Hey Gang,
I’ve been asked to put together some music to serve as background score for a production of an odd little play. The show is basically a parody of film-noir detective stories.
The director asked for ‘some good blues saxophone’ for the show. Anyone have some suggestions as to which artists I should check out?
Thanks for any help,
Thwartme
Nice topic! The first thing to come to my mind when I read the OP title was the music from Chinatown which was trumpet iirc. I suspect a studio musician in the soundtrack, but it could have been any number of big band soloists. Chet Baker comes to mind as an option for that. Or Miles Davis.
As for blues sax, you could look into Coleman Hawkins or Lester Young as a start. Current players would include Pete Christlieb.
You might even listen to some Toots Thielemans harmonica. He’s done any number of soundtracks and the one to the McQueen/MacGraw The Getaway is a good example of his style.
Should definitely be Jazz; bebop or swing, but for tension you could do worse than lifting bits from Ornette Coleman’s solos on the Naked Lunch score.
Just a side note: old radio dramas that had a sort of noir twist include Mike Hammer which used part of the title theme from A Streetcar Named Desire that was composed by Alex North. The latter day TV version starring Stacy Keach used the moody Harlem Nocturne but in an uptempo version. I find it interesting that the same person composed that tune and the theme music for the Andy Griffith show.
Bernard Herrmann’s music from the closing credits of movie “Taxi Driver” would be perfect I think.
It’s trumpet, not saxophone, but Miles Davis’s Elevator to the Scaffold/Ascenseur pour l’Echafaud soundtrack is archetypical noir music.
“Harlem Nocturne” is a good choice … there are countless versions of this tune. (The All Music Guide lists some 271.)
One other choice that ought to fit in several ways would be Laura from the soundtrack of Bird which has Charlie Parker’s alto sax and a string ensemble playing the David Raksin tune that was the theme from a 1941 (or 42) noir that catches the mood as well as any theme music ever did.
There’s an album we’ve had for a number of years that I’m just now remembering and that should solve your problems! Check out this review and see if you can locate the album. We have it on tape and it’s a favorite for traveling. The whole thing is just fine listening and ought to give you just the right tune for your show.
Lots of saxophone jazz. Maybe even a Tom Waits song here and there.
Or maybe just some solo zither music. Hey, it worked in The Third Man. Point being, noir will accomodate lots of musical stylings.
You didn’t say if your noir production will be set at night, or not (“sunshine noir”, anyone?).
If your play is pretty specific in its spoofing references, why not try using alternate versions of the original scores in question, or music that evokes those themes?
OK, had to come home and check my 78s . . . Nightmare, by Artie Shaw, is the film-noiriest recording ever. Fairly exudes blood-red lipstick, seamed stockings, a smoking gun and a crushed cigarette.
Easy to find on any Artie Shaw collection.
If it involves the Yakuza, you should throw in some weird flute music and taiko drums.
Oooh, here: you can listen to it here! Just click on the “Nightmare” icon. Is that hot or what?
Oooh, good call on the Tom Waits. I recommend “Romeo Is Bleeding” and “Going Out West.”
For jazz, can’t go wrong with any sax-driven songs in minor keys. “Harlem Nocturne” works wonders to set the mood, as does Bernard Herrman’s Taxi Driver theme (as someone else mentioned).
Some of those late-'90s suit-wearing swing bands had some great noir-inspired songs like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s “Cruel Spell” and Royal Crown Revue’s “Hey Pachuco” (and almost anything off their album Mugzy’s Move).
Finally, Portishead is trip-hop, dead sexy, very “noir,” with female vocals that can make you melt with lust or cry with grief. Check them out, by all means.
See if you can find Jimmie Lunceford’s “Blues In The Night”. That’s the cliche song whenever someone parodies film noir.
You really have to break it down scene by scene. I don’t see swing as noir at all. I think of a simple trio with drum and bass accenting dialogue once in a while.
Try Mingus and Monk too.
For quirky I recommend the Aqua Velvets - especially their Guitar Noir.
Thanks to everyone! These are some awesome suggestions.
If I can’t put together a decent soundtrack from this lot, it’s entirely my own fault.
Thanks loads,
Thwartme.
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