Dark Origins

Before leaving these Dark(jazz) Obsessions, I feel the need to share the music of three of the great Film Noir/Crime Noir soundtracks that are often cited as the progenitors of Darkjazz. 

 

The Man with the Golden Arm was the work of Elmer Bernstein for the Otto Preminger film starring Frank Sinatra. It is one of the finest jazz soundtracks to come out of the 50s. Bernstein's blustery horns & deep percussion are only the facade for the gorgeous orchestration that hides in the hazy, smoky underlayers almost unnoticed beneath the surface. With much of the Hollywood soundtrack elements intact, it only hints at the Darkjazz to come. 

 

Elmer Bernstein & Orchestra - Music from the Soundtrack of  "The Man with the Golden Arm",
Decca DL8257, 1956.
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Side 1 -
Clark Street
     The Top    
     Homecoming
     Antek's    
Zosh
Frankie Machine
The Fix
Molly

Side 2 -
Breakup    
     Flight    
     Louie's    
     Buriesque    
Sunday Morning
Desperation
Audition
The Cure    
     Withdraw    
     Cold    
     Morning    
Finale

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is Bernard Herrmann’s final movie score before his death. Herrmann had worked in the past with Alfred Hitchcock & Orson Welles. He had provided scores for TV (Twilight Zone & Have Gun Will Travel). Later he worked with François Truffaut on Fahrenheit 451 & Brian De Palma on Obsession. De Palma hooked Herrmann up with Martin Scorsese for Taxi Driver. Immediately after finishing the recording of the Taxi Driver score on December 23, 1975, Herrmann viewed the rough cut of what was to be his next film assignment, Larry Cohen's God Told Me To. He dined with Cohen & then  returned to his hotel where he died from an apparent heart attack in his sleep the next day. 

Bernard Herrmann - Taxi Driver OST, Arista AL4079, 1976.

Side 1 -        
Theme from Taxi Driver
I Work the Whole City    
Betsy in a White Dress    
The Days do Not End    
Reprise: Theme from Taxi Driver

Side 2 -
Diary of a Taxi Driver
Theme from Taxi Driver    
The .44 Magnum is a Monster    
Sport & Iris    
God's Lonely Man (end title) 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, the duo of Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch are often credited as being a direct precursor of Darkjazz with their music for Lynch’s Twin Peaks. I have chosen the OST for Fire Walk with Me, which appeared the year following the original TV series as a prequel. 

Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Warner Brothers Records, 1992.

Theme from Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me
The Pine Float
Sycamore Trees
Don't Do Anything (I Wouldn't Do)
A Real Indication
Questions in a World of Blue
The Pink Room
The Black Dog Runs at Night
Best Friends
Moving Through Time
Montage from Twin Peaks - Girl Talk / Birds in Hell / Laura Palmer's Theme / Falling
The Voice of Love

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ