Jump to content

Jazz on Film Box Sets


Recommended Posts

A Euro label called Moochin About has put out two 5-CD box sets of classic jazz film scores titled Jazz on Film.

Volume 1 includes the following:

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (Alex North); ‘Private Hell 36’ (Leith Stevens); ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’ (Elmer Bernstein); ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ (Elmer Bernstein/Chico Hamilton); ‘Touch of Evil’ (Henry Mancini); ‘Anatomy of A Murder’ (Duke Ellington); and ‘Odds Against Tomorrow’ (John Lewis)

Volume 2 includes:

‘The Wild One’ (Leith Stevens/Shorty Rogers) ’Crime in the Streets’ (Franz Waxman) ’I Want to Live’ (Johnny Mandel) ’Les Tricheurs’ (Norman Granz’ JATP) ’Paris Blues’ (Duke Ellington) ’The Subterraneans’ (André Previn) ’Shadows’ (Charles Mingus) ’The Connection’ (Freddie Redd).

I have almost everything on Volume 1 so I will probably skip that one, but Volume 2 is on my want list.

The packaging is is very nice from what I gather.

Anyone have these?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where did you order them from? I still haven't gotten mine and I've emailed them with no response so far :(

I have both of these sets and they're fantastic. They appear to be soundtrack albums, not tracks pulled from the film itself. The sound quality is excellent and the booklets and boxes are great. Well worth getting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where did you order them from? I still haven't gotten mine and I've emailed them with no response so far

I'm speaking off the cuff here, but I personally wouldn't sweat an international package after just two weeks. Lots of reasons it could be taking longer. Though I do hope it arrives soon!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

I worked my way through volume 2 and here are my observations:

Disc 1: The Wild One (Leith Stevens); Crime in the Streets (Franz Waxman)

The Wild One has 12 tracks. They use the four Shorty Rogers arrangements from the EP; the other 8 tunes represent the balance of the Leith Stevens Decca LP. (In other words, there is no repetition.)

Crime in the Streets is the same as side 1 of the Capitol LP. (Side 2 was music separate from the film.)

If these are mastered from vinyl (likely), it is a very good transfer.

Disc 2: I Want to Live! (Johnny Mandel)

This uses all the music from both the Johnny Mandel and Gerry Mulligan LPs, but places the Mulligan album first and the Mandel second. (The commonly available CD is the opposite.)

Sound is similar to the common CD.

Disc 3: Les Tricheurs (JATP); Paris Blues (Ellington/Strayhorn).

I never had either of these. Les Tricheurs has 7 tracks and seems to be LP length. Paris Blues has 10 tracks.

Les Tricheurs is in clean mono sound. Paris Blues alternates between mono and stereo and the sound varies. I cannot compare these to any LP or CD issues.

Disc 4: The Subterraneans (Previn)

This has 18 tracks, making it longer than the original LP but shorter than the expanded limited edition CD that came out a few years ago. Everything from the LP is here. Another one I never owned. Not sure what the source is here, but it is generally clean.

Disc 5: Shadows (Mingus); The Connection (Freddie Redd)

Now the Mingus "soundtrack" is the one many of you may have been wondering about. It has four tracks. It has been ages since I have seen this Cassavetes film, but the first track, "Untitled Percussion Composition" appears to be mono and is actually from the soundtrack. It is a 7+ minute track with mostly percussion and flute. The sound is pretty clean.

The other 3 tracks, "Nostalgia in Times Square," "Alice's Wonderland," and "Self Portrait in Three Colors" are stereo and are the same as the more common released versions from around the same time. So, not the great discovery some may have been waiting for, but not the first time a soundtrack album had different recordings from the film. (I did my own version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses this way.)

The Connection is another I've never had. It has seven tracks, is stereo, in clean sound.

The book is very good, both illustrations and text.

So, this is a good value if you don't have any or many of these, but if you already do, you can probably pass.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...