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What are some jazz sound tracks from movies that you like?


Hardbopjazz

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Opening scene credits music from "The Cincinnati Kid" cannot be beat. It is New Orleans jazz at it's best. The only way to hear it by viewing the DVD. The CD soundtrack music omits the opening credits music (I guess) because there is some narrative from Steve McQueen overlaying the music. 

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Art Ensemble of Chicago "Les Stances a Sophie" is the obvious choice for me as a stand-alone soundtrack. The Albert Ayler Quartet + John Tchicai and Roswell Rudd (on loan from the NY Art Quartet) also made some incredible music for the Michael Snow film "New York Eye And Ear Control, and it's quite stunning in the context of Snow's visual work as well.

I did see Chappaqua (which is terrible) reset with Ornette's music rather than Ravi Shankar's, and it was certainly made more memorable as a result. I do love "Chappaqua Suite." And "Who's Crazy" is pretty fun as well.

Another unused soundtrack (IIRC -- never saw the film) that's quite wonderful is Marion Brown's "Le Temps Fou."

Oh, and (duh), Miles' music in Ascenseur is quite strong -- really dig that film too. Less into watching Liaisons Dangereuses but the recently released Monk set is super.

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John Cassavetes' "Shadows" with music by Charles Mingus.

The film of Jack Gelber's play "The Connection" with music by the Freddie Redd Quartet with Jackie McLean.

The Swedish film "Sven Klang's Combo" about a doomed jazz musician who resembles Lars Gullin.

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18 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

 

I did see Chappaqua (which is terrible) reset with Ornette's music rather than Ravi Shankar's, and it was certainly made more memorable as a result. I do love "Chappaqua Suite." And "Who's Crazy" is pretty fun as well.

 

 

I saw both Chappaqua (with Ravi Shankar's music, rather than Ornette's) and Who's Crazy years ago - both terrible films. Ornette's music for both is memorable. As I recall, Who's Crazy also included Marianne Faithfull singing an Ornette ballad - can't recall which one.

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1 hour ago, paul secor said:

I saw both Chappaqua (with Ravi Shankar's music, rather than Ornette's) and Who's Crazy years ago - both terrible films. Ornette's music for both is memorable. As I recall, Who's Crazy also included Marianne Faithfull singing an Ornette ballad - can't recall which one.

Yeah, that's true re: Faithfull, and I cannot recall which one either. There's a restored print that I saw screened at Anthology Film Archives a year or two ago -- it's ridiculous (being a Living Theater endeavor) but enjoyable. Chappaqua -- and I do enjoy some experimental film -- is just bad.

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3 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

 Another unused soundtrack (IIRC -- never saw the film) that's quite wonderful is Marion Brown's "Le Temps Fou."

The film is entitled "Un été sauvage" (a savage summer). I have the video. Barre Phillips plays himself, see him on the left side of the photo.

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5 hours ago, Hardbopjazz said:

I really enjoy Sonny Rollins' soundtrack he wrote for "Alfie"...

Yeah, and I'd like to hear the actual soundtrack itself, if it still exists!

Anybody seen "They Saved Hitler's Brain"? The opening minutes, obviously done years after the original film was in the can, have a free-jazzish Rhodes thing going on that is not in the least unpleasant. I've yet to find out who did THAT music.

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I just heard an interesting record called something like 'Jazz in the Movies: The New Wave Vol.2', where they had every cue from movies like The Hustler. You get to hear stuff that was cut from the movie for whatever reason, but is still some great music.

In The Hustler, Kenyon Hopkins wrote some great cues featuring Phil Woods, proving why people like Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones, Michel Legrand, Hopkins, Gary McFarland, and others, used PW whenever they were lucky enough to get him.

There's other interesting stuff from European movies featuring writers like George Gruntz, Michel legrand, and some Eyetalian film composers I can't recall.

The West Coast film music featured I found painful to listen to, because all the soloists who improvised or played melodies, played with this horrible, corny-assed vibrato that made me want to puke.

I prefer film composers who managed to integrate jazz into the score, rather than just tell guys to play a tune and blow, because you can hear that on any jazz record

Few film composers and jazz musicians were capable of handling something like that, but the soundtrack by Eddie Sauter to 'Mickey-One' used Stan Getz to great advantage.

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