Jazz for Three: 3 Trombones Score & Parts

Energetic and accessible. The writing respects jazz style without overwhelming players with advanced harmonic or rhythmic complexity. You'll find yourself grinning through 'Mr. Cool' and 'Just Chillin'' long before you've mastered them.

Intermediate trombone students ready to engage with jazz idioms beyond straight reading. This works equally well for a school jazz ensemble needing accessible repertoire or for three advanced students building jazz chops outside an ensemble context.

• Listen to recorded versions of the original songs (especially 'Sleepwalk' and 'Up on the Housetop') to internalize the groove before rehearsing. The arrangements lean on stylistic authenticity, so ear training matters as much as note reading.
• Lock the rhythmic precision in unison passages first. Jazz ensemble work demands that three trombones sound like one voice when the voicing calls for it, particularly in the swing and jump swing numbers.
• Download the optional drum set part from enpmusic.com early in your rehearsal process. The drums anchor the groove and make the difference between these feeling like etudes and feeling like actual jazz tunes.

Program one or two selections as a jazz ensemble feature within a concert, or use the entire collection as a semester project that covers multiple styles and builds genuine jazz literacy. These arrangements also work well for spring pops concerts where a trombone trio adds character and variety to the program.

• Swing eighth-note feel and subdivision
• Reading and performing basic jazz articulation (tonguing, shakes, falls)
• Ensemble balance in three-part voicing
• Style-specific phrasing for funk, mambo, blues, and jump swing
• Rhythmic precision without written rhythmic notation guides