Hot cha cha

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2000)

You can certainly understand why Woody loves jazz music of a certain vintage after watching this picture. Enjoying a melody is analogous to his appreciation of a plot; the sense of swing corresponds nicely to his pacing of the action; and the improvisation inherent in the music echos the efforts his actors give their less-than-formally scripted roles.
In the reviews posted here, there hasn't been much mention of the musicians who did the soundtrack, and they're outstanding. Howard Alden, perhaps the best guitarist of his generation (he's around 40), does the guitar work. Alden was actually hired to teach Sean Penn to look like he could play the guitar; Alden followed him around to sets on different pictures he was working on, teaching him the rudiments of the instrument (I have a hunch Sean is a pretty fair guitarist by now). Pianist, arranger and composer Dick Hyman captures the music of the era perfectly. Ken Peplowski is the featured reedman.
My kid, knowing what a jazz fan I am, asked me if I had any Emmett Ray records. He was absolutely astounded to learn that Ray is a fictitious character. There's a comment about verisimilitude in there somewhere, but I'll leave it to you to fish it out.
Woody's best picture? Probably not, but well worth seeing.