I started off the pandemic writing arrangements of all of my original tunes, then went on to obscure jazz standards and movie themes' that no one has done for big band, then standards that I had original harmonic/rhythmic ideas on, then standards that the greats (Puerling, among others) had great ideas on (that I could steal- you can't copyright arrangements), and now I've reached the point where I'm using tunes from other genres whose composers had jazz roots.
So far I've hit up rock tunes from bands like The Association, Circus maximus, Nick Drake, Judee Sill (!), If, Manhattan Transfer, Steely Dan and Traffic.
All these songs have great harmonic/melodic/rhythmic features to them that make them the equal of any other good tunes, and I also love them.
Does anyone have any suggestions of NON- standard tunes that they think might work for big band?