Jazz scores
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There is one particular “sound” I really love; what I call “baroque jazz melancholy”. This is an almost classical tune with a jazz undercurrent or backbeat and with a minor-moded melody to go.
Examples include the “Main Title” from THE EIGER SANCTION or “Main Title” and “Rickard Escapes” from THE LAST RUN. If there’s a harpschicord that goes with it, even better.
Do you know what I’m talking about? Any other examples of this?
…and how utterly bizarre that I would pose that question at the EXACT MOMENT that I came to Stelvio Cipriani’s FEMINA RIDENS score in my collection walkthrough (a score that has been previously covered in the “Excellent Erotica Earworms” thread) and encounter a track like this, which fits the criteria neatly:
I don’t think either Morricone’s Brubeckian gem “Blue-Eyed Bandit” or any of the scores of tragic Polish maestro Krzysztof Komeda have been mentioned yet. Both are highly recommended.
Not a score, but this 2CD set with a certain film music connection is one of the most important JW releases in the last 20 years, IMO. Displays Williams’ rather virtuosic piano skills, culled from different albums. I have most, if not all, of Williams’ albums as pianist (most of them digitally, only a couple physically…including this), but this is a great highlights reel of that.
I am afraid, I listened to Jazz Beginnings just once. But I remember being impressed by Williams’ virtuosity. Being such a great pianist at such a young age must be giving you an immense freedom at composing. I remember, when I was trying to compose something how much my musical ideas were streamlined by my limitations as an instrumental player. I believe, that this is part of the issue with modern day composers. But that’s just a theory based on my personal experience.
Yes, no doubt mastering an instrument well helps your composition process. Well, I say that having no clue (as I don’t really play any instrument), but I can only surmise.
Another non-score jazz album that still has film music connections — several of the composers represented on it have also done famous film work (Williams, Montenegro, Ferguson, Garcia). This was an incredibly important album to me, not just because it had Williams’ “Prelude and Fugue”, but because it opened me up to a sound world where jazz meets contemporary classical music, or even programmatic music (like Garcia’s piece, or Jim Knight’s “Music for an Unwritten Play”). I hadn’t heard anything like that before, and I was mesmerized by it.
Alex North: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
As I said, it’s not “real” jazz, it’s composed like any other film score. But nevertheless, it is groundbreaking. One of the first major Hollywood scores to incorporate “the sound” of modern jazz. And it’s just a darn great score.North’s approach with Streetcar was very much reflective of directions that players and composers of “real” jazz were exploring at the time, so in that regard, I have no qualms categorizing it real jazz, without the quotation marks.
Listening to this now. I’ve always had a soft spot for this classic movie and score. It’s almost as if the score is a combination of traditional US west coast jazz and some European inflections.
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