Jazz scores
- Dette emnet har 30 svar, 7 deltakere, og ble sist oppdatert 2 måneder, 1 uke siden av
.
-
Innlegg
-
Well, yes, there was that, but I should have clarified: I was really referring to jazz or jazz-like scores to TV shows that received contemporaneous soundtrack albums. On “Peter Gunn,” for example, only the main theme and opening bass & drum section of “Fallout” were from the show. Mancini simply arranged a jazz album and called it “Peter Gunn.” Granted, some of the tunes, like “Dreamsville,” appeared on the show after the fact. This was somewhat typical with jazz TV scores, and it extended into the spy soundtrack era a few years later.
Yeah, same with CHECKMATE.
I’m always on the lookout for new, interesting jazz scores, and now I’ve discovered another — Nick Gomez’ HOLLYWOOD GRIT, released just a few days ago, which very much taps into old-school, sultry noir tropes. But it requires a tolerance and love of the saxophone (which I thankfully have):
But it requires a tolerance and love of the saxophone (which I thankfully have)
I do too. Never understood why people hate saxophone. Of course it can be annoying, just like almost any other like especially solo violin 😉
Hmm, not sure I can list 10 examples. Not that I dislike jazz in film scores, it’s just that I don’t have a lot of them. In fact, I had to look through my collection to remind myself of jazz-influenced scores I have enjoyed. And some of these may be bordeline cases regarding the “jazz” label.
But anyway, in no particular order (and it seems that I landed at almost 10):
THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (Shire) (OK, this HAS to be at the top of the list. 12-tone jazz-rock-funk?! Love it! 🙂 )
CHINATOWN (Goldsmith)
THE RUSSIA HOUSE (Goldsmith)
CHECKMATE (Williams)
LUCKY YOU (Chris Young)
CASINO ROYALE (Bacharach)
THE YAKUZA (Grusin)
I, SPY (Grusin)
SNEAKERS (Horner)It is probably to a certain degree a matter of interpretation if a score is counted as a jazz score.
Not 100% sure for John Williams’ The Post, Catch Me If You Can or his 60s comedy scores. Same question for Goldsmith’s LA Confidential or Isham’s Black Dahlia.
No doubt is for sure for Joseph Vitarelli’s The Last Seduction or Mancini’s Pink Panther.
By far my personal favourite jazz film music album is the Filmfest Gent album of Terrence Blanchard.
I really love the sound of that.
Great music.
Great fusion of Barry like wall of sound and jazz element, best of them the great solo trumpet.Oh, how could I forget about CATCH ME IF YOU CAN? I think that definitely qualifies as a jazz score, as quite a few cues in it are more or less pure jazz. So that would also go on my list.
And I see now that I probably deviated from Thor’s original question, about listing 10 of the greatest jazz scores in film history. While I just listed scores that I personally enjoy. And not just film scores, but TV scores also. 🙂
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN is a fine score, and it’s definitely jazz, but the fact that Dan Higgins’ sax solo was not improvised, but written so clearly down by Williams kinda challenges a core component of jazz.
By the way, this thread was not about the 10 greatest jazz scores in history (how do you decide that anyway?), but 10 personal favourites that COVER the entirety of film history.
There are several genres of music that include improvisation, yet they are not jazz.
And there are jazz compositions by major composers, including Duke Ellington, that contain no improvisation.
So improvisation, while a key component component of jazz, is not the only or ultimate criterion for assessing whether something is or is not jazz – especially when we consider the directions that jazz took in the postwar era with the third stream movement. I therefore have no qualms about characterizing Catch Me If you Can or A Streetcar Named Desire as jazz. YMMV.
True. And I personally prefer the more “organized” jazz over the free-form. Some of the most free-form jazz goes on my nerves.
So improvisation, while a key component component of jazz, is not the only or ultimate criterion for assessing whether something is or is not jazz
Agreed. I would say that things like syncopation and the use of certain harmonies are elements that will define something as “jazz”, just as much as improvisation will.
Although, I just read in the Williams biography that he considers improvisation to be the most important thing in jazz – at least from the musicians’ point of view (Williams calls it “freedom”). 🙂
Although, I just read in the Williams biography that he considers improvisation to be the most important thing in jazz – at least from the musicians’ point of view (Williams calls it “freedom”). 🙂
Well, sure. I think the primary issue with jazz scores is that cues have to be timed to the visuals, so you typically get shorter cues, especially if we’re talking about TV shows, meaning less time for a soloist to stretch out; whereas live, or on a record, those kinds of time restrictions don’t exist. In jazz scores, improvisation will mostly show up in source cues, or sometimes in longer cues if there is enough space for a solo.
My impression is also that improvisation and the communication of the players during it is the defining key moment of jazz. Just jazz chords itself does not make music jazz. Losts of 70s music uses them without technically being jazz. That’s why some jazz purists will not consider a written solo (like Williams’ noted above) as real jazz, basically everything that is not created in the moment of playing (besides the obviously existing base composition).
… basically everything that is not created in the moment of playing (besides the obviously existing base composition).
Most “real” jazz is not 100% “created in the moment of playing.” Jazz musicians play arrangements. (See Art Tatum.) Even much free jazz will use some sort of a roadmap as a jumping off point. (See Anthony Braxton.) Improvisation in jazz usually occurs within existing frameworks.
Just jazz chords itself does not make music jazz.
Much more than chords. Rhythm, groove, feel, alternating between swing 8ths and straight 8ths, accents, etc.
That’s why some jazz purists will not consider a written solo (like Williams’ noted above) as real jazz…
Then they are also discounting much postwar jazz, including Ellington’s extended compositions, third stream compositions, etc.
Most “real” jazz is not 100% “created in the moment of playing.” Jazz musicians play arrangements. (See Art Tatum.) Even much free jazz will use some sort of a roadmap as a jumping off point. (See Anthony Braxton.) Improvisation in jazz usually occurs within existing frameworks.
That’s why I mentioned the “base composition” 😉 Anyway, it’s not my opinion as I am not pinned down to those definitions. And it gets difficult with crossover styles anyway. It’s all rather fluid to me. After all improvisiation is a large part of lots of styles, too.
- Du må være innlogget for å svare på dette emnet.