Seven more classic films of the '50s & '60s (some rarely seen, all by great directors) with classic jazz scores composed by and featuring jazz musicians—real and fictional—on screen, off screen, and (in most cases) both.
Curated by Ed Cardoni
Starring singer Bobby Darin as jazz pianist and bandleader “John ‘Ghost’ Wakefield” & Stella Stevens as aspiring jazz vocalist “Jess Polanski.” Musical team: David Raskin (composer, best known for the title song and score of Laura, 1944), Jimmy Rowles (piano, dubbing for Darin), Benny Carter (saxophone, and composer of the score for the final film in this series, A Man Called Adam), Shelly Manne (drums, who played drums and appeared briefly in The Man with the Golden Arm and also with Gerry Mulligan on and in I Want to Live), Red Mitchell (bass), Niagara Falls, NY native Tommy Tedesco (guitar), Milt Bernhart (trombone), Uan Rasey (trumpet), Larry Bunker (vibes), and Slim Gaillard (as "Piano Player/Party Singer"). Suggested by Tony Billoni.
Though not generally regarded as part of Cassavetes' oeuvre as an independent film auteur (Shadows, 1959; Faces, 1968; Husbands, 1970; Minnie and Moskowitz, 1971; A Woman Under the Influence, 1974; Gloria, 1980), Too Late Blues was nonetheless more than just the usual day job to finance his next project (as was his acting in 1968's Rosemary's Baby). In addition to directing, Cassavetes himself is credited as both producer and co-screenwriter, and one of the key members of his acting stock company, Seymour Cassel, appears in the film as "Red." Moreover, Cassavetes was steeped in the jazz milieu depicted in the film, having employed (and been schooled in improvisation by) Charles Mingus and Shafi Hadi on the score of last week's Shadows (1959) and portrayed the title character in Johnny Staccato, a 1959–1960 TV series about a private eye moonlighting as a Greenwich Village jazz pianist (or vice versa). Cassavetes also directed five episodes of that short-lived but critically acclaimed series, which had a theme by Elmer Bernstein (composer of the scores for Sweet Smell of Success and The Man with the Golden Arm).
Saxophonist Benny Carter—bythen age 83—was presented by Hallwalls on November 3, 1990, at the Marquee at the Tralf, part of the Living Jazz Legends series co-produced with the short-lived Tralfamadore Jazz Institute. Carter was accompanied on that date by local living jazz legends Al Tinney (1921–2002, piano), Sabu Adeyola (bass), and Louis Marino (drums).
(John Cassavetes, 1962, 103 min.)