Stolen Moments by Oliver Nelson Jazz Ensemble - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1850133

This arrangement is intended for high school level jazz combos or big bands looking for a vehicle to teach minor blues soloing, ensemble playing, and modern jazz harmonies all at a manageable difficulty level. While this arrangement is a doable challenge for entry-level jazz bands, it will also sound fantastic with advanced groups looking to showcase their soloists and their polished ensemble playing at festivals and concerts.

This arrangement follows a simple structure of Intro, Melody, Open solos, Arranger chorus, and Melody. The solo section is a 12 bar blues with slightly modified harmonies to fit the style of Stolen Moments, perfect for building improvised horn backgrounds behind the soloist. The arranger chorus is slightly more rhythmically intricate, but it is nothing too crazy for a high school level band to handle.

Instrumentation: Being fully aware of how wildly variable high school ensembles’ instrumentation can be from year to year, this piece has alternative parts in order to keep it as flexible as possible. The main horn parts are Flugelhorn or Trumpet, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, and Trombone. If any group doesn’t match this exact instrumentation, part doublings will work well, and the following alternative parts are also available, allowing groups to perform the piece in a huge amount of configurations:

Alto Sax (doubling flugelhorn), Flugelhorn / Trumpet (doubling alto sax), Trombone in Bb, Trombone (doubling tenor sax), Tenor Sax (doubling trombone), and Baritone Sax (doubling trombone).

Before doubling instruments on the same exact part, I would recommend assigning one of the alternative parts if available in order to build a fuller ensemble texture. For example, if a group has 2 alto saxophones, 1 trumpet, 4 trombones, and 2 tenor saxes, I would assign parts as follows:

Alto 1: Alto sax (doubling flugelhorn)
Alto 2: Alto sax
Trumpet: Trumpet
Tenor sax 1: Tenor sax
Tenor sax 2: Tenor sax (doubling trombone)
Trombone 1: Trombone
Trombone 2: Trombone (doubling tenor sax)

You will have to be aware of how voice doubling affects balance between parts; in the above case, Alto 2 will have to play louder since they are the only player covering that voice.


The Trumpet part ranges from B below the staff to Ab above the staff, while the Trombone ranges from D on the staff to G above the staff.

The Guitar part is optional, however I would recommend having at least 1 guitar or 1 piano player if possible.

This arrangement will still work without the Tenor Sax voice if necessary, as it plays inner harmonies throughout. However, this will sound a bit thinner overall.

This demo recording is a mix of MIDI piano and bass, live electric drums, EWI brass, and live saxophones, all performed by Adam Claussen. Check out the Youtube link for a full-length demo of the score.

For more about Adam Claussen, visit www.adamclaussen.com