The Summer in Film Music

By Tony Buchsbaum

As a movie music fan from way back, I always find myself salivating for the summer movies -- as much for the film’s scores as for the films themselves. But in recent years, I’ve found my excitement seriously diminishing. Perhaps I’ve just learned not to expect something grand. Or maybe the music’s just not as good.

That said, three of this summer’s scores stand out. The first is for the new Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Though John Williams composed the music for the first three films, Patrick Doyle, in the fourth, paid only the slightest homage. The omission of Williams’ established themes was such a jarring slight that, to me, Chamber of Secrets didn’t feel like a Harry Potter movie. Nicholas Hooper’s score for Phoenix, on the other hand, is very good. It’s not Williams, but holding him to that standard is hardly fair. His cues are filled with wonder and suspense, and there’s even a hint of Harry’s theme. It may not have the sweetness and youthful exuberance of the earlier films, but this film is much darker, and the music must follow.

John Powell’s work for The Bourne Ultimatum is wonderful. Along with the inevitable action cues -- great for popping into your car’s CD player and driving around -- are highly emotional melodic pieces that ground all the bombast. I haven’t heard Powell’s scores for the first two films in this series, but his work here makes me want to. The CD contains 54 minutes of music, including a version of the film’s theme, “Extreme Ways,” performed by Moby -- and the highlight is a cue called “Waterloo,” which clocks in at more than 10 minutes.

A note about the timing: These days, so many films jump from scene to scene, forcing the music to do the same, with hardly any time to build meaningful melody. This score goes the other way, providing longer cues that give Powell the chance to develop themes and marry points of plot together -- which gives the score (and the film) a genuine coherence.

Michael Giacchino is one of film music’s rising stars. He first caught attention for his work on the TV series Alias. He’s also done spectacular work on Lost and several feature films, among them The Incredibles and the third Mission: Impossible. The Incredibles was directed by Brad Bird, as was this summer’s Ratatouille.

Giacchino’s work for the film is terrific. You expect the score for an animated film to be special; by design, animation gives the composer a lot to work with. On top of this, Ratatouille also gives Giacchino the background of Paris, which has endless musical possibilities. The composer uses them to great effect, lending many of his cues a tinge of the classic French sound, as well as many cues of fast-paced music that follow Remy, the movie’s primary rodent, run around getting into culinary trouble.

Giacchino has said he holds 007 composer John Barry in high regard. Barry certainly inspired the feel of The Incredibles. Perhaps it’s that inspiration that led to Giacchino’s appreciation for melody and his talent for building a score’s momentum, infusing every moment with character. Both Barry and Giacchino are masters at this. Too few new composers understand that what makes a good movie also makes good movie music: character. For Ratatouille, Giacchino has created music that brings every character to life -- and the music’s so good, it’s almost a character itself.

Joe Zawinul and Brown Street

Brown Street

Joe Zawinul

BirdJAM/WDR. 2007

reviewed by Pedro Blas Gonzalez

Recently, as I was about to step out of my car at the university, a woman who had just parked next to me asked, “what is that beautiful music that you were just playing?” The piece was a live recording of Weather Report’s now classic melody, “A Remark you Made” in Joe Zawinul’s new recording, Brown Street.

Weather Report is considered one of the most sophisticated and musically proficient fusion-jazz groups of the 1970s and 80s. It is certainly the most prolific, having recorded over 16 albums. The group was together from 1970 to 1986. In that time span it counted with the participation of over 26 musicians, most whom have gone on to enjoy stellar solo careers.

Weather Report was the brainchild of pianist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Zawinul had recently departed Cannonball Adderley’s outfit and Shorter The Miles Davis Group. Throughout the many embodiments of Weather Report, perhaps the most memorable core of the group was that of Zawinul, Shorter, Alex Acuña and Jaco Pastorius.

Zawinul’s Brown Street was recorded live at Birdland, Zawinul’s own jazz club in Vienna. Zawinul is re-united with one-time Weather Report percussionist, Alex Acuña and the WDR Big Band. “Brown Street,” the title piece, is a 10:58 jam that makes use of ethnic layering and the rhythmic, full, horn sound of the WDR Big Band.

Distinctive in this piece is the growling bass playing of reknowned bassist Victor Bailey, also a member of Weather Report from 1983 to 1986. Bailey does great justice in delivering the same virtuoso bass lines that seasoned Weather Report enthusiasts associate with Jaco Pastorius. This piece begins with Zawinul’s synthesizer rendition of an accordion and builds to the up-tempo jazz fusion for which Zawinul’s music is known.

“In a Silent Way,” one of Zawinul’s composition’s that has been recorded by Miles Davis, employs solo trumpet, in what is an impressionistic rendition of Zawinul’s memories of his youth in Austria.

“Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz” is yet another fine example of Zawinul’s ability to integrate the synthesizer in orchestrations that include percussion in addition to drums and a large horn section. Yet Zawinul’s musicianship keeps him from drowning out the rest of the musicians in what is often a very busy sound.

“Badia” is a classic appropriation of Zawinul’s fusion-jazz –- a moniker that he does not approve of, and which he credits to the music writers -- upbeat drumming, flowing and melodic synthesizer and the ever-present probing and growling sound of fretless bass.

“Black Market” makes use of a more restrained and rhythm-oriented bass line that sustains the energy of the horn section and solo saxophone. “Night Passage” is a traditional swing score that opens with trumpet solo and progresses into big band orchestration and time sequences, and which utilizes a minimal touch of synthesizer throughout.

“Carnavalito” begins with Acuña’s Cuban Guaguancό percussion that launches the piece into a funky-jazz jam that also makes use of Samba rhythms. This often synchronistic integration of diverse rhythms and tempos is a staple of Zawinul’s music. But also essential to his compositions is his weaving of surface melodies that serve as counterpoint to the heavier elements of his fusion driven pieces.


Pedro Blas Gonzalez is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Barry University in Miami, Florida. Amongst his intellectual pursuits is his interest in the relationship that exists between subjectivity, self-autonomy and philosophy.