At the recent NCBF National Event at the Royal College of Music in Manchester it was good to hear some recent additions to our Repertoire List being performed as well as some ‘Golden Oldies’ and brand new compositions from young British composers.

Programme balance takes careful planning and, for ncbf events, musical directors should endeavour to showcase a variety of styles - swing, latin, rock, straight 8s, funk, ballad, etc.

Ballads, in particular, give bands an opportunity to display the art of slower more controlled playing with an emphasis on softer dynamics, as well as featuring talented soloists. At the lower grade levels this year we have added some wonderful charts to enable your band to show off their skills.

At Grade 1.5 Peter Sciaino’s Nuvola enables you to feature either an alto sax or trumpet soloist, while at Grade 2 Kris Berg has crafted a wonderful ballad called A Falcon Soars. Both are published by Excelcia Music. Do take a look at other Ballads on our Repertoire List equally worthy of being programmed.

Excelcia Music continues to publish a wide range of excellent charts from highly experienced composers. At Grade 2 Catch You On The Flipside (Steve Parsons) has a cool ‘Birdland’ groove and splashy piano fills in this attractive rock fusion chart. Hey, Elephant (Drew Zaremba) features an infectious funk groove, with plenty of solo opportunities, and Upgrade (Steve Wiest) is the 4th in his easier Smart Phone Series from this master composer, featuring a ‘Killer Joe’ style swing groove.

At Grade 3 Jamie Roth gives us Monk’s Madhouse, a unique swing chart with lots of angular lines, paying tribute to the great Thelonius Monk. At Grade 4 Kris Berg mixes a Bartok piano piece with Mister PC by John Coltrane to give us Bartok Takes The Trane. Classical meets Swing - a brilliant concept. This one features an amazing sax soli section ….. if you want to challenge the sax section!

Hal Leonard continues to produce quality charts. This year we add latin expert Michele Fernández’s tribute to “Mambo King” Pérez Prado, Ritmo Cristal, at Grade 2. Mark Taylor has two charts added this year. At Grade 4 we have Uptown Swing!, a flashy uptempo burner showpiece featuring every section of the band. Ideal as an opener or closer to any programme. Space City Shuffle, at Grade 5, is a hard-driving shuffle originally composed for the Houston Jazz Orchestra. If you want a challenge?!

The other large American publisher, Alfred, is not to be left behind. Kris Berg appears on their roster with another of his ‘chicken’ series. This time it’s a soulful Rock alto sax solo feature at Grade 2.5 called, obviously, Soul Chicken! Another opportunity to feature a ballad-style chart in your programme. Also at this level, Greg Nielsen has turned Henry Mancini’s Pink Panther theme into a Mambo …. and it works well. The title is another obvious one - The Pink Panther Mambo!

Drew Zaremba featured earlier in our review. His Alfred Grade 3 chart has a happy second line groove in which every section gets some action called Share Your Gift. Another great change of pace selection. Latin expert Victor Lopez provides a hot Afro-Cuban show-stopper, at Grade 3.5, called Sabor de Cuba (Taste of Cuba). Also at this level we have new charts from masters of their craft Gordon Goodwin, with a clever swing chart called Terminally Hip, and Alan Baylock’s The Upsweep; a hip funk rock chart with a driving groove reminiscent of his more difficult Torque.

Canadian Vince Gassi’s 1-800 Got Funk is a terrific Grade 3 funk original from the Kendor stable. One for the rhythm section to set the tone on and provide an anchor for the dancing horn lines.

If you want a follow-up to Torque, look at Alan Baylock’s Hindsight at projazzcharts.com. If you like the sound of Headhunters or 70s Maynard Ferguson you’ll love this Grade 5 chart. At the same level, on the same site, you’ll also find Alan’s At Any Rate; a smorgasbord of grooves including rock, hip-hop, reggae and swing in this crowd-pleaser. If you have the players, have a go; you won’t be disappointed! You’ll also find that Steve Wiest’s more challenging charts have moved here and this year we’re adding It Happened On Cooper Street at Grade 5.5. This medium tempo piece is built around a very funky drums-n-bass groove (breakbeat), with some mixed-meter throughout, and is a perfect set closer.

NCBF’s Big Band Young Composers Project has produced some excellent charts at Grade 3 to 3.5 level. You will have heard them live if you were in the Opera Theatre at our National event but, if not, we will put recordings and details of where you can purchase these charts on the ncbf website soon. Ted Ford (a student at RNCM) produced a very attractive Straight 8s chart, called Pan-American Highway, as did Ben Partridge (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire alumni) with Wanna Have An Adventure? Donovan Haffner’s Bunker’s Hill (Royal Academy of Music alumni) was another Straight 8s chart with some wonderful colours while Ollie Canham’s (RBC alumni) Serving A Youthful Porpoise is a great chart to feature your guitarist in a funky shuffle feel. Chris Diamand’s (RAM alumni) Bixty Bop is a Swing Samba with lots of interesting twists and turns. All are excellent charts and, if you are directing a school, youth or community band at that level, are well worth considering.

Want to feature some Snarky Puppy charts? Well now you can with these arrangements by University of North Texas composer Brian Lawrence’s arrangements. At Grade 4 we have Michael League’s Atchafalaya, with a New Orleans Second Line groove, from Snarky Puppy’s 2015 album, ‘Sylvia', and Marcelo Woloski’s Portal, a Condombe from the album ‘Empire Central’. At Grade 4.5, from the album ‘groundUP’, we have Quarter Master, featuring a New Orleans Street Beat. We also include a Brian Lawrence original, Fuse; a fusion chart written for the 2023 Apex Jazz Festival In Texas (brianlawrencemusic.com)

The Belgian Jazz Orchestra has produced some stunning charts over the years and we are featuring two in our Rep List this year. Originally written as a piece for Wind Band and carillon, Lode Mertens’ Bells and Brass has been transformed into a hugely attractive and challenging Straight 8s Grade 4.5 Big Band chart by arranger Frank Vaganée. Equally atmospheric is Nathalie Loriers’ jazz waltz inspired Neige, arranged by Lode Mertens into a Grade 5 Concert Jazz chart (bjo-store.myshop.com)

At Grade 4, Crunch is yet another brilliant original in the growing, much-admired catalogue of Patty Darling for Sierra Music. Set in a laid-back swing feel there’s plenty of solo space for trumpet, baritone sax, trombone and bass. Good to see the bottom end of the band being well represented here!

Mike Tomaro continues to produce imaginative, quality charts with Art-istry, his tribute to Art Blakey, at Grade 4.5 for Doug Beach Music. This straight-ahead swing chart is a tour de force and lets everyone get in on the action. A must have for more advanced bands.

Finally, at Grade 5, Chuck Owen has written a terrific New Orleans flavoured Latin/Creole Groove chart titled And Your Point Is …..? (chuckowen.com). For advanced bands looking for something attractive, yet different, to programme, this is it! Check it out on YouTube with Chuck and the WDR Big Band.