4'33' by John Cage - *Big Band Jazz Arrangement* (The 8-Bit Big Band April 1st 2025)

So thrilled to celebrate April 1st 2025 with all of you with a swingin' Big Band Jazz arrangement of the legendary musical composition 4'33" by the prolific and visionary composer John Cage.

This arrangement was one of the most fiendishly difficult things the band has ever had to perform, and the most challenging melodies I've had to arrange to date. I hope you enjoy my interpretation of this timeless piece of modernist classical music, as I put my own Big Band style onto it while trying to honor the ideas and motifs of the original. The orchestra sounds truly spectacular on this tune (can you believe they were sight reading it??) so I hope you enjoy listening!!

FULL SCORE AND PARTS AVAILABLE HERE if any of you brave souls want to attempt to perform this arrangement with your own orchestra, or for score study:

If you have absolutely NO IDEA what the heck is going on or why 40 people are sitting in a recording studio in New York not playing their instruments and wasting tons of money on studio time, then this paragraph is for you:

Hello and happy April Fools Day! 4′33″ is a modernist composition by American experimental composer John Cage. It was composed in 1952 for any instrument or combination of instruments; the score instructs performers not to play their instruments throughout the three movements. It is divided into three movements, lasting 30 seconds, 2:23 seconds, 1:40 seconds, respectively. The idea behind this composition is that the ambient sound that occurs spontaneously between the on stage performers and the audience in the room is "the music".

All confused kidding aside, it's a very easy thing to laugh at until you actually are in attendance of a "performance" of this piece (or conducting an orchestra playing it like I did) and then you kinda realize once you're immersed in the energy of the experience of a collection of people basically doing a mindfulness music exercise that there actually is something kind of profound to the experience itself.

FULL ALBUMS (of actual playing) AVAILABLE ON ALL STREAMING SERVICES and BANDCAMP!

"The 8-Bit Big Band" is a 30-65 member Jazz/pops orchestra that formed to celebrate and realize some of the best themes from video game music from all consoles and eras arranged in a large ensemble Jazz/Pop/Rock setting!

Blending together timeless musical themes from Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and more then re-arranging them in genres and styles of all musical inspirations, The 8-Bit Big Band has members from all around the world, but most reside primarily in New York City, and are some of the most highly sought after musicians and performers.

Band leader/Arranger/Orchestrated by:
@CRosenMusic

FULL CREDITS:

Alto Sax 1 - Andrew Gould
Alto Sax 2 - Emily Pecoraro
Tenor Sax 1 - Sam Dillon
Tenor Sax 2 - Zac Zinger
Bari Sax - Adison Evans
Bass Sax - Andrew Hadro

Trumpet 1 - Bryan Davis
Trumpet 2 - John Lake
Trumpet 3 - Danny Jonokuchi
Trumpet 4 - Wayne Tucker

Trombone 1 - Jimmy O'Connell
Trombone 2 - Robert Edwards
Trombone 3 - Javier Nero
Bass Trombones - Reginald Chapman III, Jacob Melsha, Ron Wilkens

Tuba - Kenny Bentley
Cimbasso - Reginald Chapman III

Bass - Adam Neely
Piano - Miki Yamanaka
Drums - Jared Schonig

Violins - Tomoko Akaboshi, Caroline Cassio, Maria Im, Eli Bishop, Daniel Constant, Francesca Dardani, Nicole Wright, Lucy Voin

Violas - Laura Sacks, Tia Allen, Sunjay Jayaram, Kayla Williams

Cellos - Sasha Ono, Zach Brown, Jessica Wang, Terrence Thornhill

French Horn - Kyra Sims

Music by John Cage
Arranged/Produced by Charlie Rosen
Engineered and Mixed by John Kilgore
Mastered by Alan Silverman at Arf Mastering
Shot and Edited by Halleloo Productions
Thumbnail art by @MikeKILLUZ

#the8bitbigband #videogamemusic #videogamejazz

[TheBitBigBand]

Most expensive April Fool's day prank ever 🙃

[edoowinnie]

Fantastic, but I'm worried this will get struck for copyright given how close it sounds to the original.

[BingoBento]

Wow! An arrangement of the Nintendo Switch E-shop theme!

[DanLoFat]

Booth engineer: "Lets do that once more for safety"

[RobertStoll]

Not to brag but I can play this on every instrument ever.

[BagginsWulf]

It’s weird, but this performance actually helped me understand the point of this piece a lot better. (Not even kidding!) I heard about it years ago and thought it was the dumbest thing ever, but seeing it “performed” kind of made it make a little bit of sense.

[RhayneAedyth]

So glad you kept all sound in, because thats what the piece is about!

[KleinkMusic]

I know this is a silly April Fool's Day joke but I really enjoy listening to the ambient sound (the music John Cage intended for the audience to hear!) of the recording studio!

[TheDwarvenDefender]

The harmony between this one and the tinnitus ringing in my ear was simply to die for.

[tupe]

no matter how good ai gets, it'll never replace human talent like this

[BrianLaGuardia]

I love that there's a credited arranger. That's a nice touch.

[LLJVBass]

When the bass player went: 😶 I stood up and clapped

Brought me to tears. Good job, Johnny Cage!

[JVR]

I can’t wait to see Adam Neely’s theoretical analysis of this session on his channel

[Jacksynth]

Love all the panning around to some of my favorite musicians doing absolutely nothing. Jared Schonig and Adam Neely killed it like always!

[MiokeDokey]

It's about the notes you don't play - Miles Davis

[BrofUJu]

I'm at work, so I have the sound off, but I can't wait to listen to this on my lunch break!

[butthemeatwasbad]

Shout out to the squeaky floor. Best part of the track for sure.

[brockmckelvey]

There is music in the fact that people cannot sit perfectly still. Everyone will have the need to shift or readjust, twiddle their thumbs or fidget with something, clear their throat or breathe through their instrument, and there is music in all of that

[ghadyissa]

Best arrangement yet.. the 8 bit big band never disappoints!

[zanderlaitinen]

Lmao. I wonder how many people are familiar with this piece.

I heard it several years ago and I frequently have it playing in my head to this day.