movie 'The Wrong Man' features a bass soloist throughout. Who?

[flat5]

and I don't mean Henry Fonda :-)

BTW, with all the databases and blogs, is there a way to discover which musicians were hired on movie projects?

What is the history of attempts to list the musicians in the credits?

Edited June 18, 2013 by flat5

[brownie]

The great Joe Mondragon is your (and my) man!

[flat5]

Thanks, brownie. How you know is still a mystery.

Joe Mondragon story

This is a true story about bassist Joe Mondragon. I heard it form Ian Carr the jazz trumpet player and journalist who died in February. Ian was know for his work with Brittish jazz rock group 'Nucleus' along side bassist/composer Graham Collier.

Here's the story.

Joe was a Red Indian (Apache, I think) and a great bassist but he was always talking about being the only real American in the band and how great the Indian peoples were to live off the land and in the wilderness. His pride started to get annoying for the other musicians around at the time. The story goes that just before a gig with drummer Shelly Manne Joe was about to smoke something (a joint probably). He came into the dressing room and asked if anyone had a light. Shelly immediately handed Joe his drumsticks! Brilliant, ultra-fast thinking.

Edited June 18, 2013 by flat5

[brownie]

Was intrigued by this myself a while ago when I rewatched the film.

Checked this very useful site (it lists all the musicians taking part in the soundtrack:

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/cds/detail.cfm/CDID/364/

Was delighted to find out Joe Mondragon was the bass player...

[clifford_thornton]

Just a point: Graham Collier was not in Nucleus. Jeff Clyne was, and was later replaced by Roy Babbington.

[Larry Kart]

Mondragon was very good. I recall in particular his playing on Harry Edison's "Sweets" (Clef), with Ben Webster in superb form, as part of a lovely rhythm section: Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, and Alvin Stoller, from Sept. 4, 1956. The same group backed Billie Holiday on a Clef album a few weeks before.

Billie Holiday And Her Orchestra

Harry Edison (trumpet) Ben Webster (tenor saxophone) Jimmy Rowles (piano) Barney Kessel (guitar) Joe Mondragon (bass) Alvin Stoller (drums) Billie Holiday (vocals)

Los Angeles, CA, August 14, 1956

2914-3 Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me Verve MGV 8329, VE2 2529, V6 8808 2915-6 Cheek To Cheek Verve MGV 8329, VE2 2529 2916-4 Ill Wind - 2917-8 Speak Low -

* Verve MGV 8329 Billie Holiday - All Or Nothing At All
* Verve VE2 2529 Billie Holiday - All Or Nothing At All
* Verve V6 8808 The Best Of Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday And Her Orchestra

same personnel

Los Angeles, CA, August 18, 1956

2929-4 We'll Be Together Again Verve MGV 8329, VE2 2529, V6 8808 2930-3 All Or Nothing At All Verve MGV 8329, VE2 2529 2931-6 Sophisticated Lady - 2932-6 April In Paris -

* Verve MGV 8329 Billie Holiday - All Or Nothing At All
* Verve VE2 2529 Billie Holiday - All Or Nothing At All
* Verve V6 8808 The Best Of Billie Holiday

[sgcim]

and I don't mean Henry Fonda :-)

BTW, with all the databases and blogs, is there a way to discover which musicians were hired on movie projects?

What is the history of attempts to list the musicians in the credits?

This is considered the standard text for jazz musicians in films. I just used it to discover that Bud Shank was the flautist in the jazz club scene in "Night Tide", a lesser known Raksin film score.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/jots/jazzscreen-home.html

[medjuck]

and I don't mean Henry Fonda :-)

BTW, with all the databases and blogs, is there a way to discover which musicians were hired on movie projects?

What is the history of attempts to list the musicians in the credits?

This is considered the standard text for jazz musicians in films. I just used it to discover that Bud Shank was the flautist in the jazz club scene in "Night Tide", a lesser known Raksin film score.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/jots/jazzscreen-home.html

Yes, David Meeker is the best source but it was really hard for him to get the line-up for every film score recorded. I once had lunch with him and he began to take notes after I mentioned that Larry Bunker had been the percussionist on virtually every film I'd worked on. But of course I couldn't remember all the jazz musicians I'd met at scoring sessions or which films they'd worked on.

Edited June 18, 2013 by medjuck

[Big Beat Steve]

I take it that the David Meeker document linked by sgcim above has been HEAVILY expanded over his book "Jazz In The Movies".

I bought the "New Enlarged edition" (1981 printing, DaCapo) of this book a while ago secondhand and while i did not regret my purchase I must say I was a bit disappointed by the balancing of what movies with jazz credentials he included in the book and what he didn't. His coverage of soundies and shorts from the swing era seemed to be a bit unbalanced (some were in, some weren't, though for the life of it I could not discern any criteria by which one would have warranted inclusion and another one wouldn't) , and I drew a blank with several swing-era movies (both shorts, B-movies and "all-black cast" movies) that were not all-out jazz movies but featured memorable jazz scenes and band appearances within the plot (and not to a lesser degree than many of the later movies he included in the above book that featured only relatively occasional modern jazz appearances or jazz scores within the film - and his entries in some cases even stressed that there was only some slight jazz content).

Afterthought: Just checked the online pdf file of the new opus, and while it really has taken on colossal proportions, just a case in point: I cannot find the movie "Juke Joint" of 1947 in there. The music scenes featuring the Red Calhoun orchestra are on Youtube (so seem to be circulating among fans - and the movie itself is listed on the IMDB) and they are a gas!

But very, very nice to have this online source available anyway.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Big Beat Steve

[Teasing the Korean]

Bassist Schmassist.

The score is by THEE GREAT BERNARD HERRMANN.

[sgcim]

Bassist Schmassist.

The score is by THEE GREAT BERNARD HERRMANN.

Yeah, Bennie da man!

[flat5]

Yes, that is listed by IMDB.

[Teasing the Korean]

http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/5667/THE-WRONG-MAN/

[flat5]

Thank you all.