INTRADA Announces:
THE JAYHAWKERS
Composed and Conducted by JEROME MOROSS
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 211
When composer Jerome Moross was hired to score the 1959 Paramount Pictures' film The Jayhawkers, he had just scored his first Hollywood hit with his Oscar-nominated music for The Big Country and was thus a logical choice. His unique Americana sound, with its mostly pentatonic melodies, rhythmic impetus and plain-spoken diatonic harmony, made Moross a perfect foil for the darker undercurrents of the story. Moross’ open-hearted, life-affirming music emphasized the good in the film's two adversaries/friends, leading the audience to empathize with both men in spite of their sometimes malevolent actions. One could even argue that it is an incongruous use of music -- Moross scoring The Jayhawkers with rousing, almost exclusively major-mode music, though his exciting themes played under what were essentially violent, destructive raids on innocent towns by outlaws preceding the Civil War.
To bring the complete soundtrack to CD, Intrada was given access to Paramount Pictures’ 35mm three-channel scoring session masters, transferred in the 1990s to 2’’ analogue protection tape. Most of the score is presented here in stereo, with three cues coming from the mono music stems. The 35mm film transfers included a small amount of deterioration in a few areas that resulted in minimal wow, but overall everything displayed clean stereo audio with crisp, punchy dynamics. As this premiere release of the complete score demonstrates, the artistry of Jerome Moross fills every measure of The Jayhawkers with excitement and emotion.
Set in pre-Civil War Kansas,The Jayhawkers uses the historical Jayhawkers movement (a group of guerillas fighting to keep Kansas free from slavery and on the side of the North in the coming conflict) merely as background for the complex story of two flawed protagonists. The script plays fast and loose with history, focusing instead on the deeply textured love-hate relationship between Cam Bleeker (Fess Parker) and Luke Darcy (Jeff Chandler)— both outlaws pursuing what they perceive as noble goals while leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake.
INTRADA Special Collection Vol. 211
Retail Price: $19.99
Available Now
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7776/.f
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