Music to Set--or Steal--the Scene

KANSAS CITY BAND

“K.C. After Dark�

Verve

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

“Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’ �

Malpaso/Warner Bros.

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

“Crime Jazz: Music in the First Degree�

“Crime Jazz: Music

in the Second Degree�

Rhino

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

“One Night Stand� Original

Motion Picture Soundtrack

Verve

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Jazz in the movies usually takes one of three forms. The first is actual, on-camera performances by jazz musicians. Second is the use of a commercially released recording--as in Clint Eastwood’s insertion of a Johnny Hartman recording into his 1995 film “The Bridges of Madison County�--to set a scene. And the third is via the use of jazz qualities in a picture’s background music score. Here is a set of new recordings that rove across all those arenas of expression.

The Kansas City Band is actually the ensemble of talented young artists who performed on camera for Robert Altman’s 1996 film “Kansas City.� Although the original soundtrack from the picture, by the same group of players, was previously released on Verve, it omitted a substantial portion of music that did not make it into the final cut of the movie. Most of that excluded material is included in this effervescent set of performances.

The titles--�St. Louis Blues,� “King Porter Stop,� “Tickle Toe,� etc.--are appropriate choices for a program of music that reexamines the Kansas City jazz milieu of the ‘30s. And it is played with nonstop enthusiasm by a band that includes, among many others, saxophonists Joshua Redman, Craig Handy and James Carter, clarinetist Don Byron, pianists Cyrus Chestnut and Geri Allen, bassists Ron Carter and Christian McBride and drummer Victor Lewis.

There are moments when the solos become a bit excessively ebullient, but for the most part the performances afford a fascinating view of period music and styles performed by young contemporary artists. And, perhaps appropriately, some of the most attractive soloing is provided by the veteran alto saxophonist David “Fathead� Newman, whose blues-drenched choruses on “Indiana� and “St. Louis Blues� virtually define the subtext of both the album and the picture--that good jazz is timeless.

Eastwood has used jazz in all three of the areas described above--with on-camera musicians in pictures such as “Bird,� via inserted recordings (in “The Bridges of Madison County� and other films), and with jazz-tinged scores by composers such as saxophonist Lennie Niehaus.

He generally has done a masterful job of using jazz-based songs to set the scenes in films he has directed. And, for “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,� he appropriately employs the tunes of Johnny Mercer--favorite son of Savannah, Ga. (the story’s locale), and a writer who has provided lyrics for songs that are much admired (and frequently played) by jazz musicians.

But the performances are all over the place. Singer Joe Williams is superb with “Too Marvelous for Words,� and singer Diana Krall elegantly interprets the musically circuitous “Midnight Sun.� Surprisingly, two pop artists--k.d. lang and Paula Cole--offer beautifully sung, jazz-tinged versions of, respectively, “Skylark� and “Autumn Leaves.� But Alison Krauss’ “This Time the Dream’s on Me� and actor Kevin Spacey’s “That Old Black Magic� fail to connect with the songs’ substance.

Fans of musical curiosities will be attracted to Eastwood’s idiosyncratic rendering of “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive� and daughter Alison Eastwood’s unaffected go at “Come Rain or Come Shine.� Accompaniment, and occasional soloing, is provided by a solid backup ensemble that features tenor saxophonists Joshua Redman and Ernie Watts. (Not all of the tracks are included in the picture, and many of those that are have been mixed--atypically for Eastwood’s pictures--well into the background, delivering less impact than he usually generates in using jazz-tinged music.)

From the very early ‘50s to the mid-’60s, a genre of film and television music writing emerged that used brassy, heavily rhythmic, big-band jazz as background, theme and scene-setting music for detective, crime and action movies and TV shows. Rhino’s collection includes themes from most of the better-known composers in the style: Alex North, Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein, Leith Stevens, Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin. (Missing, presumably for contractual reasons, are Don Ellis’ colorful film scores for “The French Connection,� among others.)

Some of the items, especially television themes such as “Perry Mason,� “Peter Gunn� and “M Squad,� are instantly familiar. Others tend to blend into a long series of bongo drums, high-note trumpet passages and riff-accented rhythms. Exceptions include the intriguing early North music from “Streetcar Named Desire� and “The Rose Tattoo,� and some occasionally authentic moments of jazz from Shorty Rogers, Bill Perkins, Mundell Lowe and others.

Unfortunately, the albums’ documentation rarely provides information regarding soloists. But there’s no denying the collection’s appeal as an overview of a highly stylized era in film and television composition.

In the liner notes for “One Night Stand,� director-composer-trumpeter Mike Figgis says that if it weren’t for the music, he “would have no interest in filmmaking.� His score for the movie underlines his point. A dark, introspective set of jazz-tinged cues flows around the picture with an organic life of its own.

Further demonstrating the creative range of musical options in Figgis’ choice of music, there is a live, on-screen performance by the Juilliard String Quartet of the Cavatina from Beethoven’s B-flat Major String Quartet, Op. 130, the inclusion of a recording of Nina Simone singing “Exactly Like You,� organist Jimmy Smith playing “The Organ Grinder’s Swing,� and pianist Jacques Loussier’s gently swinging rendering of Bach’s “Air on a G String.�

Figgis adds his trumpet to a few numbers, notably the title music, with an introspective quality reminiscent of both Miles Davis and Mark Isham. Less obviously, but equally providing an impact, the music that is clearly designed to underscore action sequences--�The Mugging,� for example--includes passages that (even though they may have been written) have the loose, spontaneous quality of improvisation.

But, most important of all, it is Figgis’ fundamental belief in the power of music that makes his eclectic use of the subtle forces of jazz and classical music so effective. “Music is so much more than this backing [for film],� he says. “It is the most powerful expression I know.�

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).