Welcome to "The Shed"

The weather is getting nicer, so I decided to start learning the jazz standard "Sunny Side of the Street" in honor of the sun being out. Louis Armstrong's version is the most famous rendition the song, but I really like Dizzy Gillespie's arrangement, and that's kind of what I was going for. Dizzy released it as a bit of a pun since it features both "Sonny" Rollins and "Sonny" Stitt on tenor sax, and the album is called "Sonny Side Up."
Backing from Backingtracks JAZZ
I think I've got the basic form of the song down, but I need to keep critically listening and transcribing Dizzy's recording (that's how you learn jazz!). Listening back, I need to work on my articulation a lot. Both Sonny Stitt and Sonny Rollins really make certain notes POP which I haven't yet mastered. I could feel myself a little out of tune on some notes towards the end too, bleh. Once I transcribe more of their solos, I'll be able to play faster some of the faster passages I attempted.

This morning, YouTube recommended me a a video by Cadence Hira about a melody used in a bunch of (mostly Japanese) video games. It's a fun watch, even if you don't know about music theory.
Anyway, the video starts out discussing the Secret of the Forest Theme from Chrono Trigger. I always loved that theme, and it got my brain going. I recently got a xylophone, could I use that to make an acoustic version of this? And, a challenge: arrange and record it in one session after work!

For a few hours of work (including arranging the parts, though thankfully VGLeadSheets gave me a good foundation), I'm pretty proud of it, but there are some things I'd change if I had more time. For one, I don't think saxophone works here very well. My playing was fine, but, especially without a low-end bass/rhythm section tying things together, it kinda sticks out too much. Also, this is the first time I've picked up my flute in a couple months, and I FORGOT how much air it takes! Waaaay more than a tenor sax! Flute isn't a priority for me right now, but I need to practice it more.
I do love the way the xylophone came through, though! I think it would sound really nice if I doubled the sax parts with xylo to give it a little more oopmh. And maybe layer in some more flute drones to fill things out a bit more too.