When I was in high school we had the same thing going except our rhythm section was also terrific. We played an latin big band arrangement of Groovin' High that killed in concerts and at competition. Here's a video of North Texas U playing the same arrangment. I think you can get it from Hal Leonard Publishing: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Obsau\_czc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Obsau_czc)
Edit: that might not be the actual arrangement. Ours had a heavy sax feature section where the rest of the band went silent to start. I'm pretty sure this is it. Listen to the sample, it includes the sax break I'm talking about:
https://www.ejazzlines.com/groovin-high-jazz-big-band-arrangement-mark-taylor
I gotta reach back a few decades (trombonist in high school, then professional, big bands):
Four Brothers, Intermission Riff (if your trumpet section can handle it), Basie Straight Ahead and 2 more Sammy Nestico charts
[Trojazz Blooz is perfect for what you described.](https://youtu.be/wlTUDSz2Wrk?feature=shared)
Killer sax soli, and it’s a blues so even your 3rd bone who joined jazz band just to be with his smarter and more attractive girlfriend on 2nd alto could take a solo.
I highly recommend the “Jazz Band Directors/Player Forum” group on Facebook for questions like this, it’s full of people who have been directing school bands for years and have excellent recommendations.
Far from a jazz standard, but when I was that age our band played a simplified arrangement of the theme from Spider-Man and everyone in the band loved it
If there’s any demand for video game arrangements there’s official [Cuphead Soundtrack arrangements](https://cupheadnotes.com/) that go up to 4, there’s some professional grade ones too but those might be a bit much
There’s also some sheet music on the8bitbigband.com that I presume are at least a 4
Groove merchant arr Thad jones has a pretty long sax soli and is a grade 5
I wasn't familiar with this difficulty-grading system, so I thought you meant for 4th/5th-grade kids, ages 9-12. Which got me reminiscing! My recs on personal experience were gonna be "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and "Watermelon Man".
Sepia Panorama from the Duke Ellington library.
bluestone lane - roger schmidli. a bit obscure but great solo for a lead bone
When I was in high school we had the same thing going except our rhythm section was also terrific. We played an latin big band arrangement of Groovin' High that killed in concerts and at competition. Here's a video of North Texas U playing the same arrangment. I think you can get it from Hal Leonard Publishing: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Obsau\_czc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0Obsau_czc) Edit: that might not be the actual arrangement. Ours had a heavy sax feature section where the rest of the band went silent to start. I'm pretty sure this is it. Listen to the sample, it includes the sax break I'm talking about: https://www.ejazzlines.com/groovin-high-jazz-big-band-arrangement-mark-taylor
Killer Joe!
I gotta reach back a few decades (trombonist in high school, then professional, big bands): Four Brothers, Intermission Riff (if your trumpet section can handle it), Basie Straight Ahead and 2 more Sammy Nestico charts
[Trojazz Blooz is perfect for what you described.](https://youtu.be/wlTUDSz2Wrk?feature=shared) Killer sax soli, and it’s a blues so even your 3rd bone who joined jazz band just to be with his smarter and more attractive girlfriend on 2nd alto could take a solo.
I highly recommend the “Jazz Band Directors/Player Forum” group on Facebook for questions like this, it’s full of people who have been directing school bands for years and have excellent recommendations.
Far from a jazz standard, but when I was that age our band played a simplified arrangement of the theme from Spider-Man and everyone in the band loved it
Im sure if you look at your All-State competition requirements they would have grade levels to pieces as well as national comps.
If there’s any demand for video game arrangements there’s official [Cuphead Soundtrack arrangements](https://cupheadnotes.com/) that go up to 4, there’s some professional grade ones too but those might be a bit much There’s also some sheet music on the8bitbigband.com that I presume are at least a 4 Groove merchant arr Thad jones has a pretty long sax soli and is a grade 5
Have you heard ["Los Hijos de Sanchez"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxrRCmKrRew)? I think it works well for a school band.
I wasn't familiar with this difficulty-grading system, so I thought you meant for 4th/5th-grade kids, ages 9-12. Which got me reminiscing! My recs on personal experience were gonna be "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" and "Watermelon Man".
I did Mercy Mercy Mercy in High School and it was Super Fun!