[rrayner]

This arrangement was written in the third of my favorite formats, a septet with trumpet, tenor saxophone, trombone, baritone saxophone and rhythm section. This was the configuration of my working combo in the mid-'60s when I was in the Air Force Band. There were a lot of working combos at that time, so if I wanted off-hours gigs, I had to book them myself. We played the local military clubs, generally the clubs that brought in singers, etc., that required a back-up band.

One of my roommates at Berklee, Bob Bockholt, had a book for this format, which we practiced from at school. When I left for the Air Force Band, I bought the book from Bob, and it was the basis of my working book when I started making bookings. Another Berklee student, Paul Kelly, also joined the Air Force Band Arranging Staff and played trumpet in my septet, The Nocturnes. Paul and I wrote a lot of new arrangements for the septet. Oh, You Beautiful Doll was one of the many that I wrote. It is fun music -- meant to get your feet tapping. I hope you can hear it in midi format, as the Bb2s in the drum part are backbeat rim shots that are critical to the character of the piece. On my PC, the rim shots sound like finger cymbals.

This is the same small group format (plus guitar) that Dave Pell used and recorded back in the '60s. If you can find it on eBay, his album, The Old South Wails, on Capitol Records T1512, is a great feel-good mix of modern swing and neo-dixie.

Oh, You Beautiful Doll was written by Nat D. Ayer in 1911.

Ralph Rayner

2nd try -- for some reason, the attachment didn't stick. RRR