Chuggin' – Gary McFarland

This medium-tempo song really swings, with a bluesy feeling that is simultaneously contemporary for its time and reminiscent of earlier jazz styles. On the solo piano arrangement, Gary's original tempo indication is "bluesy, stride feeling"; the stride-like piano writing (also heard on the original recording) provides a contrast to the subtle, chromatically shifting harmonies. In short this could be called an early example of "avant-trad" jazz. The root motion is almost entirely stepwise, descending in half steps from E♭ to A♭ in the first four measures and then creeping around to B♭ going back to E♭. The bridge is based on a familiar IV7-♯IV diminished motion, again creeping around stepwise. Though the head is an AABC form, the big band arrangement of this original recording has solos on a 12-measure blues; the head changes are just as valid as a solo form.

The changes in our lead sheets are taken from Gary's original solo piano arrangement (click on the Piano Corner tab for more details). The big band arrangement has one difference in the changes. The last measure of the first A section still has a chord on each beat, but they all rise: B, C, D♭, and D triads instead of D, E♭, E, E♭. This arrangement begins with solo piano (Gerry Mulligan) for one A section as an intro, continuing under the trombone melody (Bob Brookmeyer) for the first A section of the head. Horn backgrounds replace the piano on the second A section. After solos on the blues, the out head starts from the bridge, which is played first by the woodwinds as in the in head, and then repeated with the full band as a climactic point of the arrangement before the C section out. This second bridge has an added Dixieland sound, with trumpet, trombone, clarinet, and baritone sax improvising over the ensemble for the first six measures. At the seventh measure of the out C section, there is an abrupt switch to one more C section played again on solo piano, with the horns entering for the last four chords.

Note:The lead sheets available here are the same as the ones under the Michael Benedict album.

This quintet arrangement shows how well this song works in a small group setting. A loping triplet bass line is added on the first four measures of the A and C sections, which goes to a 4-feel in the fifth measure. This bass line is used for a four-measure intro. The alto sax begins the melody, with vibes coming in on a lower harmony part in the fifth measure; this pattern is reversed in the second A section. The piano takes the bridge melody, and the C section melody is arranged the same as the first A. The last measure of C is the same as that of the second A, with chromatically descending changes. A similar descent is used for the coda, which extends the melody one more measure. Solos are on the head form.

Note: These are the same lead sheets available under the Gerry Mulligan album.