Becoming Bond

Joplin wrote this wonderful ragtime waltz after her very young wife, Freddie Alexander died after only a few weeks of marriage. Recorded by Bohém Ragtime Jazz Band's leader, pianist Tamás Ittzés on Oct 20, 2013 in Budapest.

Bethena (Scott Joplin)

Crimea

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIr2yDDU5bI

Pyromaniac

copyright Aalok Mehta
Produced and composed by Aalok Mehta, Albert Fox, Anisha Nagarajan


Trident Original Score  First Fight Scene

Casting Office

An ambling track for a young, happy go lucky man. A good deal of thought was given to which instrument play the opening theme, which pops up in the film at carefree times in George Lazenby's life. 

The opening is a "singing" melody, fit for wind instruments. Our available choices came down clarinet and flute (trombone, sax and accordion were not contenders). At first blush, flute seems overly soft for George's rugged character, but it had advantages. In this melody's range, the flute sounds very bucolic, which emphasized George's rural roots. Also this lower midrange gives us something beautiful without the bird-like fluttery of the flute's high range. 

The clarinet by contrast on these phrases has more cleverness and delight. That worked against the open-heartedness and youthful naiveté that George speaks of in the story.

My Bike's Broken Down

This early scene features George Lazenby's boyhood mischief bringing dead snakes and bats to school. The introduction's clarinet riffs will be heard much later in the film (and with much larger orchestration), when George's circumstances escalate into doing his own stunt work in the big-budget filming of OHMSS. 

As this scene develops, the cue is making space for the punchlines in George's story, and rapidly escalates into chaos. At it's height, an Eb clarinet plays wildly at the top of its range. This smaller clarinet has a toy-like personality (think of its famous appearance in the march in Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker), which fits with the silly mischief and the overtly-low-tech practical effects of the scene's flying bats.

Snakes And Bats

This throwback surf guitar cue scores Lazenby's tale of "borrowing" his uncle's car as a young boy. George must have been around 9 at the time, which means he drove that car in the late '40s, but surf music didn't hit until the early '60s. No matter. Mixing up time periods just makes the tall tale stand even taller, and swing, while certainly playful and charming, lacks the mischief and wit of surf's verby guitars. 

And surf can burst with explosive fun, as we do with the giant tenor sax solo that completes the scene.

A Wild Larrikin

At the height of his notoriety, George Lazenby partied every night, taking helicopters from the OHMSS set into town for revelry. This cue starts lively and soon nearly careens out of control, transitioning to hazy euphoria which gives way to a spinning descent when George wakes up from a night of partying to realize the James Bond life may not be for him. 

A fast tempo and chromatic scales create a "going off the rails" sound in the first half of the cue. In the back half, aleatoric procedures and descending piano arpeggios create a floating-yet-falling feeling. I think of it as a hot air balloon filled with pot smoke that's deflating and drifting down into an abyss.

Helicopters At Night

I made part of this recording for a documentary about labor in Africa. It's fun stuff so I made it into a full track of its own.

Hu Soom Puko

John Piscitello is a Bronx-born composer whose music spans genres, honed through years of performing in clubs, concert halls, and theaters.

His latest work includes the romantic comedy series “Sexpectations”, streaming on Tubi, featuring a magnificent symphonic orchestra in the style of classic Hollywood films. He also collaborated with Aalok Mehta to create the hybrid east-west score for “DesiQuest”, an actual-play Dungeon & Dragons show featuring an all South Asian cast. 

His comedy work includes “Too Funny To Fail: The Life and Death of the Dana Carvey Show” (on Hulu), in which Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, Dana, and others recount the spectacular failure of his brilliant ABC network sketch show in the 90s. John’s “rebels with sweaters” score drives the hysterical battle between comedy writers vs. their corporate overlords.

John’s stylish, breezy score for “Becoming Bond” (also on Hulu) brightens George Lazenby’s improbable tale of landing the role of James Bond, embellished by comedy re-enactments featuring Jeff Garlin, Jake Johnson, Jane Seymour and more.

John created a “heart-pounding” (The Playlist) electronic score for the acclaimed 2019 film “Mike Wallace Is Here” (also Hulu!). The LA Times called it “crackerjack documentary” and The Wrap “a masterful, cinematic biography”.

John’s recent comedy work for Eko’s interactive platform include the genre comedy series “Wizard School Dropout”, about a female wizard (Khosha Patel) just trying to survive among the “humdrums” in Echo Park, and the cringe-comedy “That Moment When” with Milana Vayntrub.

Helicopters At Night

John Piscitello

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