#jazzsoundtrack

[jonny-white]

Listen to 4 tracks from the original soundtrack album ‘Take A Girl Like You’ (Pye Records, NSPL 18353, Stereo, UK, 1970)

This is not a record to get too excited about. Having said that, and in the knowledge that countless 1960s soundtrack albums promise more than they deliver, this one has enough to keep one interested if a bit of male scat, light Latin moods, flutes and a jazz waltz get you going. It also contains a smattering of poppy vocal  beat numbers written and sung by one Ram John Holder, singer-cum-actor, who is now best remembered for playing the character Augustus "Porkpie" Grant in Channel 4′s early 1990s barbershop sitcom ‘Desmond’s’, set in Peckham, South East London. Much of the music is composed by Stanley Myers, writer of groovy 60s film scores ‘Kaleidoscope’ and the oddball ‘Otley’, as well the more well known guitar piece ‘Cavatina’, which began life in the 1970 movie ‘Walking Stick’ before being cemented in the collective consciousness by its re-purposing as the main theme for ‘The Deer Hunter’ in 1978. He is also credited with being an influence on, and mentor to, Hans Zimmer, so now you know who to blame.

The film itself appears to be yet another swingin’ 60s look at sexual morality, permissiveness and gender politics (check out the trailer). Based on a 1960 novel by Kingsley Amis, it may well have been a fresh topic at the time, but nearly a decade later, even in the eyes and words of its director Jonathan Miller, the story was “old fashioned”. It flopped with critics and box office alike despite a script by jazz singer George Melly, and our favourite drunken boor Oliver Reed starring as Patrick Standish- a man in a desperate quest to have a shag (in case you have forgotten just how much of a liability Ollie was, remind yourselves here). According to one of his co stars, Aimi McDonald, he’d quite often had a couple of drinks by 7am. The poor woman had to do twelve takes of a naked sex scene with Reed while the director tried to get him to stop panting. She did have the presence of mind however to insist on having a towel placed strategically between them. Had it have been me, I would have preferred to be inside a bell diving suit.

[philajazzproject]

BLAST FROM THE PAST: BLAST FROM THE PAST: Passion vs Comfort by @howard.tucker.982 from his imaginary soundtrack to Walter Mosley’s classic, Easy Rawlins detective novel, The Little Yellow Dog. Performed at the Free Library of Philadelphia in 2016 // See The Video: https://youtu.be/xN6w8W6Am4E // #PhillyJazz #HowardTucker #WalterMosely #EasyRawlins #LittleYellowDog #JazzSoundtrack #DetectiveNovel #SoundTrack (at Free Library of Philadelphia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGIoDvEDIRV/?igshid=1tyuk08z0qe6i

[jonny-white]

Listen to five tracks from the original soundtrack LP ‘Caïn’ composed by Jean Cousineau with jazz arrangements by his brother, Francois Cousineau (Dinamic DS- 7604, Canada, 1965)

It’s hard to know why one sometimes wants a particular record. Rabbit holes exist all over the online vinyl buying world and I found this LP quite deep in the warren. What caught my eye? Well, crisp graphics and the tags ‘French Canadian’, ‘soundtrack’ and ‘jazz’ got me curious, although anyone who thinks that they like jazz will probably tell you that they like a little jazz and hate most of the rest of it as, let’s be fair, most jazz is very, very irritating.

This record isn’t; there’s a bit of bop, cool flute, scat vocals, some lilting 5/4 and even a smattering of Latin rhythm. But that’s not all- breaking it up are short string quartet pieces and even a couple of chanson sung by Gaëtane Letourneau, so, all of a sudden we are transported to what sounds like a Monmartre café in the 1920s. Except we're not. This film is a strictly Quebec affair set in the mid 1960s detailing a fraternal conflict (hence the title) between a successful lawyer and his penniless, bohemian artist brother- apparently an allegory for what French-Canadian society as a whole was experiencing at the time. I can almost see Leonard Cohen, a year or two before he decides to become a singer, sitting quietly in the corner of a café, writing a few poems in a little notebook, slinking off to find a bunch of women to whom he can read... and then sleeping with as many of them as possible.

By the way, the record has a nice textured sleeve; some of us like things like that- please don't judge too harshly.

[jonny-white]

Listen to ten minutes of Gerry Mulligan’s original film soundtrack ‘La Menace’ (DRG Records- MRS 506, USA, 1982).

Yes, what at absolutely atrocious sleeve. Quite possibly the ugliest travesty of an album cover that I own. Doubly distressing in fact as the original French and Italian issues form 1977 (when the film was released) have a really cool cover with a still from the movie. Never mind eh- the music is great and what does one expect for three quid in Camberwell anyway? A coffee? Yes, just about.

Aside from his illustrious career as one of the pre-eminent baritone saxophonists, band leaders and side men of his generation, Gerry Mulligan also had an on-off relationship with the film business. He performed on a soundtrack relatively early in his career in 1958’s ‘I Want To Live’ and although the score is credited to Johnny Mandel, Mulligan’s combo also contributed six tracks of their own. Gerry also bagged a small acting role to boot, something he did again, twice, two years later; once in the Tony Curtis vehicle about struggling jazz musicians, ‘Rat Race’ and again in the beatnik classic ‘The Subterraneans’ which incidentally has a cracking jazz score composed by the recently departed André Previn. After a little mid 60s film composing he returned in 1977, writing the soundtracks for two French movies in the same year- the subject of this post and a black and white film entitled ‘Les Petites Galerès’.

Sadly, the three decade love affair between jazz music and the film industry (Quincy Jones, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Mal Waldron, Herbie Hancock, George Gruntz, Chico Hamilton- I could go on…) is a distant memory. Now we have to put up with Hans bloody Zimmer, John Williams or, at best, some generic, moody electronic stuff that someone just ‘phones in’.

By the way, you can watch the entire film free, right here on Youtube.