Solo Tuba

unaccompanied

I. Mictlāntēcutli - God of Death

II. Xipe Totec - God of Spring and Regeneration

III. Huitzilopochtli - God of War and the Sun

Tuba solo, 5 Tubas, Piano, Bass and Drum Set

“Big Alice goes from the Bo Diddly rhythm figure and gets more raucous as the piece goes on.”

• Howard Johnson

When Howard heard Don Pullen’s chart, he immediately wanted to arrange the piece for Gravity to play. During a rehearsal when he brought the arrangement to the band, he called Don Pullen and the ensemble played the arrangement on Pullen’s telephone answering machine. When Don Pullen heard the musical message, he immediately called Howard and exclaimed that “he loved it!”

Howard Johnson’s jazz tuba ensemble is envisioned as a tuba choir- with tubas in F, E flat, CC, and BB flat- that encourages tuba players to learn to play in the upper register. His charts were originally written for his tuba jazz ensemble, Gravity, formed in 1968 with Howard Johnson as solo lead tuba. The charts can in fact be performed with euphoniums; but he formed his group, made his arrangements and developed this specific instrumentation 50 years ago as a statement about tubas and prefers to hear his arrangements played in this configuration, encouraging tuba players to develop the range required. His most important advice is that whatever instrumentation is used, make it fun and find the best jazz rhythm section!

Unaccompanied; tuba part comes with C, B-flat and E-flat parts

Part of the VTEC 2021 solo competition:

Tuba - 16-19: Blue Grace (Claire Sievers)

Goedicke’s Concert Etude, op. 49 was originally written for trumpet, and remains Goedicke’s most popular and most frequently performed work. It has been arranged for nearly every instrument in the brass family at one time or another, and here is accompanied by a flexible brass ensemble

This versatile solo works great as a showpiece for either euphonium or trombone with a variety of accompaniments. The accompanying ensemble can be trombone quintet, tube/euphonium ensemble, or simply a mix of low brass instruments. This accompaniment will also work with the original trumpet solo edition.

Recording by:

“Danças Para Um Amigo” 2005  (Dances for a Special Friend) was commissioned by and written for the Portuguese Tuba virtuoso, Sergio Carolino. It is for Solo Tuba, Saxophone Quartet and Vibraphone (with percussion). There are four contrasting movements. Rapidinho is a fast, odd-meter romp. Much of the movement is in 5/8 with much rhythmic overlapping between the instruments. It ends in a vamp and fade. Vagaroso is in a slow 11/8 meter with much contrapuntal interaction between the tuba and vibraphone. The saxophones play a more accompaniment role. Brincadeiras (scherzo) is a jazzy alla breve with lots of syncopation. There is an optional improvised section for the solo tuba and tenor sax with modal and augmented chord changes. The “groove” for this movement was inspired by the theme music to the US PBS Charlie Rose Show. The finale movement, Correrias (chase), is a fast, driving virtuoso movement for all the instruments. The rhythm is a constantly changing 3/4- 6/8 feel propelling to a final double high Bbtuba note. “Danças….. was written with the special talents of Sr. Carolino in mind. His ability to play technicallychallenging and improvisational music is very unique.

Jim Self is a Los Angeles free-lance musician, a veteran of thousands of motion pictures, television shows and records, and tuba soloist on many prominent movies. He is Principal Tubist with the Pasadena and Pacific Symphonies, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Los Angeles Opera and Opera Pacific orchestras. His compositions and arrangements include works for solo tuba, brass quintet, and other brass and woodwind chamber music.

More about Jim and his recordings can be found here:

Basset Hound Music - http://www.bassethoundmusic.com 

with 6 Trombones and Bass Trombone

“E Lucevan Le Stelle”, extracted from the third act of the opera Tosca, is one of the most important arias in the operatic repertoire. The character Mario Cavaradossi, a painter in love with Tosca, sings it as he awaits his execution on the roof of the Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. Here, it is set for solo tuba and trombone choir.

unaccompanied

I. Apophis – God of Darkness and Destruction

II. Anubis – God of Death and the Afterlife

III. Horus – God of War and the Sky

Tuba solo, 5 Tubas, Piano, Bass and Drum Set

“I learned this tune from Bob Neloms when I was 18 and he was 16 years old. I’m still playing it although he barely remembers writing it.”

• Howard Johnson

Howard Johnson’s arrangement of Evolution was first performed in the early 1970s. Recordings of the arrangement with the original Gravity personnel have been lost. Bob Neloms is known for his active musical life as a post-bop jazz pianist in New York starting in the late 1960s. The story has it that many years later when Howard played Evolution for Bob Neloms, Bob did not recall the composition. The evolution is that learning and recreating Bob Neloms’ chart was monumental for Howard. He continued to use this composition to build his knowledge of jazz harmony and to develop and sharpen his improvisational skills.

Howard Johnson’s jazz tuba ensemble is envisioned as a tuba choir- with tubas in F, E flat, CC, and BB flat- that encourages tuba players to learn to play in the upper register. His charts were originally written for his tuba jazz ensemble, Gravity, formed in 1968 with Howard Johnson as solo lead tuba. The charts can in fact be performed with euphoniums; but he formed his group, made is arrangements and developed this specific instrumentation 50 years ago as a statement about tubas and prefers to hear his arrangements played in this configuration, encouraging tuba players to develop the range required. His most important advice is that whatever instrumentation is used, make it fun and find the best jazz rhythm section!

Tuba Solo and Symphonic Brass

(4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones and Bass Trombone)

Recorded on Oystein Baadsvik's "Snowflakes - Classical Christmas"

Tuba solo, 5 Tubas, Piano, Bass and Drum Set

“Fly with the Wind is what McCoy does better than anyone else. The soaring melodic and intense rhythmic nature of this composition carries me aloft.”

• Howard Johnson

Fly with the Wind was originally recorded in 1976. The album featuring this title track was McCoy Tyner’s first all-strings project with flute, oboe and his rhythm section featuring McCoy Tyner, piano, Ron Carter, bass, and Billy Cobham, drums. Later in 1992, The Turning Point album was released on the Birdology label with McCoy Tyner’s Big Band, featuring Howard as both a tubist and an arranger.

Howard Johnson’s jazz tuba ensemble is envisioned as a tuba choir- with tubas in F, E flat, CC, and BB flat- that encourages tuba players to learn to play in the upper register. His charts were originally written for his tuba jazz ensemble, Gravity, formed in 1968 with Howard Johnson as solo lead tuba. The charts can in fact be performed with euphoniums; but he formed his group, made his arrangements and developed this specific instrumentation 50 years ago as a statement about tubas and prefers to hear his arrangements played in this configuration, encouraging tuba players to develop the range required. His most important advice is that whatever instrumentation is used, make it fun and find the best jazz rhythm section!