Sax Sextets

Alabamy Bound

Ray Henderson, arr. Bobby van Eps

Composed:
1924 Grouping:
sSATBb

In the late 19th and early 20th centruy music publishing in the US was concentrated into a small area of New York known as "Tin Pan Alley". This term became synonymous with popular music of the time and most notably the rise of dixie and early jazz tunes. As a classic Tin Pan Alley tune Alabamy Bound was hugely popular even before being recorded, selling more than a million copies of the sheet music. It went on to be a hit for Al Johnson and was even included in the musical Kid Boots. It tells of an Alabama man heading back home by train, presumably from working away in a big city. The music reflects the speed and drive of the train with the pleasure of heading back home.

This is one of two sextets from the Hollywood Sax Quartet, a renowned Los Angeles based sax quartet active in the 1950's and 1960's. Many thanks to the children of the Hollywood Sax Quartet who have made these parts and more freely available from their website: https://www.hollywoodsaxophonequartet.com. This is a new type-setting of their arrangement incorporating many of their hand-written performance notes from the individual parts.