50 albums: 1966 - Alfie by Sonny Rollins

2014-01-06
Categories: 50 albums music

50 albums: 1966 - Alfie by Sonny Rollins

Here's my favourite track on the album (after two listens)

I don't like the film Alfie, actually don't like many Michael Caine films but I quite like Michael Caine and I quite often like the soundtracks to Michael Caine films, there's a chance another may turn up in this series later, and here's one that can't because it was from 1965 and we're already past that. John Barry's fantastic opening theme to The Ipcress File.

Jazz has areas where it just works and cinema is the most obvious one, here in Louis Malle's Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, Miles Davis plays while Jeanne Moreau wanders around Paris mournfully and beautifully!

Jazz was the music I thought my dad liked but he never listened to this sort off jazz, in fact I barely knew the existence of this sort of music while I was growing up. As I get older I have gained an appreciation for, if not a love of, virtuosity, and jazz seems to be a lot of that.

David came across this free online course of "Jazz appreciation" starting at the end of the month, and a few of us have signed up, maybe by April I'll be able to understand what I'm listening to.

Apparently when the film arrived with its US distributors they weren't too happy with a jazz theme and so commisioned Burt Bacharach to write something a little more contemporary - there's a good two part blog item that goes into the details of it:

The Making of Alfie (part 1)
The Making of Alfie (part 2)

And here's Cilla giving it her all