Currently Unpublished Arrangements

Composed by the Canadian Celtic singer Loreena McKennitt, "Mummers' Dance" has its roots in a centuries old tradition in which a roving band of costumed actors travels and puts on performances for people throughout the land. McKennitt's lyrics speak of the beautiful natural settings in which these mummers would live and work, and the musical landscape is matched perfectly in this arrangement, featuring both sustained and open sounds and exotic melismatic figures that would normally be played by period instruments. This arrangement features a break-out treble-clef soloist, with some modern reharmonization included to employ the vocal jazz aesthetic, and a polyphonic, wordless development section increases the energy of the piece before it winds down at the end, as if the mummers have moved on to travel to the next village. 
Fully-notated piano/keyboard and bass parts, drums

Mummers' Dance (Lv 4 SSATB)

Taylor Eigsti and Becca Stevens' absolutely beautiful composition featured on Taylor's album "Daylight at Midnight", as arranged for Vertical Voices, featuring a female vocal solo and very vip rhythm section accompaniment.  Different from the original in that it was written to serve as a closer for Vertical Voices, so it has a powerful and intense finish.

Magnolia (Level 3.5 SSATB)

Blossom Dearie was one of the few singers to record this swinging, fun jazz tune, and this arrangement borrows the vibe and harmony of her performance while expanding and opening up the possibilities for the ensemble vocal jazz setting. A few sneaky quotes in the backgrounds and soli/shout sections provide some Easter eggs for your audience (and singers), and solo space is included for improvising singers or players. 

Comment Allez Vous (SSATB Level 4)

KerryMarsh.com proudly features this six-movement vocal jazz mass composed by Justin Binek. As you'll hear, this is a powerful, fresh harmonic and rhythmic approach to the traditional "Kyrie", "Gloria", "Credo", "Sanctus", "Agnus Dei" and "Nunc Dimittis". 

Performable by both traditional and jazz choirs, and with piano accompaniment only or full rhythm section, Missa Lucis features a male vocal soloist throughout in the traditional evangelist role. The recording featured here is an edited compilation of all of the choral excerpts in the full work, the duration of which is approximately 40-45 minutes, depending on the use of the available improv solo space.  Horn parts are included and are optional, as the instrumental solos may be performed by piano, guitar or a vocalist. The piano part is largely notated, although some sections are written using slashes and chord changes as in the jazz idiom, so pianists performing the piece will need a solid jazz background. Bass, guitar and drum set parts are also included in the package.

Hear the piece in its entirety here: https://soundcloud.com/justin-binek/sets/missa-lucis

Missa Lucis, a vocal jazz mass composed by Justin Binek - Choral Excerpts

Hard swinging chart written for intermediate-level vocal jazz ensembles who have more gals than guys. Bluesy harmony and some fun ensemble figures back up a soulful soloist. A surprising bossa nova scat solo section with backgrounds leads into a chilled out bridge before launching into more hard-swinging material for a shout section to the end.

Willow Weep For Me - SSAB Lv 3

A funky, wordless re-imagining of Horace Silver's bop tune. The chart swings the bridge and the solo section, but keeps up a driving funk groove otherwise. A soli section for the ensemble is written in both grooves as well, culminating in a eight bars of straight-ahead sax soli material before transitioning back into an exciting head out. Look out for the wild last page, too! A fun chart to sing and a real challenge for skilled singers.

Room 608 - SSATB Lv 5

Radiohead tune from "Kid A", dark and intense
chord chart piano, mixed notated/chord chart bass, dr.

How To Disappear Completely

Light, fun Jamie Cullum tune
mixed notated/chord chart piano and bass, dr.

Mind Trick

An adaptation of Jamie Cullum's arrangement from the album "Pursuit"
notated piano (with chords) and notated bass, drums and additional "pad" part

Not While I'm Around

The classic ECM jazz hit from The Pat Metheny Group is wordlessly arranged for beginning and intermediate vocal jazz ensembles.  A fun samba flavor and cool contemporary harmonies, as well as a scat solo, are featured.  Notated piano and bass parts, and a drum set part, are included.

Phase Dance

NEW FOR FALL 2012! - A deep cut from The Police's "Synchronicity," this tune grooves hard in 12/8 and features a tenor or alto who can hang with the Sting thing.  The lyric is a metaphor for political corruption...not actually about killing people directly.  You might want to mention that in your concert. :)

Murder By Numbers

An obscure but super interesting tune by the British electronic group Zero 7.  Grooving in 12/8 and full of surprises!

Mr McGee

The Sac State Jazz Singers (Spring 2012) sing my arrangement of "My Foolish Heart/Moth".  This arrangement was the winning submission in the first of three "Marsh Madness" tournaments to determine which charts I'd write, and the winning submitter was Sally Greenaway.  

This arrangement is based on Kurt Elling's version of the standard (arranged by Laurence Hobgood, his pianist and collaborator, as well), with the inserted "Moth" poem by Rabia, an 8th century mystic from Basra, Iraq.

My Foolish Heart/Moth

Gerry Mulligan's tribute to Jimmy Lyons, one of the founders of the Monterey Jazz Festival, with a lyric added by Mary Ann Moore, arranged as a simple, swinging SAB chart for the Monterey Jazz Festival Summer Camp in 2012.  Matthew Chalmers knocked out the drum tracks, Julia Dollison and I sang and played the rest.

Line for Lyons

The earthy, tribal feel of Rusted Root's 90's classic "Send Me On My Way" fits well as a Bobby McFerrin-esque a capella tune with plenty of jazz harmony.

Send Me on My Way - SSAATTBB Level 3.5

This is the full collection of recordings released on four albums by Sacramento State Vocal Jazz under the direction of Kerry Marsh.  The albums were released between 2003 and 2008.  Plans are underway for a fifth album to be released in the Spring of 2013!
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The albums represented here are "On the Outside", "In the Winelight", "In Your Eyes" and "Pale Blue Dot".

Silent Night, arr. Marsh

April in Paris, arr. Marsh

Co-composed by Julia Dollison and Kerry Marsh, this original wordless composition was commissioned by and is dedicated to the Jazz Education Network. The 9/8 feel in this piece allows for some interesting and unusual rhythmic motives. Care is taken with voice-leading, and the piece sings more easily than it sounds as it creates a modern, floating and contemplative atmosphere.

Precedence - (SSATB Lv3)

The 2012 hit from the band Fun is written with slight reharmonization here and there to beef up the complexity for the vocal jazz ensemble while retaining the feel and vibe of the original recording.  Challenging solo feature for a high tenor or female voice, but fairly straight-forward vocal parts with careful voice-leading.

Some Nights

An arrangement of the Gnarls Barkley hit "Crazy", written for vocal jazz ensemble.