[rrayner]

This septet work, "Rhumba Medley #1" was originally arranged by Paul Kelly in the mid-60s. Paul, our trumpet player in my working septet, along with Charles (Chuck) Sayre (bassist), also attended Berklee and were on the USAF Band Arranging Staff at the same time I served. This was an enjoyable chart to play, so I have captured it to be able to play along with it. I have taken credit as co-arranger on this piece, as I had to write the drum part and most of the bass part (admittedly not very complex). As I have mentioned before, writing for rhythm section was not emphasized back in the early '60s when I attended Berklee. Paul's drum part was essentially "play a rhumba rhythm", and the bass and piano parts were mostly chords symbols in the appropriate number of measures.

Paul did some interesting things in this chart. There are a number of places where all of the horns are playing in their high range, which adds an intensity to the performance. There are some rich voicing, considering there are only four horns. Also, there are some three-voice sections and two-voice sections.

The first song in the medley, "Miami Beach Rhumba", was written in 1946 by Irving Fields. The second song, "Nightingale", was written in 1942 by Xavier Cugat and George Rosner.

I thought to include an MP3 version of a live performance by my septet, "The Nocturnes" from a 1964 New Year's gig at the Elk's Lodge in Paul's home town of Sanford, NC, but it is too large for this Forum.

I hope you enjoy seeing and hearing this piece.

Ralph Rayner