I'm excited to announce another new episode of my podcast! In this episode, I talk about and present examples of the marvelous music of Elmer Bernstein, specifically his jazz-oriented scores and those in the "Westerns" genre. Bernstein was part of the unofficial "second generation" of film composers, along with Alex North, Franz Waxman and others, following on from the "godfathers" of Max Steiner, Alfred Newman and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. He tackled pretty much every genre but there were distinct periods of his career when he was considered the "go-to" guy for jazz scores, then Westerns, then comedies, amid others. This is part of my ongoing "Listening To..." series of the show in which I examine various composers, whether presenting attributes of their overall style, focusing on particular genres or even a certain year of their career. This is not a comprehensive biography of Elmer Bernstein or his entire career, but more of a brief introduction for anyone who might be curious to learn about what to listen for.
As always, I hope everyone who listens enjoys this episode and forgives any technical and verbal gaffes I might make. I try to make sure my film facts are all correct as well. Below is the embedded player from which you can listen to the episode, but also feel free to download the episode from iTunes (search their podcast store for "a score to settle"), check out the link from the Facebook page or click on the website link below the player, which should take you directly to where the episode is being hosted. If you do listen via iTunes, take a moment to rate the podcast, it will help bring notice. Thanks again!
