Songs suited for the soprano sax

Benny: PETITE FLEUER is the traditional-jazz standard for soprano. But anything by Sidney Bechet will suffice (SI TU VOIS MA MERE, AS TU L'CAFARD, STREETS OF ANTIBES, THE FISH VENDOR, KANSAS CITY MAN BLUES, WILD CAT RAG, come to mind).

Another great old tune is WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED, but you just gotta do the verse! DAVE

Transcribe King Curtis's Soul Serenade, beautiful on soprano.

Also Sidney Bechet's Egyptian Fantasy. (I have an arrangement of that somewhere)

Both of those were done by a soprano student of mine when I taught at university and she did very well on that exam.

I'll agree on EGYPTIAN FANTASY. I usually play that on clarinet (as Bechet recorded it), but it is very nice on soprano. DAVE

okami said:

Hello everyone!

I'm searching for a good song for my soprano saxophone, which I can play in August at my music school. My main instrument is the tenor saxophone, but I want to play a soprano tune this time. Is there any good traditional jazz sheet music or nice classical music available for soprano for an advanced player?

Thank you, Benny

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There's a lot of good stuff in the Aebersold play along book "St Louis Blues." St Louis Blues is a great tune its self, one of my all time favorites.

There's also a book titled "The Definitive Dixieland Collection" put out by Hal Leonard that has 73 tunes in it, but the book only has charts for C instruments so you would need to either transcribe anything you wanted to play to Bb, or be able to read a C chart and play it as it would be if you had transcribed it.

I've always thought "Take Five" would sound good on soprano--and of course there's always "My Favourite Things"

R.

My favorite tune on soprano is "Summertime"

My least favorite (with apologies to Coltrane) is "My Favorite Things

John

Astor Piazzolla's "Histoire Du Tango" works great on soprano. I'm sure there are a few different transcriptions available out there.

Fritz Kreisler's "Schon Rosmarin" sounds flashy transcribed from violin to sop in C.

As far as jazz, any standard can be played on soprano to good effect. I like to play modal tunes or slow ballads on soprano.

For classical, check out Steven Mauk's "Classical Bouquet", which is full of great, standard soprano repertoire. Good luck!

Waltz for Debby, Shuffle Boil, Bluesette, In A Sentimental Mood, and Fables of Faubus all sound great on soprano.

Every tune that Thelonious Monk composed works wonderfully on soprano. But Reflections is my favorite.

I generally do Blue Bossa and Mahana de Carnaval/Black Orpheus/A Day in the Life of a Fool and sometimes A Train on soprano in my group. These tunes seem to fall in a comfortable range for soprano.

i imagine "another love song" by phil woods would sound nice on a soprano. You'd have to transcribe it though.

Autumn in New-York sounds pretty good in soprano sax.

I just found that post.
I think that Bechet is the most enjoyable (OK, the second most enjoyable, so you can put on your favorite) musician to play. I play him on the clarinet, and will go for a soprano sax in the near future, mostly because I'm an old fan.
Here is my contribution. I can also provide the lyrics for "Petite Fleur", in French, and the chords for most of the pieces, if you need them.
If somebody has the lyrics of "Si Tu Vois Ma Mère" , I'd love to have them.
Cheers,
Eric

guido said:

Every tune that Thelonious Monk composed works wonderfully on soprano. But Reflections is my favorite.

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"In Walked Bud" just seems to sound great on soprano too.

In the classical world, the soprano lends itself well to transcriptions of Baroque/Classic sonatas and concerti for oboe, flute, and occasionally other instruments. Albinoni, Bach, and Telemann are good composers to search.

And although it is by no means a traditional tune or standard, Michael Brecker's "Song for Barry" would sound pretty hip with sop all the way through.

I agree with Pete Thomas. King Curtis' Soul Serenade,
alternatively Grover Washington Jr's version, or Kim Water's. The difference is King Curtis' version actually has "Soul".

Lucky Thomspson

About a year ago, I discovered Lucky Thompson through his album Tricotism. As if that isn't an abundance of beauty, I then learned that he played soprano sax a lot as well. I took a chance and bought his albums "Lucky Strikes," and "Lucky In Paris."

He does "Have You Met Miss Jones" and "In A Sentimental Mood" on these albums on sorprano and both sound great. He's become one of my favorite players.

I find that certain tunes just "call" to me for soprano. On gigs, I like to play the following on soprano:

Bluesette, Blue Monk, St. Louis Blues, In A Sentimental Mood, Alice In Wonderland, Take the A Train (though I sometimes play it on tenor also), The Saga of Harrison CrabFeathers, Afro Blue (of course), Nardis, Jelly Roll, Segment, In Walked Bud (and may Monk tunes), etc.

Then, there are days when I feel I could play only soprano, but the tenor calls me back as well.