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The standard arrangement -- it enables you to put together a group of players who've never worked together to play tunes nobody has even heard before, but then

• analog31 4y ago
  Indeed, and just for the non-musicians here, I'll document what the "standard arrangement" is: Melody Solo 1 Solo 2 Bass solo Drum solo or "trading fours" Melody Ending Moreover, this arrangement lends itself to playing from a "lead sheet" which is just melody plus chord symbols, and players bring "fake books" full of thousands of lead sheets, making it unnecessary for anybody to actually learn tunes. There are some good things about it, for instance, a beginner can function well enough in a band to play low profile gigs, and gain experience. I certainly owe my present skill level to getting that start, along with playing in the high school jazz band. Unfortunately, within any given locale, the actual list of tunes that gets played can be quite small, leading to the same tunes getting played over and over again, ad nauseam. It takes some effort, and I think, respect for the audience, to break out of this local minimum, for instance writing more interesting arrangements, rehearsing the band, or just agreeing to explore a wider variety of tunes. Personally, I decided to ditch the fake books, a couple decades ago, and made the effort to either learn the repertoire, or get good at figuring things out by ear. Unfortunately my various groups are completely un-recorded. </rant>