Blue Rondo à la Turk
By Dave Brubeck
Arranged by Thomas Carlo Bo
Produced by Thomas Carlo Bo Music
Rights secured from Derry Music

Instrumentation: String Orchestra
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Cello
Bass
Percussion (Single part, optional)

Preview the score here



From the Arranger
I created this arrangement for the Northern New Jersey Regional String Ensemble (average age 15) in the spring of 2009. I was asked to conduct the group and wanted to bring something American and Jazzy to the kids. Dave Brubeck’s Blue Rondo a la Turk, one of the highlights from the classic album Time Out (1959), seemed an excellent choice for young people for several reasons. It is a study in non- traditional rhythm, as well as an excellent introduction to some of the basic elements of jazz. Its complexity is at just the right level to challenge young musicians, and last but not least, the music itself is infectiously fun. I am happy to say that the rehearsals and concert and many of the young musicians said it was their favorite piece to play. I hope your experience with this arrangement will parallel mine.

A few notes on the arrangement:

Notation- The middle section in the original is written in common time and the 8ths are swung. I wrote this section in 12/8 for the sake of accuracy of ensemble.

Arrangement – Improvisation One of the difficulties of transcribing a Jazz piece for ensemble is how to deal with the element of improvisation. I have written this arrangement fully notated so that a traditional string orchestra can play it. The framing sections of Blue Rondo are as “composed” as any Haydn string quartet, but the middle section is right out of the blues tradition and calls for improvised solos. My solution was to retain the same structure as the original recording. This means that the chart for the B section happens twice. For the first go round I made a fairly faithful transcription of Brubeck’s first solo, and for the second go round I made a variation of my own that employs the resources of string divisi to explore some more complex jazz chords. Towards the end of this second “improvisation” I have left a few bars open, either for soloists to play optional short improvised solos or to play the music written out for them.

Conducting As to the conducting, I found that simple was good: I.E. follow the pulse. Conduct the first 3 bars in a 4 pattern 2/2/2/3, and the 4th bar in 3 pattern 3/3/3. Every other bar will follow from this basic solution. The initial pick up is the length of a quarter note.

I hope this page has touched on a few useful points. Please feel free to write me atthomascarlobo@live.com

Thomas Carlo Bo
March, 2010
$60 US for both the score and parts Available as PDF via email, or hard copy.
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Score: $20
Individual parts: $8