5 Comments
Oct 13, 2021Liked by Ted Gioia

The great drummer Akira Tana and His Secret Agent Band do a set of Bond themes. See: https://live.stanford.edu/calendar/april-2018/akira-tana-and-his-secret-agent-band

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I love this, Ted! Of course a cool cat like Bond would prefer the sophisticated stylings of the Chicago jazz scene. Now I want to go back and LISTEN to the Bond films.

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Oct 11, 2021Liked by Ted Gioia

I would love to see Yoko Kanno score a Bond film; her soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop may be a bit more modern jazz, but it's a great homage to the jazz spy music of the 60s.

https://youtu.be/XtxsYF4e3uM

https://youtu.be/a8mC0Qsvt_U

https://youtu.be/ePZXtX2BnDc

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Perhaps the most interesting example of Bond listening to jazz-ish music comes in Diamonds Are Forever (the book), where he enters Tiffany Case’s apartment and finds her listening to “Feuilles Mortes” (“Autumn Leaves”), a track from an album by the Hungarian classical-turned-pop pianist George Feyer (1908-2001). He likes it so much that while she’s getting dressed he takes down the label and number: Vox 500.

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Oct 13, 2021Liked by Ted Gioia

The Vox 500 record is "Echoes of Paris", issued four years before Diamonds are Forever was published. Tiffany endorses it as the "best light record ever made". It's also referred to in Casino Royale, where the track "La Vie en Rose" is associated with the deceased Vesper Lynd. Fleming takes up a whole two pages of Diamonds are Forever to talk about it. I've always wondered why so much emphasis is given. Either Fleming really liked it, or some form of payola is going on.

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