This ‘Blonde’ Hopes Golden Highlights Add Glimmer

Anyone walking into Capitol Records’ Studio A on a recent Friday afternoon could be forgiven for thinking he or she had entered a time warp.

Here, playing music that sounded as if it might have been written in the ‘40s and ‘50s, were many of the great jazz soloists of that era: bassist Ray Brown and tenor saxophonist James Moody, who met while playing in Dizzy Gillespie’s band more than half a century ago; Mundell Lowe, the jazz guitarist who recorded with Oscar Peterson and Zoot Sims; tenor player Plas Johnson, who played for Billy May and Nelson Riddle; trombonist Bill Watrous, whose resume includes stints with Count Basie and Woody Herman; and several other notable musicians. The occasion was a scoring session for “Blonde,” a CBS miniseries scheduled to premiere Sunday and based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel, a fictionalization of the life of Marilyn Monroe.

For the recording date, composer Patrick Williams gathered what may be the most star-studded collection of classic-jazz players ever assembled for a television score. Williams conceived the idea after seeing a rough cut of the four-hour film. It had a temporary score that included tracks by Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, Ben Webster and other artists of the period. Williams liked the approach.

“I just thought the atmosphere was so right for this movie,” he said. Director Joyce Chopra--who had worked with Williams on three previous TV movies--asked the composer to write an original score that was reflective of the music of Monroe’s era, 1926 to 1962.

“I knew I wanted to get the flavor of the different periods,” she said, “and I always heard jazz in my head. Patrick is a jazz artist as well as somebody who scores films, so he was the only choice.”

Williams, who has two Grammys for his jazz arrangements as well as three Emmys for his TV music, wrote about an hour’s worth of music for the show. He described the score as “an amalgam of five or six bands: some Ellington, some Basie, some Dorsey, some [Jimmie] Lunceford. . . . I grew up on this stuff, so it’s second nature to me. But I could never have imagined I would be writing this music in 2001.”

He asked music contractor Joe Soldo to round up some of the leading jazz players of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s who were still active.

“We got the guys we wanted,” said Williams. Most of them were able to make the Capitol dates in late January. A few, owing to scheduling conflicts, came in a few days later to record their solos, including guitarist Kenny Burrell and veteran trumpeter Snooky Young.

Two players didn’t even have to travel, courtesy of 21st century technology: fluegelhorn player Roy Hargrove and tenor sax player Scott Hamilton recorded from New York and London, respectively, via fiber-optic lines (a technique that Williams pioneered as arranger-conductor on Frank Sinatra’s two “Duets” albums).

Meanwhile, the limited budget turned out to be a creative plus. The combination of three brass and four reed players plus a rhythm section (guitar, bass, drums, piano) ensures that the ensemble “has a real personality,” Williams said. “The individuals are important when you have a band this size.”

Most of the players had known each other for decades. All were familiar with each other’s work, and all seemed to enjoy the sessions.

“The last time I played that style guitar was with Benny Goodman,” said guitarist Lowe, 78. “The style of the music harks back to the ‘40s, and it’s special.”

Watrous, 61, who has played for Williams regularly since the two met in New York in the early ‘60s, called the music “classic,” while Brown, 74, said, “I hear a little Ellington and a lot of Basie. Pat’s an excellent writer. He knows what to do and he knows what he wants.”

Playboy, which featured Monroe as its first centerfold in 1953, is launching its new record label, Playboy Jazz, with the “Blonde” soundtrack. The album will be released Tuesday.

Drummer Gregg Field, who co-produced the album featuring this assemblage of jazz greats, said “it wasn’t unusual 20 years ago to see guys like this together. But with styles of music changing and years passing, the opportunities are less. To have Ray Brown and James Moody and Plas Johnson and Mundell Lowe in the same room--we all knew that this was something special.”

* “Blonde” airs Sunday and May 16 at 9 p.m. on CBS.