--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Vorzimmer"
<jvorzimmer@...> wrote:
>
> Speaking about jazz, hardboiled crime fiction and
film noir, I
thought I'd
> add that I think the best soundtrack of any film
noir has to be
Ascenseur
> pour L'飨afaud (1958). The French really got the
style and angst
down in
> their revival of the genre in the late 50s. Having
Miles Davis
score the
> film was brilliant and I think it stands as one of
his great works
of that
> decade. Interestingly enough it's been on CD now for
almost 20
years and
> still in print I believe. If someone on list can
think of a better
> soundtrack, I for one would like to know about
it.
>
> Jeff
Offhand I can't think of a better one. It's wonderful. I
always thought Charles Mingus could have composed a great
noir soundtrack. As I recall, he was supposed to do the music
for John Cassavetes' first film Shadows (1959) but most of it
didn't get done for one reason or the other. I believe some
Mingus remained in the film, although most was by other
hands.
The Cassavetes television series Johnny Staccato (1959) also
featured some very good jazz. There was a regular house band
in Staccato's club and other musicians had guest bits. Red
Norvo was one and John Williams, later to become the most
Oscar-nominated composer in history, did a couple of episodes
as a piano player. He was billed as Johnny Williams.
Speaking of house bands in private eye series, they were
rather common in private eye series of the late 1950s and
early 1960s. The show that kicked off the private eye boom
was Roy Huggins' 77 Sunset Strip. When PI Stuart Bailey and
his cohorts needed a drink, which was fairly often, they
would drop into a club called Dino's where the Frankie Ortega
Trio was usually on the band stand. They were a real group
and a pretty good one.
Richard Moore
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