to play lines from Superstition along with it. 😉

Resources:

• Etta James – You Can Leave Your Hat On (Funk Ferret Edit) Bandhub collab video.
• Etta James – You Can Leave Your Hat On (Funk Ferret Edit) trumpet chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

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

My favorite Sting song since 1985, from Sting’s debut solo album The Dream of the Blue Turtles. Featuring some of the best young jazz artists of the day: the late great Kenny Kirkland, keyboards; Branford Marsalis, soprano sax; Omar Hakim, drums; Darryl Jones, bass. Although, I think I once read somewhere that Sting played bass for this song on the album. Not sure…

Anyway, Branford’s soprano sax lines were some of the coolest I’d ever heard, and always have my attention when I listen to the album. So it was inevitable that at some stage I would transcribe them and record as best I could on trumpet.

Despite this being a blog for trumpet transcriptions, here’s my soprano sax transcription…

Resources:

• Sting – Fortress Around Your Heart Bandhub collab video.
• Sting – Fortress Around Your Heart soprano sax chart.

Transcribed by me and free for you to use.

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

Be sure to check out my other Sting transcriptions!

Loved this song from the moment I first heard it on the radio, many years ago. The recording of Joe Cocker’s live performance captured a tremendous amount of energy and excitement, and I’ve found it near impossible to keep still when listening to it. This time I enlisted the help of some of my favorite musicians to bring this to life, and I think doing great justice to the original as shown in the above video (and the audio quite possibly playing on my headphones or car stereo right now).

The transcription is for trumpet and tenor sax.

Resources:

• Joe Cocker – The Letter Bandhub collab video.
• Joe Cocker – The Letter 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.