4 | Doublings

In the formative years of the big band, smaller groups and then the larger jazz and swing bands, were often called jazz ‘orchestras’ because the number and variety of doubling instruments was much higher. It wouldn’t be uncommon to see French horns, oboes, bassoons, orchestral percussion and more as well as the usual big band line up. The doubling tradition is centuries old, but really gained traction in the 20th century for theatre and jazz musicians.

Say you want to expand your palette from the usual big band sound; what options do you have? You can have one musician play two instruments, (unfortunately not at the same time), also known as doubling.

Horn players doubling on instruments in a big band is pretty common. Some semi-pro (and definitely all pro) big band players will be expected to play a specific second instrument to a high level, based on their role in the band. Sometimes, and especially in theatre pits and jazz groups of the past, ‘tripling’, ‘quadrupling’ and even beyond was common.

Nowadays, things are somewhat more restrained, and the doublings, sometimes ‘triplings’, you can expect to use are pretty common. We can update our seating chart to look a little more like this:

Note the common doublings:

Alto Sax 1 - Flute (Sometimes Soprano Sax too)
Alto Sax 2 - Flute
Tenor Sax 1 - Clarinet (always in Bb)
Tenor Sax 2 - Clarinet
Bari Sax - Bass Clarinet

Trumpet 2 - Flugelhorn (sometimes 3, 4 and 1 too depending on how many are needed)

Bass - Electric & Double

Some sax sections, such as the LA saxes, have been known to use the 4 standard orchestral woodwinds of Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, but this is uncommon. It’s also fine to keep Alto 2 and Tenor 2 on their saxes and just have Alto 1 and Tenor 1 on flute and clarinet respectively, giving you the best of both worlds. In some bands, it’s an alto player who plays clarinet so some flexibility with non-professionals is expected.

The soprano sax is in the key of Bb, sounding a major 2nd lower than written. Out of all the saxes, intonation is the hardest to control but the technical considerations are the same as all the other saxes. Pro sax players will usually double on all 4 saxes, but will also have a preference for one or two.

Trumpets will generally all be able to double on flugel, but if you want just one, 2nd Trumpet, being the jazz chair, is a good contender as they’ll probably be playing an exposed line or solo on it. If you start adding more, keeping common sense and balance in mind is the way to go. 3rd and/or 4th Trumpet would take up flugels before the Lead, but it’s also not uncommon to have all 4 on them.

Flugels are pitched in Bb, the same as the trumpet, but have a wider bore and more mellow sound. Going higher than a written A above the stave will start to sound weak and is probably not what you’re looking for in any scenario.

Without specifying, a doubling bassist will play swing, ballad and traditional charts on double bass and funk, latin and rock charts on electric.

Percussion is a fairly common addition to the line-up, and like the timpanist-percussionist relationship, the drummer doesn’t double on percussion.

BREATHING ROOM

The same principles of leaving enough room to change instruments apply here as in orchestral music. Sax players generally play flute and clarinet with their sax still hanging around their neck, so they can change pretty quickly. Still, it’s good practice to leave a couple bars rest and more for bigger instruments. A good, fairly conservative, rule of thumb is as follows:

Alto Sax/Flute | Tenor Sax/Clarinet | Trumpet/Flugel: ~10 seconds
Bari Sax/Bass Cl. | Double/Electric Bass: ~20 seconds

COST CONSIDERATIONS

If you’re recording or performing live and you’re playing (or ‘paying’, ha) by union rules, you’ll have to factor in paying extra for doubling. You’ll also need to budget extra for porterage: transporting extra instruments (‘cartage’ for you folks over the pond). This cost varies with the size and inconvenience of the instrument.

Doubling fees, which you pay per session, on top of the usual session fee, as of writing (March 2020) are as follows:

UK (Musician’s Union) - 12.5% extra per each doubling instrument.
US (AFM - Film) - 50% extra for the first doubling instrument, 20% for each one after.

As a real-life example, booking a bari sax player in the USA might cost you $300 for a session. If you asked them to play just 1 note on bass clarinet, they’d have to be paid $450, plus more porterage (cartage) for bringing the bass clarinet too. That could be ~$200 for that one tiny arrangement decision.

Of course, players never refuse the extra money and it can make you very popular, but if you’re being trusted with a budget, you might have to arrange a bit more frugally.

DOUBLING RANGES

I haven’t included the ranges of the doubling instruments like flutes and clarinets as they’re already known to experienced composers and arrangers from their use in the orchestra. Advice on writing for them is easy to find. Just be aware that you’ll often be asking a flute or clarinet to compete with 8 brass players and a drum kit, so score sensitively when you use doubling instruments.

Excluding top pros, also aware that these often aren’t the player’s primary instruments. You’re not writing for the Berlin Phil woodwind section. Just watch the upper end of the flute range for intonation and while using a piccolo isn’t unheard of in a big band, do so cautiously if you’re not working with specialists. Your average alto player will always be more comfortable on sax and it’s up to you whether it’s worth getting a pro jazz flute player/doubler to cover the part instead. The tenor/clarinet and trumpet/flugel doubling is usually fine at most ability levels.

Here’s a table recapping all the instruments from the second article, but with their doubling instruemnts added for easy reference: