One distinction to make is between music that has the right
atmosphere and
music that tells the right tales. Jazz from the bop era comes
to mind for
the first category, and urban blues seems to fit the second,
espec. as sung
by a voice that seems to have lived the story. A number of
respondents
have listed some good artists. In-between are all those songs
of forlorn
love by popular band singers, such as Sarah Vaughan and
Billie Holiday,
creating a sound that permeates noir films.
Among contemporary artists, I really like the sound of Tom
Waits. His 1998
album, "Beautiful Maladies," collects such memorable
song-tales as "Earth
Dies Screaming," "Shore Leave," and "Way Down in the Hole."
All sung in a
voice that is, um, unique. For an homage to noir music, as
interpreted by
rock-jazz artist who uses instruments and tape, try John
Zorn's "Naked
City," the CD with a body on the cover.
Since neither of these artists is to everyone's taste, I
recommend shopping
at a store where you can listen before you buy.
The question about painters prompted me to get down one of my
favorite
library sale finds, _The Regionalists_ by Nancy Heller and
Julia Williams,
which has a chapter on urban realists. Apart from Hopper and
Benton
(already mentioned), I see some nice New York scenes by
Raphael Soyer and
Isaac Soyer, and some wonderfulcrowd scenes by Reginald Marsh
and Paul
Cadmus.
You said you had the film area under control, but perhaps
don't know about
two documentaries that celebrate/analyze film noir. One is a
segment of
the American Cinema series, designed for film/popular culture
studies and
marketed by Annenberg (Time-Life?); the other is approx. half
hour show
which weaves together clips to develop major themes, called
"You Kill Me,"
narrated by Will Hare, developed for American Movie
Classics.
Given all the response you've gotten, I hope you'll post the
syllabus--or
at least send me one--once you put together the course.
Bill Hagen
<billha@ionet.net>
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