Kari S Posted August 30, 2003 Report Posted August 30, 2003 It's a common fact that O.S.Ts these days are just hit compilations with little to do with the film in question. Quite a few of my personal favs seem to be from the blaxploitation era. - Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man - James Brown - especially "The Boss" from Black Caesar - Johnny Pate (+The Four Tops) - Shaft In Africa... Of the more recent ones, I find David Holmes' soundtrack to Soderbergh's Ocean's 11 quite good. Quote
vibes Posted August 30, 2003 Report Posted August 30, 2003 Of the more recent ones, I find David Holmes' soundtrack to Soderbergh's Ocean's 11 quite good. YES! "Ocean's 11" was the first soundtrack that came to mind when I saw this thread. Other recent favorites: Lord of the Rings The Talented Mr. Ripley (not just for the jazz, either!) The Star Wars Prequels Quote
paul secor Posted August 30, 2003 Report Posted August 30, 2003 I've always liked Georges Delerue's soundtracks for Truffaut's films. I even have a couple of 45's that I bought back in the 60's with music from Shoot the Piano Player and Jules and Jim. Quote
jazzbo Posted August 30, 2003 Report Posted August 30, 2003 Yes, the recent imported series of soundtracks from French films is quite revealing; some great Getz on one! I'll have to track down the "Oceans 11" soundtrack because I do remember the original music for the film being pretty nice, it was an okay film with pretty good music. "Monsoon Wedding"'s soundtrack is way up there on my list. Quote
king ubu Posted August 30, 2003 Report Posted August 30, 2003 Jackie Brown, L'ascenseur pour l'echafaud, The man with the golden arm Delerue (also his Godard soundtracks, such as Le mépris), and many of the the more recent Godard soundtracks, where the soundtrack alone can be heard as sort of an "audio-film" (similar to what some releases on the Winter&Winter label achieve) almost anything by Morricone, Max Steiner my perrennial favorite: Nono Rota (8 1/2, La dolce vita, Godfather, Il gattopardo etc) ubu Quote
Shrdlu Posted August 30, 2003 Report Posted August 30, 2003 Here are two that have stood the test of time for me: "Peter Gunn", by Henry Mancini, and "The Benny Goodman Story" (Mancini was also in on that film for the incidental music, but not for the soundtrack albums). The "Peter Gunn" music appeared on two LPs, both of which have been reissued on CD. The first LP, especially, is a real classic, almost canonical. The compositions and arrangements are superb, and Mancini had them make a lot of takes as he carefully crafted the performances. There are many fine soloists, such as Pete Candoli and Victor Feldman. One Johnny T. Williams, on piano, also turns out to be a very competent jazz soloist. (The tedious bombast of most of his movie scores was still well in the future at that stage.) The Goodman soundtrack was issued on two Decca LPs, and later Capitol put out two LPs which also claimed to be soundtrack albums, but weren't. This problem persists today, as there is a Capitol CD with most of the contents of the two bogus LPs, but no CD version of the Deccas. To get the real Hatfield, you will have to search for used Decca LPs - they can be found on the Gemm website. Anyway, the real soundtrack recordings are a great encapsulation of the BG orchestra's personnel and sound from about 1938, when the original stars such as Harry James and Gene Krupa were still aboard. Nearly all the guys from back then were brought back for the movie, and the band was actually made even better by adding Stan Getz (who did play in a BG lineup after 1938) and Urbie Green. There's even a cameo appearance by Buck Clayton. The original trio and quartet are also well represented. I'm pleased to say that the sax section, led by Hymie Schertzer, managed to re-create that wonderful, smooth sound that it had back in the 30s - easily the finest sax section sound ever. (Not having a baritone is a big advantage here.) You could safely describe these performances as being just as good as the originals, but with better studio engineering. This music really is a soundtrack, as what is on the LPs is precisely what is heard in the movie. Quote
Free For All Posted August 31, 2003 Report Posted August 31, 2003 (edited) Here are a few I like: Glengerry Glen Ross Schindler's List L.A. Confidential The Firm Catch Me if You Can Little Man Tate And of course, some of the obvious choices like: The Gauntlet (was that the one that Art Pepper was on?) Sharkey's Machine (that one had a great Fontana-Watrous moment during a forensic scene w/no dialogue) I Want To Live I always thought it was funny in movies like It's A Wonderful Life that when they show the what-if bizarro Bedford Falls there's always "hot jazz" everywhere. I'd much rather live there than the "real" place. Donna Reed looked hot as the spinster librarian. The main drag looks like 52nd street in its heyday. That jazz is so EVIL! Edited August 31, 2003 by Free For All Quote
brownie Posted August 31, 2003 Report Posted August 31, 2003 Some I like: - any Bernard Herrman score (my favorites are the scores he wrote for Alfred Hitchcock), - the Henry Mancini score for Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, excellent early Mancini music with a very pronounced West Coast jazz ensemble sound, - music from somne Jean-Luc Godard films (Martial Solal's music for 'A Bout de Souffle', Georges Delerue's music for "Le Mepris') Quote
davef Posted August 31, 2003 Report Posted August 31, 2003 How about Blow-Up, most of the music was arranged and conducted by Herbie Hancock. I bought this album in 1985 - admittedly, at that point it was for the performance of "Stroll On" by the Yardbirds - but I really enjoyed the rest of the music on it and you could say that this was my very first jazz album! Quote
BruceH Posted August 31, 2003 Report Posted August 31, 2003 The Sonny Rollins music for Alfie. (One of my favorite Rollins' albums actually.) Vibes' icon. I rather like some of the stuff on the Metropolitan and That Thing You Do soundtracks. I like a lot of the things already mentioned in this thread, but just have to give a huge thumbs-up for Bernard Herrman. Yaye!! Quote
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted September 1, 2003 Report Posted September 1, 2003 My favorite soundtrack has to be Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It"..........great line-up w/Harold Vick, Cedar Walton, Stanley Cowell, Joe Chambers, Virgil Jones, Bill Lee & Kenny Washington. The songs "Nola Instrumental" and 'Nola Cleans Up" (w/Bill Lee) and "End Credits" (some nice Vick)are all keepers......as is the melancholic "She's Walkin'". Quote
Free For All Posted September 1, 2003 Report Posted September 1, 2003 The Sonny Rollins music for Alfie. (One of my favorite Rollins' albums actually.) Great music, agreed. I can't remember, did much of that actually make it to the movie soundtrack? Quote
BruceH Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 (edited) Actually, Free For All, I think not. My understanding is that the Rollins' "Alfie" is more in the nature music-inspired-by-themes-from-the-movie, although I'll have to consult the liners to be 100% sure. Not that it matters to me one bit. Come to think of it, Walt Dickerson's "Patch of Blue" album is the same deal, which is why it's called "Impressions of..." Edited September 2, 2003 by BruceH Quote
Free For All Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 Actually, Free For All, I think not. My understanding is that the Rollins' "Alfie" is more in the nature music-inspired-by-themes-from-the-movie, although I'll have to consult the liners to be 100% sure. Not that it matters to me one bit. It just seems so much like an "official soundtrack" the way it is packaged. I agree, this doesn't matter- it's a GREAT side! Quote
skeith Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 Love Alfie, And yes the versions on the Cd are not the same as in the film, but since Rollins wrote the music for the film, perhaps "inspired by" doesn't quite capture it. They are very similar. My other great jazz soundtrack is "Last Tango in Paris" with Gato Barbieri. Quote
Free For All Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 So let me get this straight..... I haven't seen Alfie for a long time. Was Sonny credited as composer of the movie soundtrack? Was any of the material from the Impulse CD used in the film? And finally, is there an actual Alfie soundtrack with Sonny featuring material other than what's on the Impulse CD? Quote
JohnJ Posted September 3, 2003 Report Posted September 3, 2003 Another great soundtrack is "Taxi Driver". I even like the snippets of dialogue. Quote
skeith Posted September 3, 2003 Report Posted September 3, 2003 Free for All, I own the movie, so I think I can answer your questions. Sonny Rollins is credited in the film as the composer of the music, except for the title song which is a Bacharach/David composition. I don't think any of the Impulse CD is directly on the film, the Impulse CD contains the same band doing slightly different and often more extended versions of the tunes done in the movie. I don't know if there is an actual Alfie soundtrack, but based on my hearing of it (just the other night anyway), I think the Impulse CD is much better. In the movie some tunes are only very brief, as little as 30 seconds to a minute. These same tunes get much longer treatment on the Impulse CD. My impression is that the sound quality on the Impulse CD is superior to what I hear on the film. Quote
Free For All Posted September 3, 2003 Report Posted September 3, 2003 Thanks for the info skeith! Quote
sidewinder Posted September 3, 2003 Report Posted September 3, 2003 (edited) I don't think any of the Impulse CD is directly on the film, the Impulse CD contains the same band doing slightly different and often more extended versions of the tunes done in the movie. Wasn't the movie soundtrack recorded with UK musicians? I seem to recall hearing that Ronnie Scott and Keith Christie were on it.. Edited September 3, 2003 by sidewinder Quote
Jazzmoose Posted September 3, 2003 Report Posted September 3, 2003 Hmmm. Other than Shrdlu's mention of Peter Gunn, I'm afraid the soundtrack discs/LPs on my shelves aren't getting much mention here. As for jazz or jazz-like, the only other I have is Black Orpheus. Other than that, my soundtracks run more to Oklahoma!, South Pacific and Damn Yankees... And I still haven't picked up Anatomy of a Murder or I Want to Live; somebody kick me!! Quote
Free For All Posted September 3, 2003 Report Posted September 3, 2003 Didn't Gil want to do another project w/Miles on the music from "Oklahoma"? Quote
Jazzdog Posted September 4, 2003 Report Posted September 4, 2003 I don't really go in that much for Soundtrack cd's. Usually I find certain scores works best within the context of the film. There are some notable exceptions though though. Phillip Glass' works for the Reggio films and Peter Gabriel's music for Last Temptation of Christ Passion. Two of my personal favorite films that have great soundtracks to boot are such as Get Shorty and The Big Lebowski. Also another personal favorite is the music to Grosse Pointe Blank...if you are into that sort of thing that is! Quote
danasgoodstuff Posted September 4, 2003 Report Posted September 4, 2003 Weren't most soundtrack LP's back in the day rerecordings dun specifically to make an album out of it rather than just a cinema verite release of the music actually used in the film? Otherwise they'd have all been full of little 30 second snippets, with lots of repeats...the current version of the Last Tango In Paris soundtrack has both the album as originally released and the "cues" (as they call them) actually used in the film. I'll never think of butter the same way again... Quote
Free For All Posted September 4, 2003 Report Posted September 4, 2003 I'll never think of butter the same way again... ...or Maria Schneider! B) Quote
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