A few months ago, I stumbled across some very cool soundtracks from 60s “Juvenile Delinquent” movies such as College Confidential and Crime in the Streets that had guys like Maynard Ferguson and Conte Condoli in the studios delivering some wonderfully moody and hip sounds. The Spanish reissue label Fresh Sound Records just put out a couple more of these delights, and they’re even better!
The first cd has music conducted and composed by Elmer Bernstein, the man who gave us the famous Great Escape and Magnificent Seven theme songs. This time, he goes deeper into the darkness with arrangements by West Coast cooler Shorty Rogers and delivers the definitive 50s sounds on the definitive 50s jazz movie, The Man With The Golden Arm, which included a stellar performance by Frank Sinatra. The band is completely all star: Rogers/flh, the Condoli Brothers/tp, Buddy Childers/tp, Frank Rosolino/tb, Bob Cooper/ts, Jimmy Giuffre/bar, Pete Jolly/p, Lou Levy/p and Shelly Mann/dr are just a sampling of the names that blow dry winds on tunes such as “Frankie Machine” and “ The Fix.” The unforgettable theme song weaves in and out of many of the tunes, and since Sinatra is playing the role of a drummer, Manne gets to be spotlighted in order to display just how stylish and versatile he was.
Johnny Staccato, which featured John Cassavettes, was just as sinister, with the likes of Red Mitchell/b, Larry Bunker/vib, Barney Kessel/g and Milt Bernhart/tb in an orchestra that is the music version of film noir on “Night Mood” and “Walk a Lonely Street.” This stuff needs to be revised by today’s cats!
The Music from M Squad had the show starring Lee Marvin (or is it James Coburn? Were they twins?)backed by an orchestra conducted by Stanley Wilson performing tunes penned by Count Basie, Johnny Williams and Benny Carter. Carter plays alto here as well, along with Don fagerquist/tp, Rosolino/tb and Alvin Stoller/dr and Dick Nash/tb included in the studio orchestra. You’re gonna LOVE the “M Squad Them” and “The Juke Box” isn’t too far behind. The music from Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer is arranged and conducted by Skip Martin, and boasts a reed section of Bud Shank, Paul Horn, Gus Bivona , Ted Nash and Bob Cooper as well as a rhythm section of Larry Bunker/dr, Red Mitchell/b, Jimmy Rowles/p and Barney Kessell/g. The band swings as crisply and as hard as anything that Woody Herman was doing at the time, and the solos, while short and to the point, snap like snow peas. You can feel the asphalt under your feet on “Lenox Avenue Strut” while the brew of Folgers is sniffed on “Coffee House.” When did TV lose its musical edge?
Fresh Sound Records