All of Me: SAB Choral Octavo

Jay Althouse strips away the complexity while keeping the charm intact. You get a genuine jazz standard that sounds polished and fun without demanding advanced jazz technique from your singers, and the optional instrumentation (alto sax, vibes, rhythm section) gives you flexibility to build the arrangement to match what you have available.

Sophisticated yet approachable. The arrangement captures the supper-club warmth of the original standard, with moments of playful scat and smooth four-part writing that feels modern even though the song itself is nearly a century old. It's classy without being precious.

Choirs ready to venture into jazz-influenced repertoire with singers who can handle simple rhythmic syncopation and tight close harmony. The SAB voicing works for choirs with developing alto and bass sections, and the optional instrumentation makes it scalable for groups with different instrumental resources.

• Lock the rhythm section (piano, bass, drums) first so the scat sections land cleanly and the singers have a secure pocket to sit into.
• Keep the scat light and playful; the singers should hear it as conversational, not mechanical. Run it separately from the full choir until it feels natural.
• Blend the alto sax into the harmonic texture rather than having it sit on top. The vibes should float underneath, adding shimmer without overtaking the voices.
• Shape the two solo moments with clarity about who sings them and give those singers time to own the melody before the full choir re-enters.

This works perfectly as a bridge between traditional show choir fare and legitimate jazz repertoire, or as a concert opener that engages audiences immediately. Consider pairing it with other standards from the American songbook to build a full set, or use it as the centerpiece of a jazz-focused concert that showcases your rhythm section and any instrumentalists you have on hand.

• Singing syncopated rhythms in a jazz context
• Scat singing technique and phrasing
• Balancing solo melody with ensemble harmony
• Close jazz voicing and intonation in triadic harmony
• Responding to rhythm section groove and time feel