Jazz at the Movies Band

JAZZ AT THE MOVIES BAND - WHITE HEAT FILM NOIR (1994)

1.This Gun for Hire
2.The Bad and the Beautiful
3.White Heat
4.Double Indemnity
5.Touch of Evil
6.Key Largo
7.Laura
8.The Lost Weekend
9.The Postman Always Rings Twice
10.The Asphalt Jungle
11.The Big Sleep
12.The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

by Alex Henderson
At times, the heavily arranged performances of the Jazz at the Movies Band ended up being pleasant, if unremarkable, background music. But the outfit could also be intriguing, and 1994's White Heat: Film Noir is arguably their best release. This CD isn't perfect; talented jazzmen like pianist Bill Cunliffe and saxophonist Gary Foster don't have enough room to stretch out and improvise. Nonetheless, anyone who is a fan of '40s and '50s film noir will find a lot to admire about this disc, which contains slightly Ellingtonian arrangements of the themes from black-and-white classics like Laura, The Postman Always Rings Twice, White Heat, and Key Largo. All of these movies are definitive examples of film noir, a genre that got its name from French film critics. Noir is the French word for night, and that wave of '40s and '50s crime thrillers …  »