Jazz for aficionados

Sun Ra

Re "Les Liasons Dangereuses":

The music in O-10’s link is not music by Monk nor the "film soundtrack" for the movie. On that link is some of the music composed by Duke Jordan for only the party scene in the movie.  Little of that music was actually used for the film.  This and the unused music was released as an album with Duke Jordan credited as the leader. The music for the party scene was essentially a "Jazz Messengers" session and compounding the confusion is the fact that it is not Duke Jordan playing piano, but Bobby Timmons instead. That very same music was also released as an Art Blakey Jazz Messengers record; but the same tunes were given different titles (!?!?).

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUJ7V33M1wR0kn82R1Xp6WwvZ47aK-2BP

Monk did record the soundtrack and performed, as Pryso points out, mostly non-original compositions. This music, the actual soundtrack to the movie, was never released as a record and can be heard only in the film. From the very first piano notes heard on the film it is obvious that it is Monk:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EvsIDDKr7cs

I was on the right road, but I was going the wrong way.
I was in the right place, but it was the wrong time.


Whatever, that Blakey album is boss, a must have for me.

frog, thanks for filling in the blanks here.  This makes me wonder how the Jordan album could be released claiming to be the soundtrack?

Oh well, C'est la vie.

$$$$$$$$$$$

Strictly speculation on my part, but what I think is this; and, I base this in what I know about the industry and how contracts are ironed out:

The film was a big hit in part because of the notoriety around the nude scenes which had to be edited for American audiences....imagine that! It was 1959 after all. The producers saw a way to capitalize on the film’s success by attaching its name recognition to the music. They had a whole album’s worth of mostly unused music; so, why not take advantage of the situation and release an album of the recorded party scene music and call it a soundtrack? Hey, then let’s do it again and release the same music as a different album by a different artist (Blakey)! Due to contractual issues, or perhaps simply to make it seem like it wasn’t the same, the names of the tunes were changed. Artists are often at the mercy of the producers’ whims and they probably had little say in the matter. Moreover, they probably didn’t make that much to begin with so it was a way to get a bigger paycheck. Cynical view of the situation? Maybe, but I don’t think so. Further speculation:

As you point out, Monk waited to the last minute to sign the contract. Why? Maybe he felt uneasy about the situation or the producers involved and procrastinated. As already noted, little of his music was original.

Speculation, but wouldn’t surprise me one bit.