When bad things happen to great musicians
The role of ambi-diegetic jazz in three tragedepictions of artistic genius on the silver screen
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v1i1.99Keywords:
cinemusical meanings, jazz biopics, jazz in filmAbstract
Earlier work has shown how jazz can deepen the meanings of a cinematic experience; can enrich the development of plot, character, or other dramatic themes in a motion picture; and can contribute to various aspects of a film’s significance. Conversely, the present essay focuses on how this cinemusical process can break down—leading to unsatisfactory or problematic results—especially in a jazz biopic that portrays the life of a great musician. In this connection, dwelling on the dark side of artistic genius, the essay discusses how cinemusical uses of jazz have failed to provide the needed dramatic effects—falling short of conveying the essence of true tragedy—in three major tragedepictions portraying the undeniably sad lives of Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972); of a Lester Young/Bud Powell/Dexter Gordon composite character in ’Round Midnight (1986); and of Charlie Parker in Bird (1988).
References
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Tan, Ed S. (1996) Emotion and the Structure of Narrative Film: Film as an Emotion Machine. Trans. Barbara Fasting. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Altman, Rick (1987) The American Film Musical. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Atkins, Irene Kahn (1983) Source Music in Motion Pictures. East Brunswick, NJ: Associated University Press.
Biancorosso, Giorgio (2001) ‘Beginning Credits and Beyond: Music and the Cinematic Imagination’. ECHO 3 (Spring), http://www.echo.ucla.edu
Bourjaily, Vance (1987) ‘In and Out of Storyville: Jazz and Fiction’. New York Times, Book Review Section (13 December): 1, 44–45.
Bradshaw, Alan, and Morris B. Holbrook (2006) ‘Chet Baker and the Consumer Fantasy of the Self-Destructing Jazz Musician’. Presented at the Leeds International Jazz Conference, March 2006.
——(2007) ‘Remembering Chet: Theorising the Mythology of the Self-Destructive Artist as Self-Producer and Self-Consumer’. Marketing Theory, in press.
Büchmann-Møller, Frank (1990) You Just Fight For Your Life: The Story of Lester Young. New York: Praeger.
Buhler, James, Caryl Flinn, and David Neumeyer, eds. (2000) Music and Cinema. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press.
Chion, Michel (1994) Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen. Ed. and trans. Claudia Gorbman. New York: Columbia University Press.
Delannoy, Luc (1993) Pres: The Story of Lester Young. Trans. Elena B. Odio. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press.
Feuer, Jane (1993) The Hollywood Musical. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Frye, Northrop, Sheridan Baker, and George Perkins (1985) The Harper Handbook to Literature. New York: Harper & Row.
Gabbard, Krin (1996) Jammin’ at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Gorbman, Claudia (1987) Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Hagen, Earle (1971) Scoring for Films. Emeryville, CA: MixBooks.
Holbrook, Morris B. (2003) ‘A Book-review Essay on the Role of Ambi-diegetic Film Music in the Product Design of Hollywood Movies: Macromarketing in La-LaLand’. Consumption, Markets and Culture 6 (September): 207–30.
——(2004a) ‘Ambi-Diegetic Music in Films as a Product-Design and -Placement Strategy: The Sweet Smell of Success’. Marketing Theory 4/3: 171–85.
——(2004b) ‘Pivotal Ambi-Diegetic Cinemusical Moments in Five Jazz Biopics’. Working Paper, Columbia University.
——(2005a) ‘The Ambi-Diegesis of “My Funny Valentine”’. In Pop Fiction—The Song in Cinema, eds Steve Lannin and Matthew Caley, 48–62. Portland, OR: Intellect.
——(2005b) ‘Ambi-diegetic Music in the Movies: The Crosby Duets in High Society’. Consumption, Markets and Culture 8/2 (June): 153–82.
——(2005c) ‘Art versus Commerce as a Macromarketing Theme in Three Films from the Young-Man-with-a-Horn Genre’. Journal of Macromarketing 25/1 (June): 22–31.
——(2006) ‘Reply to Bradshaw, McDonagh, and Marshall: Turn off the Bubble Machine’. Journal of Macromarketing 26/2 (December): 84–87.
Kalinak, Kathryn (1992) Settling the Score: Music and the Classical Hollywood Film. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Kassabian, Anahid (2001) Hearing Film: Tracking Identifications in Contemporary Hollywood Film Music. New York: Routledge.
Meeker, David (1981) Jazz in the Movies. New York: Da Capo Press.
Metz, Christian (1974) Film Language: A Semiotics of the Cinema. New York: Oxford University Press.
Monaco, James (1981) How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory of Film and Media, revised ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
O’Meally, Robert (1991) Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
Paudras, Francis (1998) Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell. Trans. Rubye Money. New York: Da Capo Press.
Porter, Lewis (1985) Lester Young. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers.
Rodman, Ronald (2000) ‘Tonal Design and the Aesthetic of Pastiche in Herbert Stothart’s Maytime’. In Music and Cinema, eds James Buhler, Caryl Flinn, and David Neumeyer, 187–206. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press.
Rosar, William H. (2002) ‘Film Music—What’s in a Name?’ Journal of Film Music 1/1: 1–18.
Russell, Ross. (1973) Bird Lives! The High Life and Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker. New York: Charterhouse.
Smith, Jeff. (1998) The Sounds of Commerce: Marketing Popular Film Music. New York: Columbia University Press.
Stilwell, Robynn J. (2002) ‘Music in Films: A Critical Review of Literature, 1980–1996’. Journal of Film Music 1/1: 19–61.
Tan, Ed S. (1996) Emotion and the Structure of Narrative Film: Film as an Emotion Machine. Trans. Barbara Fasting. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Published
2007-03-01
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Holbrook, M. (2007). When bad things happen to great musicians: The role of ambi-diegetic jazz in three tragedepictions of artistic genius on the silver screen. Jazz Research Journal, 1(1), 99-128. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v1i1.99
