We are now accepting pre-orders for the Jazz & Big Band library. It is now in the final stages. Expected to ship end of September or so. You can pre-order pre-order the Jazz & Big Band library at www.garritan.com and also from various stores and online retailers.
There are over 50 instruments recorded - 16+ different saxophones, 5 trumpets, 5 trombones, various other winds, keyboards, guitars, basses and drum kits. Jazz and Big Band has been something that has been lacking in sample libraries. This is due in part to the complexity and diversity of articulations and techniques that jazz musicians use. Emulating what players do has not been almost possible until now.
The introductory price is $259 and the normal list price will be $299. If anyone is interested in pre-ordering and being being one of the first to receive the Jazz and Big Band library, go to www.garritan.com If you have any questions you can email gary@garritan.com.
Below are the first public demos of the new Garritan Jazz and Big Band library - a library we hope will help fill a conspicuous vacancy in the world of sample libraries. These first demos are intended to give a taste of many of the new instruments and their capabilities. These demos are also rather brief and to the point and exposes the individual instruments. Larger sections and big band demos will follow. We hope you enjoy them and find the implications enticing and exciting.
1. Jazz quartet with tenor sax, piano, fretless bass, and brush drum kit. Details about the individual instruments are contained in the instrument-specific demos below.
www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/01Quartet_Demo.mp3
2. Soprano sax, Rhodes keyboard, fretted Jazz bass, and fusion drum kit. All inflections in the soprano sax are programmed, including bends, vibrato intensity and speed, tongue/slur, attack strength, etc.
http://www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/0 ... s_Demo.mp3
3. Horns and rhythm section. Horns include bari sax, tenor sax, alto sax, trombone, and a scream trumpet on top. Certain characteristics of the trumpet are controllable, like the “kiss” at the end of the final “double high C.“ Rhythm section is Rhodes, fretted Jazz bass, and fusion drum kit.
http://www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/0 ... t_Demo.mp3
4. Flugelhorn, vibes, upright bass, and classic Jazz drum kit. Again, all inflections in the Flugelhorn are programmed using the extensive MIDI controllers. The vibes are available in both hard and soft mallets; this demo uses the hard mallets.
http://www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/0 ... s_Demo.mp3
5. Selection of saxophones. The Garritan Jazz and Big Band library contains an unusually large list of instruments from the saxophone family; this includes rarely seen instruments like the sopranino, contrabass sax, and sub-contrabass sax. This demo uses essentially the same MIDI data (with a few modifications) for each of the featured saxophones. Octave transpositions, key transpositions and some phrase transpositions have been applied to keep each instrument in its “bread and butter” range. There have also been some modifications to articulations and tempi to supply some variety to the demos while still maintaining a direct comparison between types. Each saxophone has expressive controls (mod wheel volume/timbre, sustain pedal tongue/slur, velocity attack strength, etc.) but adds some new controls for things like key click sounds and air flow noise. There are also breath sounds available (and used in this demo.) The saxophones are demonstrated in this order: Tenor sax, bass sax, alto sax, soprano sax, bari sax, sopranino, and contra-bass sax.
http://www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/0 ... n_Demo.mp3
6. Steinway Jazz piano. Even though GPO contains a Steinway piano (which can certainly be used in a Jazz context) this is a different sample set with another perspective. This instrument has been designed with variable brightness control to allow adjustments to suit different mixing requirements. The brightness control in this demo is set to a moderate level. This demo features the excellent playing of W. Michael Jaap.
www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/06Piano_Demo.mp3
7. Vintage Electric Keyboard (Rhodes.) This demo is in two parts: The first part is “dry” with the tremolo control turned off. The second part has the tremolo control turned on at a modest level. The programming of this instrument mimics the stereo speaker tremolo of the original instrument. Once again, the artist playing this demo is W. Michael Jaap.
www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/07Rhodes_Demo.mp3
8. Upright bass. The Jazz and Big Band library contains two fine upright basses. The two basses differ somewhat in basic sound character. Both instruments have extensive controls for string noises, finger noises, and amount of low bass content, along with the usual expressive controls. The demo is in two parts, one for each bass.
www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/08Upright_Bass_Demo.mp3
9. Brush drum kit. This is one of the really groundbreaking features of the new library. The snare brush stirs are actually “playable.” This means that the brush stirs can be programmed at any given tempo and this tempo information can be later modified at will. This demo illustrates this unusual feature. The same MIDI data is repeated 3 times. The first time is at a medium tempo. The second time is at a slower tempo but leads to an accelerando near the end of this section. The third time is at a fast tempo. Note that the stirs follow all of the tempo changes. Of course, this demo also shows the various brush “hits” available for snare, toms, and cymbals.
www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/09Brush_DrumKit_Demo.mp3
10. Classic Jazz drum kit. This and demo #11 use essentially the same MIDI data. The classic Jazz kit uses single layer drum heads and a 15in hihat for the distinctive sound of classic Jazz drumming. This and the following demo are designed to display each of the drum and cymbal types in the kit for sound evaluation. Both kits are recorded “in place” in true stereo for a excellent three dimensional image.
http://www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/1 ... t_Demo.mp3
11. Fusion Jazz drum kit. This kit uses double layer heads and a 14in. hihat, along with other techniques to create the “tight” and dry sound of fusion recordings. All ride and crash cymbal choices are available to both kits. Different cymbals are used for these two demos to show some of the possibilities. Both demos are mixed dry.
http://www.garritan.com/Jazz/JazzMp3s/1 ... t_Demo.mp3
In the coming weeks and months there will be additional demos showing section work and full big band mixes, along with more of the individual instruments, programming features, and brass mute choices. Stay tuned.
I hope that the Jazz and Big Band library will inspire and benefit musicians everywhere.
To learn more about Jazz & Big Band or to pre order, please visit - http://www.garritan.com/jazz.html
Gary Garritan
