Experience horror with a jazzy, comedic twist this Halloween
By Emily Camastra
Oct. 27, 2004 9:00 p.m.
Laughter rather than terror is what UCLA Live is trying to
inspire in its audiences this Halloween, thanks to a new twist on
the classic 1950s horror flick “Creature from the Black
Lagoon.”
The film, along with its terrifying title character known as the
“gill-man,” will resurface from murky waters during its
screening, Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. in Royce Hall. And while it will
remain in its original 3-D format, this time another dimension will
be added with the help of live music, silly dialogue and a few
comedic sound effects provided by the musical ensemble Jazz
Passengers.
The film, which follows a scientific expedition into the Amazon,
revolves around the discovery of the meaning of a webbed fossil.
After some unwanted hands-on experience, however, they encounter a
prehistoric, semi-amphibious beast known as the
“gill-man.” His human-like stature creates a sense of
empathy, while his obsession with chasing the heroine, played by
Julie Adams, evokes a creepiness à la King Kong.
While the 1954 film is a cult favorite in its own right, the
Jazz Passengers were engulfed in accolades for their original score
and improvised commentary for the film during a showcase at the
“Celebrate Brooklyn” festival in the summer of 2003.
The combination of the campy film with innovative jazz was such a
breakout success that the New York-based musicians have been asked
to take the show on the road and are traveling to the West Coast
for several California appearances.
Founded by saxophonist Roy Nathanson and trombonist Curtis
Fowlkes in 1987, the Jazz Passengers have mixed soulful
compositions with comedy pieces. The two formed the band after
meeting in the Big Apple Circus and touring with the critically
acclaimed band The Lounge Lizards.
“We’ve always combined theatrical comedy with
serious jazz music,” explains Nathanson. “Our interest
lies in connecting comedy with different multimedia. I’m not
interested in writing and performing music without a
story.”
The combination of different multimedia during performance
provided several challenges for the Passengers. Ilene Weiss, asked
to join the project for her guitar skills and comic antics, helped
to write the script. While inserting tidbits of comedy, the
objective was to keep the plot on course.
“We weren’t just changing words," explains Weiss.
“It had to be logical with the visual, in terms of how the
mouths were moving. If the whole thing were totally out of sync, it
would lose its potency.”
In addition to rewriting the dialogue, the Jazz Passengers also
rescored the entire film. Nathanson wrote music inspired by the
original score, but as a jazz band, each performance is a little
different. While some parts of the film are completely improvised,
most of the music consists of written progressions that are
improvised around.
In the production, each musician is assigned to a role in the
film. Nathanson originally envisioned that each musician would
provide all the dialogue of their character live. However, playing
an instrument and speaking lines was not logistically possible in
certain circumstances, so some of the dialogue is pre-recorded.
Still, the ability to have multiple sources of interest is
important to creating the overall mood of the film.
“There are a lot of underwater scenes," explains Weiss.
“And those are the parts of high musical intensity.
What’s great about this project is that the audience gets
humor alongside sophisticated music.”
