We Wish You A Merry Jazzed-Up Christmas was first written in 2002 as a Brass Quintet for an open air carol service in Altrincham, Cheshire. It underwent a number of further revisions in the following years, becoming very popular with the pupils in Brass Groups I have run at local schools. Because the standard Brass Quintet instrumentation was not always available, alternative parts were transposed, and this marked the beginning of what has developed into the Flexible Brass Ensemble arrangement you now have before you.
As well as school groups, the Brass Quintet and Flexible Brass Ensemble arrangements have also been played by adult groups, notably the brass quintet from the Wilmslow Symphony Orchestra and a brass ensemble specially assembled to accompany carol singing in the Cheshire village of Handforth on Christmas Eve. From there, I have gone on to arrange it for Brass Band (premiered in December 2014), and Orchestra (premiered in December 2015), with plans to arrange it for 10-Piece Brass Ensemble and also for School Jazz Ensemble later this year.
The Flexible Brass Ensemble Parts are arranged as follows: Part 1: Eb Soprano Cornet, Bb Trumpet/Cornet/Flugelhorn (2 copies) Part 2: Bb Trumpet/Cornet/Flugelhorn (2 copies) Part 3: Bb Trumpet/Cornet/Flugelhorn, Horn in F, Horn in Eb, Trombone/Baritone/Euphonium (bass clef and treble clef) Part 4: Trombone/Baritone/Euphonium (bass clef and treble clef) Part 5: Bass Trombone/Tuba (bass clef), Eb Bass (treble clef), Bb Bass (treble clef).
The piece can be played by a minimum of five players, but the flexibility caters for all sorts of groups, such as Brass Bands out carolling but without a full band, and also School Brass Ensembles. The parts can be doubled of course, but for extra contrast, I have added “1 Player” and “Tutti” markings at various points, although these do not need to be strictly observed.
The tuba solo (between rehearsal letters K and M in the score) was not part of the original performance, but was added in during the revision process, when I taught a very gifted tuba player and decided to extend the piece by writing a solo for him. The solo may be cut if necessary in order to save time, or if the tuba player is not confident enough to play the solo – an optional cut is built in to the arrangement (from the bar before K to the bar before O).
The tuba player has a very important role, both as a soloist and in providing a bass line. The audience are encouraged to click fingers on beats 2 and 4 of each bar, except during the tuba solo, and each player should click their fingers when not playing. The structure of the piece is relatively straightforward – a 4/4 swing arrangement of the well-known tune, interspersed with two 12-bar blues sections for the trumpet and tuba solos (G to I and K to M).
