June Brings a Wide Variety of Great New Music
Christine Jensen
Florian Ross
Alfred Music's 2025 New Issues
Melba Liston and Gloria Lynne
The Art Blakey Big Band
Bill Cunliffe and Terell Stafford
June 2025 has an unusually deep roster of great new publications. The above provide a great selection of new options for band directors everywhere. Combined with our recent addition of 2500 PDF download arrangements from Hal Leonard, Alfred, and Kendor/Doug Beach, we are in position to offer those who plan early an amazing toolbox with which to work to plan an outstanding 2025-2026 school year. So while out there enjoying the coming summer, please browse the best selection of jazz charts anywhere for an even wider variety of publications at a very high level, along with the largest selection of jazz charts in PDF form ever presented.
Adding so much of the work of two great jazz minds like Christine Jensen and Florian Ross is indeed an honor and a privilege. Please see separate sections below for the two of them.
We also have begun publishing Melba Liston charts. One of the true first ladies of jazz, Liston worked with many great names including Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones, and wrote for many more, including Art Blakey and Gloria Lynne. Lynne's rich, soulful voice was a perfect fit for both Am I Blue? as a tune, and for this moodily intimate arrangement we have just published. This chart was written for and recorded by Lynne on her 1959 album Lonely and Sentimental.
From the Art Blakey Big Band we have Liston's Oasis, which has a rather interesting history behind it. Originally, it was arranged for a 1957 recording session by the Blakey Big Band, but was not released, likely due to the band not being able to put together a take satisfactory to Blakey's standards. It did, however, eventually see the light of day on future remastered versions of the session, with some interesting pre- and post-take banter between Liston, Blakey, and other members of the band. It sticks out in comparison to the remainder of the material from the session due to its elastic sense of form, modernist harmonies, and unique structure.
We also have Bounced as arranged by Bill Cunliffe. This arrangement is a highly sophisticated take on Terell Stafford's blues composition. Featuring a disjointed, jerky melody and modal inflected harmony, it's taken at a brisk tempo and is easy to open up for solos. The post-solo section shout chorus is heavy on counterpoint and will require intricate precision to properly execute.
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The Music of Christine Jensen
We are thrilled to welcome one of jazz's most creative minds to our catalog and newsletter, Christine Jensen.
Canadian saxophonist/composer Christine Jensen has presented a distinct voice to the jazz scene for the last twenty-five years with her large and small ensembles.As a Downbeat Critic’s Poll winner for Rising Star Big Band, Arranger, and Soprano Saxophonist, she is constantly in motion as an improviser, composer, and bandleader. Her jazz orchestra recordings have gone on to win Juno awards, including Habitat (2014) and Treelines (2011). Habitat received the coveted 5 stars in Downbeat, along with Jazz Album of the Year. Jensen’s music has taken her all over the world through commissioning, performance, and conducting opportunities.
In 2022 Jensen joined the Eastman faculty as professor of jazz studies, where she teaches jazz composition and arranging, along with directing the award-winning Eastman Jazz Ensemble. Teachers and mentors include Kenny Werner, Jim McNeely, Dick Oatts, Remi Bolduc, and John Hollenbeck.
Christine is known for her unique and thoughtful contemporary sound; beauty matched with a sense of timelessness that simultaneously powerfully represents the foundations of jazz while stretching the boundaries of the present and examining what the future could be.
We now have 16 of her charts available, all in traditional paper or PDF download format, including some from her award-winning Treelines and Habitat albums.
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Welcoming
Florian Ross to Our Catalog
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Florian Ross is one of Germany's most versatile and innovative jazz musicians. With studies in jazz composition and piano in Cologne, London, and New York, he has been based in Cologne since 1992, where he works as a composer, pianist, and conductor for large jazz and crossover ensembles. As a pianist and Hammond organist, he regularly tours internationally and has released over 20 albums as a bandleader.
Known for his melodic richness and harmonic depth, Florian’s music seamlessly combines intricate, lyrical melodies with sophisticated rhythmic structures. His ability to balance improvisation with composition gives his work a unique dynamic, creating music that is both expressive and intellectually engaging. Florian is particularly skilled at bridging the gap between European and American jazz traditions, blending the improvisational energy of American jazz with the more composed and structured elements of European music, resulting in a sound that feels both innovative and rooted in tradition.
In addition to his performing career, Florian teaches composition and theory in the Master's program at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne. His contributions to the jazz world were recognized in 2024 when he received the German Jazz Prize for the second time, following his first win in 2021.
We are very happy to welcome this highly accomplished jazz voice to our catalog.
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The Greatest Selection of
PDF Download Jazz
Arrangements
The addition of 2,500 PDF Charts from Hal Leonard, Alfred, and Kendor/Doug Beach Gives Us a Catalog of 6,500 PDF Downloadable Arrangements
We wanted to give another mention to something that we feel is quite significant for the jazz ensemble leader, from the professional to the community to the educational worlds: the best and widest selection of instantly available PDF downloadable jazz arrangements ever presented.
Considering the depth and breadth of the new selections, we highly recommend browsing through the alphabetical listings-you will find classics here, many new charts, and even some that were previously out of print:
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-Doug DuBoff. Comments & reactions encouraged & appreciated; please just respond to this newsletter.
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