Duke Ellington - Anatomy Of A Murder - 180g Vinyl LP

European import LP

One of the best movie posters transformed to an LP cover; what more could one wish for in a vinyl re-issue? And with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn at the helm, you know the score of one of Hollywood's most controversial movies is going to be a show stopper. Released in 1959, the film Anatomy Of A Murder was banned in several cities because of indecent language and its sexual and violent subject matter. But its soundtrack stood out from the start as one of the best Jazz compositions around. Evocative, alluring, eloquent, "it beckons like the scent of a femme fatale"...

Anatomy of a Murder is noteworthy for being one of the first films to extensively feature jazz in the musical score – the entire musical soundtrack was composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and played by Ellington's orchestra. Several of the Ellington band's sidemen, notably Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney, Russell Procope, and William "Cat" Anderson, are heard prominently throughout the film, and Ellington himself appears briefly as "Pie-Eye," the owner of a roadhouse where Paul Biegler (Stewart) and Laura Manion (Remick) have a confrontation.

Including small pieces by Billy Strayhorn, film historians recognize it "as a landmark—the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoids cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and "rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the ’60s."

"[Duke Ellington] rose to the occasion, creating a virtuoso jazz score -- moody, witty, sexy, and -- in its own quiet way -- playful. Ellington naturally subordinated his music to the action in the film, but 'Midnight Indigo,' 'Flirtibird,' 'Happy Anatomy,' and 'Sunswept Sunday' (the latter highlighted by Jimmy Hamilton's clarinet theme) would have slotted in nicely in other contexts, on any of his standard albums." - Bruce Eder, allmusic.com

Features:
• Audiophile 180g Vinyl
• Import

Musicians:
Duke Ellington, piano
Cat Anderson, trumpet
Shorty Baker, trumpet
Herbi Jones, trumpet
Ray Nance, trumpet
Clark Terry, trumpet
Gerald Wilson, trumpet
Quentin Jackson, trombone
Britt Woodman, trombone
John Sanders, valve trombone
Jimmy Hamilton, clarinet, tenor sax
Johnny Hodges, alto sax
Russell Procope, alto sax, clarinet
Paul Gonsalves, tenor sax
Harry Carney, baritone sax, clarinet, bass clarinet
Jimmy Woode, bass
James Johnson, drums