Fly With The Wind

Tuba solo, 5 Tubas, Piano, Bass and Drum Set

“Fly with the Wind is what McCoy does better than anyone else. The soaring melodic and intense rhythmic nature of this composition carries me aloft.”

• Howard Johnson

Fly with the Wind was originally recorded in 1976. The album featuring this title track was McCoy Tyner’s first all-strings project with flute, oboe and his rhythm section featuring McCoy Tyner, piano, Ron Carter, bass, and Billy Cobham, drums. Later in 1992, The Turning Point album was released on the Birdology label with McCoy Tyner’s Big Band, featuring Howard as both a tubist and an arranger.

Howard Johnson’s jazz tuba ensemble is envisioned as a tuba choir- with tubas in F, E flat, CC, and BB flat- that encourages tuba players to learn to play in the upper register. His charts were originally written for his tuba jazz ensemble, Gravity, formed in 1968 with Howard Johnson as solo lead tuba. The charts can in fact be performed with euphoniums; but he formed his group, made his arrangements and developed this specific instrumentation 50 years ago as a statement about tubas and prefers to hear his arrangements played in this configuration, encouraging tuba players to develop the range required. His most important advice is that whatever instrumentation is used, make it fun and find the best jazz rhythm section!