Taking a Chance on Love: SATB Choral Octavo

Darmon Meader's arrangement captures the playful swagger of this standard without losing the sophisticated harmonic language underneath. The vocal writing sits beautifully for mixed voices while staying true to the jazz idiom, and the optional instrumentation gives you flexibility whether you're rehearsing with piano alone or performing with a full trio.

Sophisticated yet approachable, with the kind of swing that makes singers want to move. The arrangement feels like overhearing a tight vocal group in their element, complete with harmonic sophistication and the kind of clever counterpoint that rewards close listening.

Vocal jazz ensembles and advanced high school or collegiate choirs with strong sight-reading skills and comfort with jazz articulation. Directors looking to program something immediately engaging for audiences will find this sits perfectly between technical challenge and performance confidence.

• Nail the rhythmic precision in the ensemble sections by treating them like instrumental parts; the swing feel depends on locked articulation and phrasing across all four voices.
• Let the recorded accompaniment anchor your rehearsals until the singers internalize the groove, then shift to live piano to build ensemble awareness and responsiveness.
• Balance the melodic lines carefully in passages where soloists emerge from the harmonic texture; Meader's arranging gives spotlight moments that need to land without drowning the background voices.

Program this on a concert celebrating the Great American Songbook or a jazz-focused concert where it will energize the audience and give your ensemble a chance to stretch beyond classical idioms. It also works beautifully as a opener or closer on a mixed repertoire program, since the style and energy carry so distinctly.

• jazz swing articulation and phrasing
• reading and performing jazz harmony and chord changes
• ensemble blend in close-voiced SATB writing
• interpreting rhythmic notation in a jazz context
• balancing solo lines over harmonic accompaniment