The Cincinnati Kid
Norman Jewison's gritty 1965 film (with themes familiar fromThe Hustler) may not have made Steve McQueen a superstar, but it quickly raised the profile of its scorer, the classically trained jazz pianist and composer Lalo Schifrin. If the Argentina-born Schifrin didn't introduce jazz in films, he certainly refined and focused it during the '60s and '70s as few others. Schifrin took this high-profile opportunity to utilize the full breadth of his diverse musical training and performance experience. Effectively mirroring his own multicultural roots and instincts, this score also shares more than a few parallels with his later '60s classic,Cool Hand Luke: jazz mixed freely with strong, melodic orchestral cues, then seasoned with enough Americana (the gospel-soul of "New Orleans Procession";Ray Charles's original bluesy theme song) to impart not only a compelling dramatic mood, but a distinct sense of time and place to the film as well. This new digital recording of the score was supervised by the composer (who lends his deft touch at the piano to the period-jazz instrumental theme) and gives Schifrin's music a lively new sense of rhythm and sparkling contemporary sheen.--Jerry McCulley