Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about items in the Parsons Music Library‘s collection. All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by Music Library student library worker AJ (class of 2018). Thanks, AJ!

Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band

“Sing Sang Sung”
Swingin’ For The Fences

One of my favorite jazz groups is Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.

In high school, my director loved to challenge us, and I still remember one of the hardest songs I’ve ever had to play was “Sing Sang Sung” by the Phat Band off of their album Swinging for the Fences. It’s a newer take on “Sing Sing Sing“, but I believe it to be infinitely harder and more intricate. The piece makes every player have to really know their stuff; there is hardly any unison to hide behind. In high school, we had to learn the second half of the piece by heart, because when the breakdown happens, we walked out into the crowd, off the stage, and played in the audience. Everyone loved it. How could they not? The upbeat tempo of a strikingly familiar melody moves everyone.