ShowUStheHOOK 8 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I'm currently writing a new piece. Its very much in the style of Jerry Goldsmith's CHINATOWN. Kind of a bluesy, solo trumpet piece ( with piano, bass, drums, strings, in the background ). Other than Jerry's score to CHINATOWN, does anyone have any recommendations for pieces to listen to as reference on how to write this? I must say this is uncharted territory for me as a composer so its a bit intimidating, but i've always liked that bluesy, minor key sound and wanted to give it a go. Any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck 154 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Try Jerry Goldsmith's L.A. Confidential which is similar to his Chinatown. Both were Oscar nominees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Savas 2,251 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Are you trying to write a noir? I'm not a composer, but you should naturally listen to other noir scores if you want to grasp a greater feel of that musical style.Grusin's Mulholland Falls is one of my favorites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A24 4,331 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Taxi Driver (Bernard Herrmann). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,520 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 The above are all good suggestions. Also try listening to "Body Heat", and "Playing By Heart", both by John Barry, and David Shire's "All The President's Men", and "The Conversation". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walid 3 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 L.A. Noire with Andrew Hale / Simon Hale. Love that score. If you study it you can find out a lot about how jazz pianists use major/minor 9ths and 13ths. Not that I am any fan of music theory- in fact I hate the way the schools teach it- but if you can figure out what gives the soundtracks that "noir", "minor blues/jazz" feel, then you can implement it in your own playing and composing.Tricky part is chord progression in these settings. I do like the way Barry progresses with his chords, just feels so natural. I also love Jay Jay Johnson's (trombonist and composer) work when it comes to the more spicy jazz, which you surely can grab some inspiration from.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rALYmastjVA Best album imho! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A24 4,331 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Why has Williams, with his Jazz roots and all, never done such a score? Now there was a perfect opportunity for a bit diversity in his catalog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walid 3 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Also, to get you started, you can try this chord progression (just made it up, sounds a bit noir-y to me)Am9 (A-C-E-G-B, and possibly add a D here to get the 13th flavour) -> F maj (F-A-C), add a B here for cool dissonance -> Dm9 (D-F-A-C-E) -> C maj (C-E-G) for romantic spice or E major with added D and F# for a shady feel.It's all about the mood you're in... music will come naturally once you're in the mood and listened to what you really need to compose to. There are no rules, but there is an audience...Why has Williams, with his Jazz roots and all, never done such a score? Now there was a perfect opportunity for a bit diversity in his catalog.If you take a look at how a jazz pianist plays, say John Williams for example, with his block chords and how he plays melody over harmony, you can take his exact way of playing and copy paste those notes into his orchestration and you will find basically no difference. His jazz ways are with him more than it sounds like! But I guess you mean why hasn't he done a pure score with this old school jazz, blue feel.. In that case I guess it's a matter of what attracts him the most, as it is for most composers with choice.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck 154 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Why has Williams, with his Jazz roots and all, never done such a score? Now there was a perfect opportunity for a bit diversity in his catalog.He had such an opportunity to do so in Catch Me If you Can. But he couldn't resist to add a few more notes, so...Any who, check out Mark Isham's score to a James Ellroy's novel, Black Dahlia (James Ellroy also wrote L.A. Confidential).Somehow, Mark channels JG here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py8j0H9P9ZoCheck this out too (not related to Isham's work, but a totally different take on Black Dahlia), it's composed by Bob Belden: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quintus 5,399 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 LA Noire was indeed a fine score, the best thing about an otherwise dull video game. Lifted wholesale from Chinatown, though. Also, The Long Goodbye is a good Williams example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walid 3 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 LA Noire was indeed a fine score, the best thing about an otherwise dull video game. Lifted wholesale from Chinatown, though. Also, The Long Goodbye is a good Williams example.Definitely!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omen II 1,235 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Two other suggestions featuring a bluesy trumpet solo are Guilty By Suspicion (James Newton Howard) and The Mean Season (Lalo Schifrin). I also second Richard's mention of John Barry's Remembering Chet from Playing By Heart, a piece I really took to when I heard it played by the legendary Derek Watkins at the John Barry memorial concert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A24 4,331 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 The great Chuck Findley on flugelhorn: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walid 3 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Favorite from Vangelis by far... Score that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muad'Dib 1,802 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Don't forget... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,353 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Grusin's Mulholland Falls is one of my favorites.Do you have the new Kritzerland version or just the original? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Savas 2,251 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 The Kritzerland one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,353 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Been thinking about getting it, seems like a nice set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Savas 2,251 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Is it still in print? I thought it sold out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay 37,353 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Ah, so it did. Oh well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naïve Old Fart 9,520 Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I think that some bits of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" sound pretty noir-ish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShowUStheHOOK 8 Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 Thanks for the responses. I'll have to look into those. I've checked a few out already. Sorry for the late response my computer was taken hostage by viruses.... thank goodness for a neighbor/ friend i've known for over 10 years thats a tech guy. = ) So, I've decided to go into another direction with this project. I also like the whole Mystery genre type of things. Sherlock holmes and the like... That said, something I wasn't entirely pleased about was the movie CLUE. Loved the score. Movie was good, but there were some things I wish they had done differently. Anyway, so I decided to mix the bluesy/ jazz feel with some mysterious/ dramatic sounding themes and write my own score based on CLUE. Kind of liberating when you're really just writing based on the game and not so much the movie. Lets the mind wander a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joni Wiljami 1,206 Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 0:59 -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_oC6aya1O0&list=PLtbMODhhmBa7J8IyPAQCoNGh6MqBDA_t- ShowUStheHOOK 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShowUStheHOOK 8 Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 0:59 -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_oC6aya1O0&list=PLtbMODhhmBa7J8IyPAQCoNGh6MqBDA_t-wow. liking this one. especially the strings in the background. Thats the kind of thing i'm going for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uni 306 Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 All these are good suggestions, but I don't know that any of them match Chinatown for the specific sound you're looking for. It's what I call Jerry's "gumshoe trumpet." Classic.- Uni Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koray Savas 2,251 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 I love Clue, the movie and the score! wanner251 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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