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Kritzerland is proud to present a world premiere limited edition soundtrack CD release: TOO LATE BLUES Music Composed by David Raksin Too Late Blues (1962) is certainly one of the greatest films ever made about the jazz world. Despite being a studio movie and being scripted, it feels like jazz, like an improvisation. Given the maverick nature of John Cassavetes and the rawness of his first film, Shadows, it was truly bold of Paramount Pictures to hand the reins of a big studio production to someone like Cassavetes. But that’s exactly what happened with Too Late Blues. It was a perfect match between subject matter and filmmaker. In 1959, Cassavetes had starred in a TV series called Johnny Staccato, playing a jazzman who moonlights as a detective. Too Late Blues is a beautifully made film, with great performances and gorgeous black-and-white photography, and a score to die for, by the great David Raksin. There is a lot of jazz in Too Late Blues. The easy way out would have been to do standards, but Raksin wrote all original music for the film, even for the source cues. And what music it is – Raksin at his best, and Raksin at his best is as good as it gets. It didn’t hurt that he was working with some of the best West Coast jazz players of that era, including Red Mitchell, Benny Carter, Shelly Manne, Jimmy Rowles, Milt Bernhart, and the best studio musicians anyone could hope for – including the amazing trumpet player Uan Rasey. Raksin wrote one of his most exquisite and inspired themes for the film, which he titled “A Song After Sundown.” It’s heard in jazz guises, within the dramatic score, and even as a vocalise performed by Stella Stevens’ character. It’s a haunting, melancholy theme filled with sadness and yearning – classic Raksin, as are the jazz cues and the dramatic score. It’s all of a piece – absolute perfection in the picture and wonderful to listen to outside the film as well. This is the world-premiere release of Too Late Blues. We had access to the scoring session masters and the original prerecords done for the “live” playing in the film. The latter were all recorded in one-track mono, while the score cues and some of the source cues were recorded in three-track stereo. Given how the music functions in the film (the first dramatic score cue occurs over an hour into the film), we took a different approach in sequencing the album, trying for an optimal listening experience rather than strict film order – which would have given an hour of jazz cues before the first score cue. We have included all the music written for the film – first the film cues, and then a bonus section filled with alternates and various odds and ends, over seventy-six minutes of prime David Raksin. Too Late Blues is limited to 1000 copies only. The price is $19.98, plus shipping. CD will ship the final week of June, but preorders placed at Kritzerland usually ship one to five weeks early (we’ve been averaging four weeks). Quelle: http://www.kritzerland.com/too_late_blues.htm PS: Der deutsche Titel ist mir nicht bekannt!

Kritzerland is proud to present a new limited edition soundtrack release to one of the most beloved classics ever: LAURA - Music Composed by David Raksin Laura—both the 1944 film and the immortal David Raksin score that supports and, in the opinion of some, lends it classic status—is the ultimate in noir-ish Hollywood glamour: a dark masterpiece that somehow transcended all the difficulties strewn along its path to production to become one of the great exemplars of the accidental artistry of a largely commercial studio system. With a brilliant cast, including Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, and Judith Anderson, and sublime direction by Otto Preminger, Laura, based on the novel by Vera Caspary, is as iconic a film noir as there ever was. The film is filled with classic bon mots, most of them coming from Clifton Webb as the acerbic Waldo Lydecker. “I should be sincerely sorry to see my neighbor’s children devoured by wolves,” or “I don’t use a pen, I write with a goose quill dipped in venom,” or “I cannot stand these morons any longer. If you don’t come with me this instant I shall run amok.” The film, which runs a brisk eighty-eight minutes, was nominated for four Academy Awards – Clifton Webb received a Best Supporting Actor nomination and the others were for screenplay, director, art direction, and photography. It took home the prize for Joseph LaShelle’s velvety beautiful black-and-white photography. But what becomes a legend most? In the case of Laura it is clearly one of the greatest movie themes ever written. Laura was David Raksin’s first major composing assignment and he delivered the goods, with a breathtakingly beautiful monothematic score that fits Laura like a glove. Shockingly, there were twenty best score nominations in 1944 and Laura was not one of them. But the theme and the score have endured and grown even more popular over the years. Many singers have recorded the song (with its lyric by the great Johnny Mercer), and there have been an equal number of instrumental and jazz covers – in fact, during Raksin’s lifetime it was said to be the second most recorded song in history. In tandem with the film’s release on Blu-ray, we are thrilled to present for the first time on CD, the complete score for Laura. The previous CD release on Arista, which has been out of print for many years, was missing about ten minutes of cues. Additionally, what was presented was compiled into a twenty-seven minute suite with no track breaks – one long track. That release was taken from a reel-to-reel tape, but for this complete release the original elements were used. Additionally, we include as a bonus some test demos and the entire suite from the previous release. In total, eighteen tracks of prime David Raksin, and a score that truly stands the test of time. Laura – a movie and musical masterpiece. Laura is limited to 1000 copies only. The price is $19.98, plus shipping. CD will ship the second week of March but preorders placed at Kritzerland usually ship one to five weeks early (we’ve been averaging four weeks). Quelle: http://www.kritzerland.com/Laura.htm