TRANSCRIPT:
I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.
Jazz has always had a natural connection to film—its rhythms, moods, and improvisations lend themselves to storytelling on the screen.
In 1958, Miles Davis produced a groundbreaking soundtrack for the French film Elevator to the Gallows. He and his quartet improvised the whole score while watching the film projected in the studio—capturing tension, atmosphere, and raw emotion in real time.
Earlier, Duke Ellington had already paved the way. His score for Anatomy of a Murder in 1959 was one of the first major Hollywood films to feature an all-jazz soundtrack. Ellington even appeared on screen, underscoring how central the music was to the film’s identity.
From moody film noir to bold dramas, jazz has shaped the language of cinema—bringing spontaneity, sophistication, and soul to the movies.
This has been Rapp on Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and SC Public Radio, made possible by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.