Myles Collins: Advanced Sheet Music

This is a great up-tempo swinger, written by Oscar Peterson and to our knowledge only ever performed by the Woody Herman bands. It starts with a solo hi-hat opening with offbeat tutti accompanying phr...

This song was written by Mel Powell when he was pianist with the Goodman orchestra, and it was a hit in 1942. Glenn Miller, whilst in charge of the US Army Air Force Training Command Band, used it as...

Sy Oliver wrote a number of memorable charts for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, such as Opus One and Swanee River. However, Well Get It is one of his finest, and yet not best known. A thumping swing char...

This arrangement of Bugle Call Rag, originally scored for the band by Jimmy Mundy, was one of the charts that helped launch the Benny Goodman Orchestra into the swing era that fateful August day at th...

Transcribed from Ted Heath's 'Swing is King Vol. 2' album, this version of Apple Honey closely follows the form of the Woody Herman original, though the solo spaces are less cluttered, allowing for mo...

The Good Earth was written by Neal Hefti for the Woody Herman Orchestra and is a blistering swing chart. Our transcription is taken from the 1963 Basin Street West studio session in Hollywood. The ori...

Written by Jack Mattias (of Trumpet Blues & Cantabile fame) for the Harry James Orchestra, James Session is a big swing chart that features Trumpet, Drums, Trombone and Alto Sax. HJ recorded his chart...

A ground breaking chart from the Tommy Dorsey / Sy Oliver stable, Quiet Please was a huge hit in its day, and the first major success for Buddy Rich in his stay with the Dorsey band. This chart is a b...

Transcribed from the 1956 recording, the Peanut Vendor remains one of Stan Kenton's most enduring hits, and is a feature chart for lead Trombone (who solos for the first minute of the chart), the Trum...

Written in 1920 by Jolson & DeSylva, this song was a favourite of Nat King Cole, and later featured by Natalie Cole on her 'Unforgettable' album. Ours is a transcription of her Bill Holman chart. It m...

Here is Part 1 of Artie Shaw's stunning Concerto for Clarinet, written by the great man himself. Following a big tutti opening comes a stylish Clarinet cadenza intro, with band backing and solo Piano...

Here is Part 2 of Artie Shaw's stunning Concerto for Clarinet. The chart opens with four stylish Clarinet cadenzas, after which the drummer picks up the tempo with a floor-tom solo, joined by solo Cla...

Once in a while there comes along a chart which just makes you want to listen and weep with joy. This Ted Heath version of Memories of You is one of them. A fabulous feature for two Trumpets , the arr...

This is pure Woody Herman, and a transcription of the original Nat Pierce chart. The Jazz Me Blues is an old dixieland tune of the 1920's, and this arrangement lifts it into a new sphere altogether. W...

Darktown Strutters Ball is well known to Trad Jazz audiences, but it's a bit of a rarity to have a chart for Big Band. This version is a transcription of the Ken Moule chart which was written for the...

This arrangement was written by Ben Homer for the Les Brown Orchestra, and is a quirky and fun chart to play. Everything is as per the original recording - the dixie trio; the piano solo written out;...

March of the Toys is a rarely heard, yet exquisite chart, originally scored by Dean Kincaide for the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. The tune itself is from the second act of Victor Herbert's 'Babes In Toylan...

Benny Carter wrote this piece and recorded it with his band in 1933, and it became one of the defining swing charts of the era. He later scored this arrangement for the Gene Krupa Orchestra, and it is...

Here is Glenn Miller's hit chart 'I've Got a Gal In Kalamazoo', as originally recorded with Tex Beneke and the Modernaires. The only adjustments that we have made to the studio version is to add in an...

Made popular by the Gene Krupa Orchestra, Leave Us Leap is a full-blooded up-tempo swing chart in which dynamics are everything. The first chorus is taken by the saxes, with punchy brass backing. Solo...

Another Bill Finegan masterpiece, Tail End Charlie was made famous by Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Training Command Band as one of a series of numbers that were patriotic and supported the war effort...

This is Glenn Miller's version that was originally performed by the Modernaires vocal group, except that we have turned it into an instrumental, whilst keeping the form true to the original. The band...

First recorded in September 1939, in the same session as Dickie's Dream, Lester Leaps In is a milestone chart which showcased the phenominal talent of Lester Young. The arrangement evolved over time,...

Here is Avenue C in all its glory. A rousing flat-out swing chart, written by Buck Clayton for the Basie band. This chart powers from start to finish and is great for both concert work and swing danci...

Here is our take on the Foster classic, taken from Basie's 1981 Carnegie Hall concert, with Sonny Cohn on Trumpet. We have written out the first half of Cohn's solo and left your player to improvise t...