The Cotton Club: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

 (10 customer reviews)

The soundtrack to the troubled 1984 movie is interesting because of the recreations of Jazz Age hits by Duke Ellington and company. However, only about half the music from the film made it onto the 45 minute soundtrack. Too bad because there are some real gems performed in the movie and the first-rate performances can only be experienced while watching them and not by listening to their entirety on the CD.

What a relief to hear so much of the instrumental music in the glorious score of "The Cotton Club" without the annoying cutoffs of the songs, and cutaways from the performers to the often-gory and sometimes-boring "story!" I own the Video of the film and have watched it many times, skipping from one musical number to another, feeling frustrated that I can't hear the MUSIC the way it was meant to be heard. I mean, those musicians were knocking themselves out to please the listeners and dancers and I thought the movie wasted their talents by putting them in the background so much of the time.Like other reviewers here, I am mightily impressed by the faithfulness of the arrangements of songs created by some of the greats--Arlen and Ellington, in particular. The excellence of the music's realization truly comes through on the CD. The vocal productions frequently do not match the high level of the instrumental work, but it is wonderful to hear all the lyrics of...Read more

Where else can you hear the earliest Ellington stuff recorded with today's recording technique? with today's best studio musicians nailing it? The band is hot, the music swings, big time, everyhing's right, musically, historically, and the recording technically. Too bad the CD version didn't get the rest of the soundtrack as bonus tracks. This is a wonderful musical experience, every time. My only reservation is its brevity. If you love the sound of early/1920s-1930s jazz, and enjoy listening to it in spite of the sad quality of recordings from that era, this modern version of Cotton Club Ellington is heaven. I wake up to it every morning.