(level III) This is a fun (and easy) chart that you can add into your holiday season concert with just a little rehearsal. Intriguing harmonic shifts and some surprise modulations keep this familiar tune interesting for players and audiences alike. The feel is slow, bluesy, and 12/8 gospel-infused (think Saturday Night Live closing credits). Your tenor player should go for that Lenny Pickett sound. Piano can opt for strong left hand “gospel-y” octaves when it feels right. Optional (but nice) touches: add a B3 in the solo/vamp section in the coda (piano + B3 = even better!) Also included are optional soulful 3-part background vocals in the solo/vamp section. This chart is perfect for high school through university level jazz ensembles. 8 Brass

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Composer and guitarist Mike Dana lives in Fresno, California, where he has been Director of Jazz Studies at Fresno City College since 1990. AT FCC, Mike directs the award-winning Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Combos, and co-directs the Vocal Jazz Ensemble with his wife Julie. He also teaches advanced improvisation, jazz theory, arranging. jazz history, Finale, and a music business course. In 2004, Mike founded (and serves as musical director of) the Jazz Composers Orchestra, an ensemble made up of the finest jazz musicians and educators in central California. This ensemble was invited to perform the Gil Evans Fellowship commission at the International Association for Jazz Education conference in January 2005.
Mike is quite active as a performer, leading several groups, including his own jazz quartet, the Jazz Composers Orchestra, and Bahia, a group focusing on Brazilian music. His jazz guitar credits include performances with Cannonball Adderley, Gary Burton, Clark Terry, Bob Mintzer, Bobby Shew, Ingrid Jensen, Ernie Watts, Arturo Sandoval, Tim Ries, and many others. He has composed music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, musical theater, film, choral ensembles, TV commercials, and of course jazz. His commissions, compositions and arrangements for both instrumental and vocal jazz ensemble have received excellent reviews in the IAJE journal and are widely performed across the United States. Mike continues to be in demand as a guest artist and clinician for jazz festivals throughout the western U.S., as a guest conductor for honor jazz bands, and as a faculty member for summer workshops, including the Lafayette Jazz Workshop, Britt Institute (Oregon), and CSU Summer Arts programs.
Mike earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in composition from California State University Fresno. He also attended the Berklee College of Music, and studied privately with jazz guitar legend Joe Pass. Currently, he is nearing completion of his doctorate (focusing on the teaching of jazz improvisation at the secondary level) at Boston University.