Duke Ellington - Anatomy of a Murder

This was Duke Ellington's first film score, undertaken at the urging of Anatomy of a Murder's director, Otto Preminger.

The full range of the composer's previous work was brought to bear on this 1959 work. Ellington was a natural choice to convey the rich and varied emotional moods of this drama. Tension and release, danger and safety, movement and stillness, darkness and light; the textural palette that was Ellington's signature was always compellingly cinematic.

In these orchestral settings, Duke's soloists (Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, and others) shine, as their playing reflects true variations on a theme in a classical sense. That's not to say that this set doesn't swing, too -- "Happy Anatomy" is a short but fully cranked gallop. This is an album of rich variety and evocative writing.