As a student in high school in the 1990’s, my favourite piece of music we played was “Beefsteak Charlies’” by Canadian jazz musician Pete Coulman. As soon as I became a music teacher in the early 2000’s I attempted to buy a copy to use with my students. To my dismay I discovered the piece had been out of print since the late 1980’s. For many years I tried to hunt down a copy with limited success.

A few years ago while searching through YouTube I found the performance video you see here performed by the Hart House Jazz Band from the University of Toronto. I was able to contact their director and get my hands on the original charts. The original was handwritten with many parts missing or incomplete. However, using the recording and the parts I had I was able to rebuild it into a new arrangement. Many of the aspects are the same, but changes have been made to ranges and structure to make it more playable by modern high school jazz groups.

I attempted to contact the composer about using this piece, but discovered he passed away many years ago. Belwin Music was the original publisher, who are now owned by Alfred Music, however, with the composer gone and the piece out of print it was impossible to get the rights to sell this music……. However, I still want to make it available to others who might have an interest in looking at the score and potentially using it for educational purposes. Particularly those Canadian schools who might have this in their library but need an updated version. If you are interested in knowing more or looking at the parts, please email me.