Bottle Rocket was a 1996 film made by Wes Anderson starring Luke and Owen Wilson. Prior to this, it was a 1994 short film featuring [predominantly] the same cast. The major difference between the two being the music, the feature film was a score composed by Mark Mothersbaugh whilst the 13-minute short film is comprised of 8 tracks of Jazz. Now, I know what your thinking, yawn! jazz. I'm much the same but, to be fair, there is something encapsulating about jazz and the sheer skill involved. It's mesmerising to watch but, as a listener, it's hard to stomach an album's worth of material even if it is only 8 tracks.
With the short film lasting 13-minutes that's plenty enough jazz to digest. The feature film album has over 35-minutes worth of material and, unfortunately I found a large proportion of it fairly repetitive though [at times] you can't help but admire [most notably] the Sonny Rollins track 'Old Devil Moon'. You also get the impression John Bonham would have been proud of the drum solo running through Art Blakey's 'Nothing But Soul'. Something that I also found myself thinking during this album is that a lot of these tracks have become staples of both film and television and can appear almost instantly recognisable as well as completely alien. It's an odd feeling.
In short I would advise you to check out the short film and catch snippets of the music as the full on album versions are really for jazz purists.
“I was listening to a lot of jazz at the time, especially Coltrane’s albums on Blue Note and Sonny Rollins’ A Night at the Village Vanguard, I was inspired by the use of American jazz in French new wave movies like 'Breathless.' I still love this music.”
Wes Anderson
Tracklisting:
1. The Chant - Artie Shaw
2. Old Devil Moon - Sonny Rollins
3. The Route - Chet Baker
4. Skating - Vince Guaraldi
5. Stevie - Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
6. Nothing But The Soul - Art Blakey
7. Happiness Is - Vince Guaraldi
8. Jane-O - Zoot Sims Quartet
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Bottle Rocket - A Short Film Soundtrack (Album)
