Krzysztof Komeda was a hero of the international jazz scene, keeping the music alive amidst the suspicion and repression of the Polish Communist Regime.
The music is remixed by Bonny Larmes out of Komeda’s score for Roman Polanski’s 1962 directorial debut: Nóż w wodzie (Knife In The Water), a terse psychological thriller in which an unhappily married couple pick up a stray hitchhiker and offer to take him sailing with them. Complications ensue, including threats of violence, simulated drowning, and infidelity. The film generated enormous critical acclaim, allowing Polanski to leave Communist Poland where the film was not well-received. Komeda remained behind, using his growing influence as a film composer to push for jazz’s acceptance behind the Iron Curtain.
Sadly, both Komeda’s score and Bonny Larmes’ remix album remain out-of-print and hard to find. Most of Komeda’s score, however, is available on Last FM:
Experiment In Terror is an underrated noir crime film directed by Blake Edwards with a fantastic score by Henry Mancini, whose music touches on both the West Coast cool jazz sound and his own brand of lush, romantic strings — all of this, of course, dashed across the face with a salt grit of pure pulp crime!
The film is a bit of a sore thumb in the filmography of Blake Edwards, whose more successful features were all comedies (including The Great Race, The Pink Panther, and Breakfast At Tiffany’s). What most people don’t know about Edwards is that he grew up a huge fan of the pulps and wrote a hard-boiled serial for NBC before finding success as a film director. Experiment In Terror is, sadly, the only crime film Edwards made.
Otto Preminger’s 1959 film is a landmark court room drama aided and abetted by a terrific score from Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Here’s the title sequence featuring the main theme:
And here’s Ellington’s cameo in the film. Not sure what tune they are playing, but the backing orchestra includes Paul Gonsalves, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, and William “Cat” Anderson.
The entire score has been in-print continually since 1959 and is excellent.
Miles Davis’s outstanding contribution to Louis Malle’s classic slice of French Film Noir: Ascenseur pour l’echafaud (Elevator to the Gallows). The majority of the music was improvised on the spot by Miles and co. while the film was projected on the wall beside them. This is the sound one thinks of when one thinks of noir: moody, sad, and understated trumpet. A somber sound of harbors and bars and shadowed streets. The heightened step of one who feels pursued. Miles captures it all perfectly.
Next Friday, June 12th, is my birthday; it is also the release date for a Denzel Washington remake of a classic, gritty NYC 70’s crime drama: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. David Shire has scored many great films but his scores for both the original Pelham and The Conversation stand as a high point of 70’s crime jazz film scores. Thankfully, due to renewed interest from the remake, the original score and film have come back into print. Both are highly recommended.
Here’s a live performance of the main title by Pittsburgh Jazz Ensemble Opek:
