One of my missions as a vocal jazz evangelist is to help concert choir directors begin to explore vocal jazz. Indeed, I think that unfamiliarity with the repertoire is one of the reasons conductors don’t program this music.
With that in mind, here’s some repertoire ideas that would be successful for the non-jazz choir.
Two of the things I consider to be important in selecting repertoire for non-jazz choirs are: little or no vocal improvisation, and a cappella or with fully-notated piano part.
- Anchor Music has many new vocal jazz arrangements. They include fully-notated instrumental parts, so jazz proficiency isn’t required from instrumentalists. They also include many a cappella arrangements that would be good for concert choirs.
- Steve Zegree’s classic arrangements always had an educational component and were almost always written to be effective for concert choirs as well as jazz choirs.
- Phil Mattson, a vocal jazz icon, actually started his studies at Concordia College with Paul J. Christiansen. I think a lot of his arrangements betray this early passion for traditional choral music, and they work well in that context.
- I never don’t recommend April Tini’s “Like Someone In Love.“
- Greg Jasperse’s Voice Dance series are beautiful, wordless piece that have rich harmony but would work well in the concert setting. Greg also has published many beautiful arrangements of jazz standards.
- Jeremy Fox’s arrangements are idiomatic, hip, and doable.
- Kerry Marsh has a starter series aimed at introducing choirs to jazz singing.
This is not a complete list, and I encourage anyone exploring adding some jazz to your concert choir repertoire to feel free to reach out!