"Sweet Love, Bitter

[sgcim]

I've been looking for this film for a long time, and found it on youtube.

I love watching these gritty, B&W films made in the 50s and 60s about jazz musicians, because they usually deliver a more authentic

representation of the jazz scene than atrocities like "Lady Sings The Blues, "Bird", and the soon to be released, "Wynton- How I Invented

Jazz".

Sweet Love, Bittersweet (1967) is about as real as it can get, with Dick Gregory portraying a Charlie Parker-like alto saxophonist named Richie

Stokes, nicknamed 'Eagle', who is befriended by a white, unemployed college professor (played by Don Murray) and put up by an

adoring black friend (Robert Hooks' film debut).

Out of any jazz film I've seen, it's the only one that makes no attempt to pander to any Hollywood formula whatsoever, and sometimes

seems like just a bunch of short segments, rather than a similar narrative like "Round Midnight", which it obviously influenced.

The soundtrack is similarly as anti-Hollywood as it can get, with some great tunes written by Mal Waldron, and featuring:

• Mal Waldron — piano
• Dave Burns — trumpet
• George Coleman — tenor saxophone, alto saxophone
• Charles Davis — baritone saxophone
• Richard Davis (tracks 1 & 4) George Duvivier (tracks 2, 3 & 5-13) — bass
• Al Dreares — drums

according to Wiki.

I read some of the few reviews on the IMDB, and someone claims that Chas. MacPherson plays the alto parts, but i suspect they might have gotten it confused with "Bird".

We couldn't figure out which city it was filmed in, but it was supposed to be NYC (with one stock footage scene of Columbus Circle).

However, when I checked the IMDB, it turned out to be Philly.

Check this out for the great music, and if you're a fan of esoterica.

[Chuck Nessa]

Thanks.

[Bill Nelson]

With pleasure, I can confirm the 'SLB' soundtrack is "as anti-Hollywood as it can get". It's quality jazz all the way, dispensing with the obligatory 'love theme' vocal (usually on side 1, track 1 or 2).

With George Coleman credited on alto sax, I can 'get' the similarity to Charles McPherson when there's strong bebop blowing. (Charles Davis is credited on tenor.)

You may still be able to find this album cheaply. While visiting Charleston in tourist mode with my wife (serious record hunting eliminated), I was permitted entry into a 'fine quality' used book store.

"Well looky here," I said upon noticing they also carried about 500 LPs on the side. The jazz bins were a bust, with mostly Pete Fountain and Earl Grant, which shifted my digging to 'Soundtracks'.

There it was -- a sealed mono copy of 'Sweet Love Bitter' (cut-out with a jacket corner hole punch) -- with a $5 tag.

Record Search Tip: in some antique consignment and used book venues without a resident wiseguy/record shark, the tendency is to price LPs 'high enough' in lieu of an eBay search.

Also, there may still be a reliance on price guides by Jerry Osborne and Goldmine from years back "just so we don't make a mistake" -- a legacy bargain if they're pricing Blue Note albums.

Example: in the last 'official' price guide for movie and TV soundtracks (Jerry Osborne, 1997), the top values for 'Sweet Love Bitter;' are $10-12 in mono and $12-15 in stereo.

"At my store, I go with this here price guide."

"Hey pops, no problem!"

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I have this soundtrack on a Japanese CD. It was put out on the Impulse! label. The only negative is that it is very short. It's only about 31 minutes long.