Your Source For Jazz Composition
Upon listening to Tree Frog in the 1980s, I began a quest to find the composer who wrote each of the distinctive passages in the song. It led me to Bill Holman. What waited was an abundance of jazz compositions and arrangements by one of America's best Big Band composers ... and a source of inspiration for my own work.
You too can write compositions like Bill Holman. All you need to do is proceed through each of the 60 lessons [20x3] accessible from the main menu (upper right side). Not all of Holman's compositions were a success and neither will some of yours -- but over time, your writing will improve. No one can become a success overnight.
Willis Leonard Holman (born May 21, 1927), also known as Bill Holman, is an American composer/arranger, conductor and tenor saxophonist working primarily in the jazz idiom. Holman is best known as an arranger. Around 1951, Holman was auditioned by Stan Kenton and hired as a tenor sax player. Attracted to Hol- man's ability to integrate counterpoint and dissonance, Holman became Kenton's chief arranger and wrote much of Kenton's 1950s repertoire. Below are examples of his work.
1. Theme and Variations2. Solo For Buddy
3. Artistry in Arranging (A Tribute)
4. Fearless Findlay
The Art of Jazz Composition (PDFs)
Comments
We welcome all your feedback with regard to your progress through each lesson. Tell us how we can improve and what we are doing right. If you'd like to email us, this site's header and footer contain contact information.
Remember: Cross-pollination has its benefits, even in music. You even copy their music. But don't just copy it note for note. Absorb it ... change it and make it your own.
Site Editor
I would like to learn more about tri-tone substitutions and how they can be used to improve a composition. I know they are used in classical music. How are they applied in the jazz idiom?
I must have developed some sort of mental block; I can't get past the two verses of my composition. Could someone look at it and suggest how it could be continued? I think a change in modulation might be in order.