1950s: Jazz & B- Movie Soundtracks

What is it about 1950s B-Movies and their Jazz Soundtracks? 

Something so kitsch, so predictable and still somehow so fresh?  It all began as
a random and variably intersection with a 1950's movie over an equally random albeit obligatory breakfast bowl of oriental ramen noodle.  The movie was "The 4D Man"



Amazon's editors describe the movie with the following blurb: He walks through walls of solid steel and stone--into the 4th dimension. Scientific whiz Tony Nelson (James Congdon) has made an amazing discovery. He has developed a method of stimulating the molecular structure of objects so that they can be joined or passed through one another. Stumbling upon this incredible secret is Tony's older brother, Scott (Robert Lansing), a fellow scientist who decides to take the experiment one step further. Soon he is able to pass himself through doors and walls. But his newfound freedom of movement has unforeseen side effects, for each time the power is used, Scott ages a bit and only by touching other living beings, thus taking their lives, can he maintain his age. In addition, this incredible force is driving him quite mad...


But it was the soundtrack that first caught my interest....so here's the soundtrack composer information:

• Ralph Carmichael - Composer (Music Score) 
• Jean Yeaworth - Musical Direction/Supervision 
• Ralph Carmichael - Musical Direction/Supervision 

I can't share the ramen with you but I can give you a taste of Mr. Ralph Carmichael's "The 4D Man" below. This taste comes courtesy of  a 10-minute YouTube jazz-fantasia-1950s styles-extravaganza-movie-mash-up that was part of what the YouTube author's described as an homage to the "greatest musical sccores in motion picture history" 

 One of the greatest musical soundtracks ever?  I don't know, but I certainty thought the soundtrack crisply instantiated an archetypal sound from the cultural flotsam we call home and we raid increasingly due to a failure of imagination or a revelry of the imagination in the sundry forms available to try on.  


It turns out that 4D Man is even something of a 'cult classic.'  And the soundtrack itself is  "Perhaps the most commented upon facet of 4D Man is composer Ralph Carmichael's unusual jazz score. It's more akin to that of a Noir-style police procedural than a science fiction film. You won't hear a single note played on a theramin. Bold and brassy horn riffs frequently accentuate the onscreen action with aural punctuation marks; the cool bass/drum passages wouldn't seem out of place in an episode of Twin Peaks. Occasionally inappropriate in scenes where no musical accompaniment at all would have served better (and in one case — the picnic in the park — getting downright silly), I think it's an asset to the film as a whole" Eccentric-Cinema

So good that others have 'bootlegged' the soundtrack, since the  soundtrack itself was not independently released:

Carmichael, the maestro, also worked with the producer Jack Harris on other fimls, composing the soundtrack for other atomic age thrillers.  One of those thrillers, it randomly turns out, was one of the first movies to frighten me as a child when I saw it on late night TV.    That movie: The Blob.


There's even a German taste of  The 4D Man on youtube. Why? Who can untangle the random and variable movements of the universe. 


German Version of Film: Why? Because it's random.various

Relatedly...even a jazz summer camp version of the 4d Man...Why? well it turns out, that one night these happy jazz campers were sitting around during movie night and their counselor/teacher  placed The 4d Man in the DVD player.  

The campers fell under the spell of the surprisngly crisp jazz soundtrack and while they were (by their own description)  "bluntin' to the flick" an inspiration struck which they called The "4D Man Sessions (Jazz In Absentia" by "We're Late For Class."  They crafted a qiuck cover, placed some samples of the session on line for sale ($.99), sold 0 -to- Who knows how many copies, and then two years I randomly and variously happened upon and placed the post for you who equally randomly and variously chanced upon this posted.

This really wasn't a session. During movie night, we watched the 1959 sci-fi classic 4D Man (with Robert Lansing) and we collectively noticed the stiff but spiffy jazz riffs that punctuated the background music. So, Lonnie copied the DVD and - while the rest of us kept bluntin' to the flick - whipped up some samples from the soundtrack's cheap, hi-hat, jazz drum'n'bass. We did the rest. The animated Bob K., whom you'll soon find took vocal charge of the sessions, was a stoned jazz wordsmith friend of Shelly's. The operative word is stoned... and goes directly to the axiom about being careful who you hand a microphone to. His ramblings are included here as a warning to others who might harbor a similar notion. The music itself is our half-baked take on a "get high and go raw junkie jazz" session. Hence the sub-title, Jazz In Absentia. The plan was to fill this out with more characters and sections, but... we never got around to it. We wasted the time instead on a sleek (but ripped-off) promo photo. Time is relative, they say. Since we doubt we'll come back to this, we're unloading... uh, we mean... uploading it here for your enjoyment. 12.23.2007  - 
Source (and to purchase/listen to samples) werelateforclass.bandcamp.com