For those of us who like both "real" jazz and "fake" jazz, I thought it might be fun to post examples from the jazz world that could fit on a private eye jazz album.
First up is "Boogie Stop Shuffle" by Charles Mingus. In an alternate universe, I imagine this as the opening track on side 2 of "M Squad."
Elsewhere, I have written about a genre that I call "nervous angular longhair," which you will hear in certain Twilight Zone episodes, or film scores such as Jerry Goldsmith's "City of Fear."
I described this genre as suggesting "...the Freudian nightmares of the harried post-WWII woking stiff living in an urban setting, or the new suburban landscape."
Onyabirri, you often remind me of our resident member ZardozSpeaks (he's changed moniker several times over the years) -- very similar taste in things (type of films, type of music, time periods etc.). It's strange that you haven't interacted more.
As for the topic at hand, I can't really help much. Most of my 'crime jazz' knowledge stems from my knowledge of early Williams and anything related to it; and my knowledge of "real" jazz is limited. But keep 'em coming; I learn new stuff from each recommendation.
Does Williams' "Prelude and Fugue" qualify -- could be music for some sleuthing, no?:
The "lost" heist-aftermath-and-chase cue from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) that Michel Legrand wanted to use in one of those multi-screen montages that run rampant throughout that film.
The "lost" heist-aftermath-and-chase cue from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) that Michel Legrand wanted to use in one of those multi-screen montages that run rampant throughout that film.
A lot of Bobby Hutcherson 60s Blue Note stuff has a nervous jazz quality to it, especially the stuff written by Joe Chambers.
Onyabirri, you often remind me of our resident member ZardozSpeaks...
I take that as a supreme compliment.
I see Zardoz and Jim Phelps as spiritual cousins of mine.
You flatter me, Ambrose.
As for Hutcherson, one could put the names of all the Blue Note "stock players" by their respective instrument into those Bingo spinners and come out with a winning lineup that in all likelihood played together on at least one 1960s Blue Note album.
I'd also say that the Grachan Moncur III-Jackie McLean albums might have a track or three that might work in a 1960s crime film. Oh, how I love those albums.
This may be too on the nose, cause it kind of sounds like a soundtrack for an imaginary crime film.
Bob Belden Black Dahlia
Also, one I always think of like this is Michael Mantler's Alien on ECM, with Don Preston.
Yes, Black Dahlia is in this category. I wish that Belden had scored the film, although I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to. He wanted this album to celebrate Elizabeth Short's life, and not be about the myth.
Don't know that Michael Mantler album; will have to check it out.
I figured Black Dahlia would already be on the radar. I only learned about it here on the board when Bruce Kimmel mentioned it somewhere.
I should warn you that Alien is very eighties in terms of synths and and electronic percussion, so it doesn't much evoke the sixties crime jazz sound. But for me it works as a clever updating, as if it were to an eighties homage. (Sorry can't find any audio samples.)
Triple Dance by the Dave Holland Big Band is maybe a bit more spot on to the point here.....
PS Nice to see JimP back and posting, I'm posting in honor of the two blood bros, Onya and Phelps.
