Search - Wynton Marsalis :: The Original Soundtrack From Tune In Tomorrow...

Great New Orleans based soundtrack to little known film

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 03/17/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Not being the biggest Wynton (or trumpet, for that matter) fan, I was surprised at how much I liked this soundtrack when I saw the film. Marsalis' blues-based jazz compositions melded incredibly well with the New Orleans location shots and the general feel of the film. There is a lyricism to much of this music that I'd never associated with Wynton Marsalis before, and there is a great big swinging groove that runs throughout the whole thing.There's 60+ minutes of great music here. Some of the tracks strike an incredible match for Ellington's "Anatomy of a Murder" soundtrack (apparently, from the liner notes, with all due intention from Marsalis). The opening track, "Big Trouble in the Easy" has those great Ellington-esque horns, playing both in unision, and the wah-wah muted lead trumpet that screams and squawks like a car's tires coming around a hard corner. Or was it sizzles like a neon sign about to blow. I can't remember. It reminds me a bit of the jazz club scene in "D.O.A." Also headed for the coolsville hit parade is the big beat, squawky muted trumpets and start-stop arrangement of "Don't Run From Fun."Johnny Adams contributes vocals for the upbeat blues "May Be Fact Or Fiction"; Wynton and his combo play some dixieland sounds on "The Grand Marshall" and "Sunsettin' on the Bayou", with some especially nice clarinet playing from Dr. Michael White; and there's a gospel flavor through several of the tracks as well.Ballads include Shirley Horn's readings of "The Ways of Love" and "I Can't Get Started", and the pleasant instrumental "Social Soft Shoe." Marsalis adds a couple of orchestral arrangements (with strings arranged by Sonny Kompanek) in just a couple of places. Marcus Roberts gets a nice piano workout on "Double Rondo on the River."The great radio soap organ intro "Kings of the Garden District" is included for anyone wishing to start their own, and the organ segues beautifully into another Ellington-esque track, "Alligator Tail Drag" (with Lucky Peterson's organ playing along underneath, around and through).My only real complaint about this disc is that it doesn't include the Neville Brothers track from the film. Perhaps it was a licensing problem, I don't know.Overall an excellent soundtrack AND an excellent record. (It's a dessert wax! It's a floor topping!). And with "Anatomy of a Murder" availble on CD from Ryko, we're 2/5 of the way to filling the CD rotisserie with great jazz film soundtracks. A DDD recording, for those who care, that sounds fine to my concert-worn eardrums."