Beginners (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
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Soundtrack album by various artists | |
Released | May 31, 2011 |
Recorded | 2011 |
Genre | |
Length | 40:05 |
Label | Relativity Music Group |
Beginners (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2011 film of the same name directed by Mike Mills. The album featured selections of contemporary classical, folk and jazz numbers, from artists such as Hoagy Carmichael, Gene Austin, Jelly Roll Morton, Mamie Smith and Josephine Baker as well as cues from the original score collaboratively composed by Roger Neill, Dave Palmer and Brian Reitzell. The album was released on May 31, 2011 by Relativity Music Group. [1]
Like his previous film, Thumbsucker , the music of Beginners was "integral to the tempo and emotional core of the storyline". The musical ideas for the film were inspired from his family's choice of music; he pointed father's love to contemporary classical music, especially those of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he could not get into Mozart's tunes, but go with the style of Johann Sebastian Bach. Hence, with the help of composer Roger Neill, he managed to score the music entirely in French horn which was "really beautiful and haunting" especially when it accompanies Christopher Plummer's character. [2]
In contrast, Mills' mother was a fan of The Sting soundtrack and equated listening to the film's score by Scott Joplin as "hearing Christmas carols". He wanted to have the music that matched his mother's taste, when he looked on Jelly Roll Morton's scores in Library of Congress recordings. He added "It’s not your typical rag piano stuff. It is slower, more melodic and there [are] all these fragments telling [Womack’s] life story. They really became kind of like the harmonic center of the film for me." [2]
His musical research while writing the script had let him exploring the work of Josephine Baker, Hoagy Carmichael, Gene Austin and Mamie Smith noting the contribution to jazz-inspired aspects of the film. He also credited French composer Georges Delerue's work to the film which acted as a foundation for the score composed by Neill, along with keyboardist Dave Palmer and Brian Reitzell. [2]
No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Stardust" | Hoagy Carmichael | 2:29 |
2. | "Everything's Made for Love" | Gene Austin | 3:02 |
3. | "Bach Suite" | Johann Sebastian Bach | 4:34 |
4. | "1955" | Roger Neill, Dave Palmer and Brian Reitzell | 2:14 |
5. | "Sweet Jazz Music" | Jelly Roll Morton | 1:43 |
6. | "That Da Da Strain" | Mamie Smith | 2:52 |
7. | "Mamanita" | Jelly Roll Morton | 4:14 |
8. | "Moon Waltz" | Roger Neill, Dave Palmer and Brian Reitzell | 1:28 |
9. | "Veronica's Blues" | Roger Neill, Dave Palmer and Brian Reitzell | 2:06 |
10. | "Breezin' Along With The Breeze" | Josephine Baker | 2:56 |
11. | "The Beginner's Theme Suite" | Roger Neill, Dave Palmer and Brian Reitzell | 8:01 |
12. | "Buddy Bertrand's Blues" | Jelly Roll Morton | 4:26 |
Total length: | 40:05 |
James Sanford of Mlive called the "enticing soundtrack full of glorious 1920s selections from Jelly Roll Morton, Hoagy Carmichael and Josephine Baker" gives the film a "gentle boost", adding "the music could have been drawn from a Woody Allen film, and that seems to have been Mills’ intent". [3] Philip French of The Guardian wrote: "On the soundtrack is a slow, almost painfully plaintive version of Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust", a 1920s song of lost love affectionately recalled, that's followed up by similarly nostalgic music that helps set the bittersweet tone of a beguiling film." [4] Rodrigo Perez of IndieWire called the score as "introspective, minimal and assisted by some delightfully aces old-timey piano work". [5]
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer of Louisiana Creole descent. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential characteristics when notated. His composition "Jelly Roll Blues", published in 1915, was one of the first published jazz compositions. He also claimed to have invented the genre.
Hoagland Howard Carmichael was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first singer-songwriters in the age of mass media to utilize new communication technologies such as television, microphones, and sound recordings.
Gennett was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and Hoagy Carmichael. Its roster also included Jelly Roll Morton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, and Gene Autry.
"Stardust" is a 1927 song composed by Hoagy Carmichael, with lyrics later added by Mitchell Parish. It has been recorded as an instrumental or vocal track over 1,500 times. Carmichael developed a taste for jazz while attending Indiana University. He formed his own band and played at local events in Indiana and Ohio. Following his graduation, Carmichael moved to Florida to work for a law firm. He left the law sector and returned to Indiana, after learning of the success of one of his compositions. In 1927, after leaving a local university hangout, Carmichael started to whistle a tune that he later developed further. When composing the song, he was inspired by the end of one of his love affairs, and on the suggestion of a university classmate, he decided on its title. The same year, Carmichael recorded an instrumental version of the song for Gennett Records.
"Chopsticks" is a simple, widely known waltz for the piano. Written in 1877, it is the only published piece by the British composer Euphemia Allen. Allen—whose brother, Mozart Allan, was a music publisher—was sixteen when she composed the piece, with arrangements for solo and duet. The title "Chop Waltz" comes from Allen's specification that the melody be played in two-part harmony with both hands held in a vertical orientation, little fingers down and palms facing each other, striking the keys with a chopping motion. The similar "The Coteletten Polka" also was first heard in 1877, with the piano collection Paraphrases elaborating on the theme by 1879.
John Alfred Mandel was an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. The musicians he worked with include Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Diane Schuur and Shirley Horn. He won five Grammy Awards, from 17 nominations; his first nomination was for his debut film score for the multi-nominated 1958 film I Want to Live!
Ned Washington was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Amadeus is a 1984 American period biographical drama film directed by Miloš Forman and adapted by Peter Shaffer from his 1979 stage play of the same name. Set in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century, the film is a fictionalized story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the time he left Salzburg, described by its writer as a "fantasia on the theme of Mozart and Salieri". Mozart's music is heard extensively in the soundtrack. The film follows a fictional rivalry between Mozart and Italian composer Antonio Salieri at the court of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. The film stars F. Murray Abraham as Salieri and Tom Hulce as Mozart. Abraham and Hulce were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, with Abraham winning.
Jesse Royal Carmichael is an American musician, best known as the keyboardist and rhythm guitarist for the pop rock band, Maroon 5. He is one of only two remaining original members of the group, along with frontman Adam Levine. He also has a solo project called 1863 and a side project titled Circuit Jerks.
Michael Chadbourne Mills is an American film and music video director, writer and graphic designer. He made his directorial debut with the independent film Thumbsucker (2005). His followup films include Beginners (2010), 20th Century Women (2016), and C'mon, C'mon (2021). Mills received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination for 20th Century Women.
Young Man with a Horn is a 1950 American musical drama film starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day, Hoagy Carmichael, and Juano Hernandez. Directed by Michael Curtiz, it was based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Dorothy Baker inspired by the life of jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. The film was produced by Jerry Wald, and its screenplay written by Carl Foreman and Edmund H. North.
Vince Giordano is an American saxophonist and leader of the New York-based Nighthawks Orchestra. He specializes in jazz of the 1920s and 1930s and his primary instrument is the bass saxophone. Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks have played on television and film soundtracks, including the HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Woody Allen's musical comedy film Everyone Says I Love You.
Superman Returns (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack album for the 2006 film of the same name. The score is composed by John Ottman, interpolating music by John Williams, particularly "Superman March" from the Superman: The Movie.
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The soundtrack to the film Pretty Baby used many local New Orleans musicians playing in the jazz, ragtime, and blues style of the city in the early 20th century. An LP album of the soundtrack, also entitled Pretty Baby, was issued in 1978 on ABC Records. The film is named after the song "Pretty Baby" by Tony Jackson.
Brian Reitzell is an American musician, composer, record producer and music supervisor best known for his work on many film and TV soundtracks. He is notable for working extensively with the American film director Sofia Coppola. He was formerly the drummer for the LA punk band Redd Kross. He has collaborated extensively with the French electronica duo Air, having performed drums on their albums The Virgin Suicides and 10 000 Hz Legend. Reitzell also toured with the band on their "Moon Safari" tour in 1998 and again in 2000 and 2001. In 2003 he was nominated for a BAFTA, along with Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, for the score to Lost in Translation.
Beginners is a 2010 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Mills. It tells the story of a man reflecting on the life and death of his father, while trying to forge a new romantic relationship with a woman dealing with father-issues of her own. The film is based on the coming out of Mills' own father at the age of 75, five years before his death.
Our Man in New Orleans is an album by Al Hirt (RCA-LPM-2607) released by RCA Victor. The album was conducted and arranged by Marty Paich and produced by Steve Sholes.
Roger Neill is an American composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, guitarist and educator. He is best known for his scores for the films 20th Century Women, Don't Think Twice, and Beginners. Notable television scores include the series Mozart In The Jungle and King of the Hill. Neill has created orchestral arrangements for many recording artists, such as the French band AIR, for their album 10 000 Hz Legend, and in concert. In the theater world, Neill is best known for the controversial musical The Beastly Bombing, or A Terrible Tale of Terrorists Tamed by the Tangle of True Love.