This week’s music selection is some 40s-esque big band jazz, originally written for a poker video game. We recorded with a dynamite horn and rhythm section, including some longtime musical collaborators.

The march of music technology has frequently left the studio drummer by the wayside, and I’m just as guilty as the next composer of laying down fake drum tracks via keyboard in the name of a project’s budget. Recordings like these remind me that there is no substitute for the musicianship of a real drummer!

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Poker Night

Written for a visually lush Audubon documentary, this cue blends Native American flute and percussion with orchestral strings. The scene itself draws a visual analogy between a tribal dance and the animal – in this case, a sage grouse – that inspired it.

Film music often is called upon to evoke the sense of a culture through its indigenous music, while packaging it for Western sensibilities. There’s a delicate balance involved in suggesting a culture without caricaturing it. (Imagine the crashing gong that might herald an “Asian” character in a 1980s-era film.) My rule of thumb is that if ethnic music sounds like music, rather than a sound effect, then it’s more likely to succeed as tasteful commentary.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Sage Dance

In the movie Siren, the protagonist’s band (for whom we’re all rooting) competes in a giant battle of the bands, only to come in second place. They sulk in the green room, to the strains of this week’s music selection. Fortunately, the movie isn’t over at this point. Guitar props go to Tom Strahle, here channeling a little B.B. King.

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	Second Place Blues

This week’s selection is another cue from Against Time, this time a wistful interlude near the end of the film. Props again to the Budapest Film Orchestra (and their sensitive string section in particular).

(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)

	A Last Look Around