Gil Evans: Advanced Sheet Music

This beautiful and haunting ballad by John Benson Brooks was superbly crafted into a piano showcase by Gil Evans. This has all of the wonderful elements of Gil's writing for the Thornhill band. All re...

Blues for Pablo was originally written for Hal McKusick for inclusion on his Jazz Workshop LP recorded in 1956 for RCA Victor Records (this album also included Jambangle, which was later re-orchestrat...

RECORDED BY THE MILES DAVIS/GIL EVANS ORCHESTRA ARRANGED BY GIL EVANS, EDITED BY JEFFREY SULTANOF This is the brilliant ballad treatment of the Kurt Weill/Ira Gershwin standard by Gil Evans as recorde...

Arab Dance' was copyrighted in 1941. It is credited to both Thornhill and Evans, although the manuscript is clearly in Evans hand. The melody comes from a section of Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker' ballet,...

RECORDED BY GIL EVANS ARRANGED BY GIL EVANS, EDITED BY JEFFREY SULTANOF Jambangle was one of the earliest compositions by Evans after several years of arranging the music of others. He originally wrot...

RECORDED BY CLAUDE THORNHILL ARRANGED BY GIL EVANS, EDITED BY JEFFREY SULTANOF Background: Some of the most well-known arrangements of modern jazz from the mid-1940s (commonly called bebop, although m...

Recorded by Claude Thornhill Arranged by Gil Evans, Edited by Jeffrey Sultanof Background: In the mid 1930s, Gil Evans was leading a Benny Goodman-styled big band on the west coast. Surviving aircheck...

Jazz Big Band Arrangement. Full Score, Reed 1: Clarinet/Alto Saxophone, Reed 2: Clarinet/Alto Saxophone, Reed 3: Clarinet/Tenor Saxophone, Reed 4: Tenor Saxophone, Reed 5: Baritone Saxophone, 3 Trumpe...

Jazz Big Band Arrangement with Vocal. Full Score, Vocal, 2 Alto Saxophones (Alto 2 doubles Clarinet), 2 Tenor Saxophones, Baritone Saxophone, 4 Trumpets (4th is an alternate part for Horn 1), 3 Trombo...

As Recorded by Miles Davis Jazz Big Band Arrangement This arrangement was written and recorded in 1957 and appeared on the 'Miles Ahead' album. This is pure brilliance by Evans. 'Miles Ahead' was an a...

Jazz Big Band Arrangement. Full Score, Reed 1: Clarinet, Reed 2: Clarinet, Reed 3: Clarinet, Reed 4: Bass Clarinet, Reed 5: Clarinet/Baritone Saxophone, 3 Trumpets, 2 Horns in F, 2 Trombones, Guitar,...

RECORDED BY CLAUDE THORNHILL ARRANGED BY GIL EVANS, EDITED BY JEFFREY SULTANOF Background: In many ways, Claude Thornhill led an avant-garde society dance band. Like such leaders as Henry King and Ted...

Recorded by Miles Davis Arranged by Gil Evans, Edited by Jeffrey Sultanof When George Avakian signed Miles Davis to Columbia Records, he wanted the artist to make an album with a big band. There were...

One of the most frequently covered songs from George and Ira Gershwin's opera 'Porgy and Bess,' 'It Ain't Necessarily So' is intended to serve as a defining moment for the character of Sportin' Life,...

AS RECORDED BY MILES DAVIS ARRANGED BY GIL EVANS, EDITED BY JEFFREY SULTANOF Gil Evans set up shop in his small New York apartment above a Chinese laundry acting as an adviser to a group of jazz music...

PERFORMED BY CLAUDE THORNHILL ARRANGED BY GIL EVANS, EDITED BY JEFFREY SULTANOF [Notes by Jeffrey Sultanof] Background: The Claude Thornhill Orchestra was an ensemble that had a unique approach: a vib...

Anthropology was written by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Evans arranged the line in 1947, and it was recorded for Columbia Records and for radio transcriptions. The instrumentation calls for 5...

RECORDED BY CLAUDE THORNHILL ARRANGED BY GIL EVANS In 1941 Gil Evans went to New York to write for the Claude Thornhill orchestra, which won two successive Billboard polls in the 'sweet band' category...

Bess, You Is My Woman Now' is a crucial plot point in George and Ira Gershwin's opera 'Porgy and Bess;' it serves as the moment when the title characters admit and embrace their love for one another....

Gil Evans's arrangement of 'Here Come Da Honey Man' is the shortest track on Miles Davis's 1958 version of 'Porgy and Bess.' In the original opera, it serves as a brief but effective introduction of P...

Much like 'Bess, You Is My Woman Now,' 'I Loves You Porgy' serves as a declaration of love between the title characters of the Gershwin/Heyward opera 'Porgy and Bess.' Gil Evans's arrangement for Mile...

W.C. Handy's 'St. Louis Blues' had already entered the pantheon of classic blues melodies when Gil Evans wrote this arrangement in 1958. The album that it appeared on, 'New Bottle, Old Wine,' was a co...

Largely based off of pianist Ahmad Jamal's original recording, Gil Evans' arrangement of 'New Rhumba' serves as an outstanding vehicle for Jamal's devoted musical disciple, trumpeter Miles Davis, thro...

In hindsight, it is somewhat amusing that Dave Brubeck's 'The Duke' is more frequently associated with Miles Davis and Gil Evans than Brubeck himself. Nevertheless, this version from 1957's 'Miles Ahe...