Freddie Hubbard

Eclipse

This beautiful ballad by the legendary trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was originally recorded on his 1970 album The Black Angel in small group form. This big band arrangement is courtesy of trombonist John Fedchock, who initially recorded it on his 2002 release No Nonsense with his New York Big Band. Fedchock's writing does a marvelous job of deepening the already darkly lush harmonies of Hubbard's original performance.

A moody introduction sets up the melody's entrance at measure 5. The arrangement as a whole is a vehicle for solo trombone, so the tone of the performance should be established by your band's soloist during this first melody segment. The trombonist gets a break on the bridge at measure 21, with the full band taking turns passing the melody line back and forth between each section. Make sure that your ensemble works together in a seamless fashion to create the illusion of the melody being handled by one instrument throughout. The trombone solo re-enters at measure 33 after a brief but effective uptick in volume from the rest of the band a few measures earlier.

Another brief semi-shout chorus at measure 37 yields the spotlight back to the trombone soloist, who now improvises for half a chorus atop some gentle but surprisingly complex backgrounds. A dramatic swell in volume occurs leading into measure 53, where some dense brass chords wrap around a sax line that, despite the slow tempo, is a bit on the challenging side. The intensity continues through the trombone's re-entry at measure 61, only tapering off a few measures later. Things wrap up with some slightly dissonant chime-like inflections from the horns that resolve into a warm final chord upon which the trombone soloist makes one final cadenza statement.

This publication is based John Fedchock's original pencil score and the set of parts used during the recording session.