Can you call the music for J.Bond movies a genre?

[lawson-stone]

The "film noire" genre developed a kind of music that is associated with jazz because, well, it was the big-band era and big-band music is a solid aspect of the whole jazz genre. "Peter Gunn" is a classic big-band "noire" tune and the arrangements are all classic big-band jazz. It has the vibe of gangsters, speak-easy's, dark street corners--which happens to be the social milieu in which jazz came into its own. There is a sprawling decadence, and excess, about it. But to say it's not jazz I think is to miss out on the fact that jazz was part-and-parcel of the whole prohibition era, gangster oriented, private-eye vibe. The Bond tune simply took the elements of the jazz played in those settings and wove them into a fresh statement that reverberated with that tradition.
I honestly can't believe how someone could say this is not jazz.

[Christian Miller]

I agree Ragman.

But the thing that bugs me is that the Bond movies (which itself is not a genre by itself at all.. it is just a mere series), have created this strangely recognizable vibe of how the music sounds and feels.
It feels like it is a mini-genre. Sometimes we stumble on some random pieces that "sounds like a Bond theme". That's very rare for me (mostly listening other kinds of stuff) but that just affirms the idea that it is very much like a separate genre.

Categorizing a certain type of music is often a muddy road.

John Barry is certainly a genre

(although Monty Norman wrote the original Bond theme lest we forget.!)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ruger9]

You like what you like and i'll like what i like if that is ok with you.Sorry but John williams,Hans Zimmer are obviously great composer's but Barry for me was better at conveying action and emotion in film than these guys.

Chillax dude.. I didn't say anything about you being "wrong", I merely stated the fact that John Williams is one of the greatest film composers of all time. As recognized by the world, BTW. I don't give a rats ass who you like, like away. Opinions are like assholes...

[wolflen]

Does Johnny Rivers count?

Bet this went over alot of heads..

[emanresu]

Bet this went over alot of heads..

Yeah, what was the thing there?

[lawson-stone]

Bet this went over alot of heads..

A guitar riff almost as distinctive as the James Bond theme. One of the first things I ever learned to play on an electric guitar! Maybe an example of "Spy Rock"

[lawson-stone]

[emanresu]

Omg

edit: wait. Dr. No was 1962, this song was '64 or something.

Well, if something massive happens, there's always this mess.. "who did what or who did who"

[RLetson]

Interesting to compare the two versions of the UK Danger Man series theme music.

[nyc chaz]

Chillax dude.. I didn't say anything about you being "wrong", I merely stated the fact that John Williams is one of the greatest film composers of all time. As recognized by the world, BTW. I don't give a rats ass who you like, like away. Opinions are like assholes...

You seem to be the one getting bent out of shape.As far as what the masses like,i couldn't care less.The world also thinks Eric Clapton is a greater guitarist than Joe Pass,does that make them correct?

[emanresu]

Stop fighting, we have good thing going on here!

[RLetson]

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here--this is the War Room!

[Christian Miller]

Oh Barry did this one as well didn’t he?

Classic score


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Christian Miller]

You seem to be the one getting bent out of shape.As far as what the masses like,i couldn't care less.The world also thinks Eric Clapton is a greater guitarist than Joe Pass,does that make them correct?

I think you could make a case that all three have been massively influential in shaping the sound of cinema whether or not you like their music

I’m a massive John Williams fan though.

Zimmer… eh, he has his moments. I don’t tend to find it satisfying to listen to his music on its own, although it’s highly effective in the movies,
and he’s scored some of my favourites. (Although zimmer scores are in fact more a collaboration in most cases.)

Mostly he’s the guy who could operate cubase in the 90s (at least that’s what he told Guthrie Govan) which meant he could preview music quickly for scenes which made him super popular with directors, he was on the crest of a new way of doing things. It probably helped him that he didn’t have that super classical trad dots on paper background, because he could see a different way of doing it.

Hard to imagine but film scoring before then was an absolute leap of faith for the film maker, even with temp tracks. You’d only hear it when it was done, unless you could read through scores yourself.

We all remember what happened to Alex North on 2001 right? (I daresay his royalties from unchained melody softened the blow.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mick-7]

A guitar riff almost as distinctive as the James Bond theme. One of the first things I ever learned to play on an electric guitar! Maybe an example of "Spy Rock"

Here it is without the lyrics - well almost - this charted at about the same time as Johnny's version, I much prefer the sound of his ES-335.

[Old Nick]

[ragman1]

[ragman1]

[RLetson]

Contributing even more to thread drift (because this is really fun): Compare the original Elmer Bernstein scoring for the title sequence of The Rat Race (1960) with the Richard Maltby radio hit version. And while I'm at it, notice some of the cast credits past the roster of stars and character actors--Sam Butera, Gerry Mulligan, and Sam Bushkin!

[sgcim]

And let us not forget the 'king of spy jazz guitar' Vic Flick. Here he is playing the same exact guitar he played the 007 Theme.

He started out as a jazz guitarist, and did some gigs with the John Barry Seven, featuring the leader playing trumpet, only capable of playing notes on the staff, because he had no chops for anything higher.

Considering that Barry made Flick's career as a studio player, Flick didn't have much good to say about him in Flick's autobiography. Barry gave him the guitar part to one of the Bond films that had two women having a catfight in a gypsy caravan scene.
Flick noticed that there were 50 open measures, and asked Barry what he should do there.
Barry told him to improvise some Gypsy music, based on a little melody he sketched out in the first measure. Flick was very annoyed that he had to play solo improvisational guitar witout getting any credit or money
Barry pulled the same thing when he was staying over Barry's villa. Barry handed him some manuscript paper with another little theme written out, and told Flick to write out about two or three minutes of music developing the theme, and have it for him the next day, while Barry spent the time in his swimming pool
Flick scored the music for full orchestra, and again was stiffed by Barry for money or credit.
They eventually parted ways. Flick is full of stories like this about the recording scene in the 50s and 60s, because musicians were constantly getting screwed, due to the fact that their musician's union was practically non-existent at the time.
Flick wold have to cover for rockers like Jimmy Page, because Page's reading skills were so poor on the sessions they did together.

[wintermoon]

And let us not forget the 'king of spy jazz guitar' Vic Flick. Here he is playing the same exact guitar he played the 007 Theme.

He started out as a jazz guitarist, and did some gigs with the John Barry Seven, featuring the leader playing trumpet, only capable of playing notes on the staff, because he had no chops for anything higher.

Considering that Barry made Flick's career as a studio player, Flick didn't have much good to say about him in Flick's autobiography. Barry gave him the guitar part to one of the Bond films that had two women having a catfight in a gypsy caravan scene.
Flick noticed that there were 50 open measures, and asked Barry what he should do there.
Barry told him to improvise some Gypsy music, based on a little melody he sketched out in the first measure. Flick was very annoyed that he had to play solo improvisational guitar witout getting any credit or money
Barry pulled the same thing when he was staying over Barry's villa. Barry handed him some manuscript paper with another little theme written out, and told Flick to write out about two or three minutes of music developing the theme, and have it for him the next day, while Barry spent the time in his swimming pool
Flick scored the music for full orchestra, and again was stiffed by Barry for money or credit.
They eventually parted ways. Flick is full of stories like this about the recording scene in the 50s and 60s, because musicians were constantly getting screwed, due to the fact that their musician's union was practically non-existent at the time.
Flick wold have to cover for rockers like Jimmy Page, because Page's reading skills were so poor on the sessions they did together.

That gypsy scene is in From Russia w Love, meow.....

[Litterick]

Yes, but, Elmer Bernstein.

[Christian Miller]

And let us not forget the 'king of spy jazz guitar' Vic Flick. Here he is playing the same exact guitar he played the 007 Theme.

He started out as a jazz guitarist, and did some gigs with the John Barry Seven, featuring the leader playing trumpet, only capable of playing notes on the staff, because he had no chops for anything higher.

Considering that Barry made Flick's career as a studio player, Flick didn't have much good to say about him in Flick's autobiography. Barry gave him the guitar part to one of the Bond films that had two women having a catfight in a gypsy caravan scene.
Flick noticed that there were 50 open measures, and asked Barry what he should do there.
Barry told him to improvise some Gypsy music, based on a little melody he sketched out in the first measure. Flick was very annoyed that he had to play solo improvisational guitar witout getting any credit or money
Barry pulled the same thing when he was staying over Barry's villa. Barry handed him some manuscript paper with another little theme written out, and told Flick to write out about two or three minutes of music developing the theme, and have it for him the next day, while Barry spent the time in his swimming pool
Flick scored the music for full orchestra, and again was stiffed by Barry for money or credit.
They eventually parted ways. Flick is full of stories like this about the recording scene in the 50s and 60s, because musicians were constantly getting screwed, due to the fact that their musician's union was practically non-existent at the time.
Flick wold have to cover for rockers like Jimmy Page, because Page's reading skills were so poor on the sessions they did together.

So what you are saying is Barry totally Zimmered him?

[princeplanet]

Guys, it's CRIME JAZZ. Elmer, Bernstein, Nelson Riddle, Henry Mancini, Stan Wilson, Stan Purdy...

Some Film Noir scores cross over into this genre, but I see it as a distinctly different genre. I have playlists of each - great dinner party / cocktail music.

[RJVB]

Once, long ago on the jgbe, we set out to find what the James Bond chord was. I'm still not sure we ever found out.

Isn't the biggest challenge to know how to interpret a double-0?