2026 June 08 • Monday

Here's another great jazz soundtrack: Mundell Lowe's music for Satan in High Heels, the 912th Soundtrack of the Week!

This is a swinging west coast jazz album made at a time, 196s, when jazz could still signify various kinds of vice. This was already being taken over by rock and roll but jazz was still adult and criminal as opposed to adolescent and fun-loving.

So who's on this record? Quite a few well known musicians. Mundell Lowe plays guitar, as you'd expect, but only on the A side. The B side belongs to Barry Galbraith.

George Duvivier is on bass and Ed Shaughnessy on drums and you'll also find, among other, Phil Woods on alto, Oliver Nelson on tenor and Carl "Doc" Severinsen and Clark Terry on trumpet.

Also here is the great Eddie Costa on vibes and drums, shortly before his tragic early death in a car crash. This would be one of the last recordings he ever did, perhaps even the last, although I'm not sure about that.

The main title piece is a post-Man with the Golden Arm ensemble piece with horns up front but more intellectual than Elmer Bernstein's powerful, ostinato-driven number. Phil Woods takes a great solo on this and the next track, "Montage", another swinging west coast jazz tune that's more relaxed.

Eddie Costa and Mundell Lowe are both featured in the slow, pretty "The Lost and the Lonely" as well as "East Side Drive", which starts out slow and pensive and them slips into a much faster gear.

The big band swing era is recalled in the pleasant "Coffee, Coffee", which also has a nice guitar solo.

"Lake in the Woods" is a beautiful, romantic tune with an "I Only Have Eyes for You" feel to it while "From Mundy On" is a Mancini-ish cha cha-type piece.

A tone of menace is introduced in the brisk and swinging "The Long Knife" and then things slow way down for the presumable self-explanatory "Blues for a Stripper".

The record ends with "Pattern of Evil", a bluesy tune with a hard-edged swing feel.

2026 June 01 • Monday

Pat Williams's Mancini-esque music for 1968's How Sweet it Is!, with title song by Jimmy Webb, is the 911th Soundtrack of the Week.

The soundtrack album starts with the west coast jazzy "A Pair of Boobie-Traps", which alternates between medium ensemble swing and novelty music.

Lush, romantic love music with instrumentation that certainly recalls Mancini comes next in "Lonely Afternoon", with sighing strings and smooth, plaintive trumpet playing. Then, of course, a soft, lilting exotica beat with just a hint of reverby electric guitar and gentle reeds taking the melody.

Then the Picardy Singers take on Jimmy Webb's title song, which is very "1960s", leaning in the direction of acid rock but with both feet firmly planted in radio pop territory.

Sad flute and trumpet say "And Then, Goodbye", building in intensity when the string section takes over. The melody is a rearrangement of "Lonely Afternoon", as is the case with the next song, "Son of the Beach".

"Bugged" introduces a note of urgency with frantically bowed strings. Then there's great alto sax playing, accompanied by airy and precise drumming.

The title song gets a bluesy mutation for the instrumental "Face Up to It Baby" and then we're into another soft, slightly exotic, very "'60s" dance number for "The Shortage of Minis", which uses xylophone and trombone.

Fluttery and feathery drumming introduce the waltz time "Villa Sweet Villa", which has more great alto sax playing as well as an achingly romantic violin feature.

"Jenny" is a bossa nova with flute playing a surprisingly staccato melody.

The "Montage from How Sweet It Is" brings back The Picardy Singers for a silly kind of love song which alternates between 4/4 and 3/4.

An interesting, arpeggiated electric guitar part and sort of spy jazz flute part make the last cue, "Beach Ball", one of the best. Again, very "'60s", but really nice!