First, I have to take stock of the goal of the chart.  What's the nature of the commission, from every angle...difficulty, number of parts, ranges, creative leeway given, mood, etc.?  Then I'll usually transcribe anything that needs transcribed and transpose if the melody will put the sopranos (assuming we're talking about a standard SATB chart) in such a low range that I won't be able to hang any chords off their lines.  Generally, when sopranos are singing in a key that works well for a tenor soloist (but up an octave for the gals), a chart can work pretty well for a group.  Conversely, female soloists who learn jazz standards from their vocal jazz ensemble charts should recognize that they'll want to transpose to a lower key.

If I'm given a great deal of creative freedom (which we'll assume, for the sake of this answer), I'll often look at just the melody, without chord changes, and experiment initially with some different grooves, vamps or concepts at the piano, and I'll try to immediately limit my options so I don't sit and think about each subsequent chord.  If I have the freedom to write in a contemporary, modal fashion, I'll sometimes use a device like a planing grip position or a pedal point to provide harmonic surprises while offering the listener some kind of common thread, even if it's an unusual kind of consistency.  "Seven Steps To Heaven," from my own catalog, is an example if such an approach.  I was told to just "do my thing" with this one...the director wasn't concerned if his audience could really recognize much of the tune.  I love those commissions, although the charts don't always fly off the shelves afterward.  They're very musically rewarding and exciting to work on, as you'd guess.  (Other charts in my catalog in this category are "Footprints," "Impressions," "Silent Night," "Three Blind Mice," 

Sometimes the reharmonization will be subtle, employed on just 20% (or so) of the chords, and only after a portion of the tune has gone by with original changes.  Some rhythmic hits will be added, and maybe even an entire section of the form can come from original ideas, but the assignment is not to go totally wild with crazy, new, modal or atonal ideas, but to write a "tasty" chart that's recognizable but fresh.  My vocal jazz mentor, Paris Rutherford, really specializes in this kind of chart, I think, and I learned a great deal from him about writing these types of arrangements.  From my catalog, "But Beautiful," "Emily," "Headlock," "Here I Am, There I Go," "I Love You," "Selfless, Cold and Composed," "Someday My Prince Will Come," "That Old Black Magic," and "Virtual Insanity" all work like this.

Occasionally I'm given the task of taking total inspiration from a recording that the commissioning director loves, and in that case, my creative decisions are limited to voicings, use of soloists vs. ensemble (backgrounds, etc), and maybe some form alterations.  In my catalog, "April in Paris" and "Minuano" are good examples of that kind of assignment and approach, and they happen to be two of my more popular charts. (Also, check out "Esperanto," "Juju/Footprints," "In Your Eyes," "Ngiculela," and "Samba do Cantor.") 

Finally, once in a while I get a request to do a strict transcription, which requires attention to detail, but the music is entirely that of someone else.  In the process, I may be making different decisions about voice-leading than the source music, but the goal is to reproduce, live, something that is recorded but elsewhere unavailable in print.  "Hide and Seek" and "Slow Me Down" are the two examples of this in my catalog.

The question above is "Where do you start?" and so I'll leave it at this point, having gone a little further into the process and just the starting point.  Real study in theory and arranging, in addition to years of careful listening and practice go into working at this craft, and I hope young vocal jazz writers keep appearing, so the music will have fresh voices for many more years.

Last updated on January 17, 2010 by Kerry Marsh