Sax Quartet Arrangement of Fly Me to the Moon

This is an arrangement I did for fun a while back. I added in some secondary minor dominant ninths from the original chord progression to add some color and changed the meter to 6/8. It's based on four-part choral writing with a lot of chromaticism. I used cubase to improve the sound quality from the earlier version on my channel. 

Critique is welcome!

Edited March 4, 20251 yr by Chemathmusician0510

Hello @Chemathmusician0510 and welcome to the forum!

This a bit wonky or perhaps tipsy arrangement isn't bad!  The only thing that bothers me is the unusual phrase lengths between measures 9 - 14.  While the first phrase that starts the piece is a traditional 8 measure phrase, measures 9 - 14 are made up of a pair of 3 measure phrases which feel off-kilter.  I think if each of those phrases was 4 measures long it would give the melody the space I long to hear but I don't know if that would work in this arrangement.  I observe the piece to be made up of a mostly constantly progressing harmonic rhythm on every dotted quarter note - so maybe that is the reason why you kept going between measures 9 - 14 without pause.  The same thing happens in measures 23 - 28 for the same reasons.  The 2nd ending of the piece and the conclusion also have this quality.  And the recording seems to be cut off too which is a shame.  Either way, thanks for sharing this jig!

Thanks for the suggestion! 

I do usually do 4 or 8 bar phrases, but bars 9-14 and the endings I really couldn't find notes to prolong. Maybe the last note of the three bar phrases could be longer. 

Edited March 10, 20251 yr by Chemathmusician0510

Hello @Chemathmusician0510,

This one is quite jazzy!

On 3/10/2025 at 12:36 PM, Chemathmusician0510 said:

but bars 9-14 and the endings I really couldn't find notes to prolong. Maybe the last note of the three bar phrases could be longer. 

For me, b.11-12 should be a step lower than b.9-10 to form a sequence and a 4 bar phrase. Then in the designated b.16 just a prolonged G would in G major chord will do! Thx for sharing!

Henry