Animation’s Hot 7 Jazz Sounds!
Jammin’ with the big boys! The surprising jazz journey that shaped our childhood.
Last year Disney marked its centenary, Jon did a great post about it. Six months before Disney's formation, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong collaborated on the song "Dippermouth Blues” which became a jazz standard. This song found its way into the 2009 Disney film "The Princess and the Frog," where Louis the Alligator and Prince Naveen bonded over it.
Jazz and animation are similar in age, and like a frog and alligator are natural pairings pushing creative boundaries. As new sounds of Jazz swept across the world, animation directors used it both for soundtracks and as a central focus of the story. Animation composters were able to utilise new harmonic and rhythmic innovations. But also has been used to signal everything from laid-back sophistication to urban disintegration.
Even during the silent film era, musicians improvised music to go along with the film, and Jazz was a recommended genre!1 Today, that spirit lives on with Queens Cartoonists who play live jazz versions of cartoon music synced to projections. If I ever went to New York, this would be a must-see!
This isn’t a systematic or compressive study, but simply a personal top Seven so here we go!
1. The Pink Panther
My brothers and I repeatedly watched The Pink Panther cartoons on VHS. I enjoyed the perfectly executed sight gags and cool design. But Henry Mancini’s jazzy soundtrack was a major part of what made it so enjoyable. With the big crescendo anticipating each episode. This cartoon Panther was forever associated with the theme tune, giving him the air of sophistication that helped make them so funny.
Mancini was a lifelong Jazz fan and in his early years talked about his appreciation of Fletcher Henderson during his youth and that comes out in his music. Herbie Hancock described Mancini:
“at the top, with all the greatest. He was so kind, so selfless, even though he had tons of Grammys and Oscars. He did so much.” 2
For a particularly jazzy version check out Quincy Jones’s. But try as hard as you can, you can’t that Pink Jazz Cat out of your head.
2. Hey Arnold!
In the mid-90s, I started to take an interest in Jazz and this coincided with the animated show Hey Arnold! Jazz wasn’t just used to give characters more appeal, it felt like their world had Jazz sensibility, it was urban it was collaborative. Lani Ranaldo interviewed Jim Lang for an article for Nickelodeon and asked if he got push-back for using jazz and fusion while like the likes of Disney were using pop.
Both of us [director] independently had been listening to Jason Bentley’s show back in the day, and Jason was playing a lot of acid jazz. And we just thought that’s a really cool mashup of that great pop jazz era of the ‘60s and contemporary beats. We thought, “Hey, that’s a really good touchstone for making the music Hey Arnold!” But to really answer your question, I never ever got a note from the executives about the music in the show. And in fact, on certain occasions, I would try to make them say, “Ouch.” I’d think, “OK, this a chase scene or something like that, I’m going to try and pretend I’m the Art Ensemble of Chicago.” And just see if I can get so out that they’ll say, “No, you can’t do that on TV.” And they never said anything.3
I guess it was easy to relate to a character who lay on his bed listening to bebop while plotting how to make the world a better place. I probably wanted to live in Arnold's world, maybe I still do.
And it's also most certain Arnold was a major sub-conscious influence on Jazz Cow. And guess what, Charlie Brown was an influence on Hey Arnold, which is up next!
3. Charlie Brown
Over Christmas, we had a few people over, and the conversation turned to the Charlie Brown soundtrack. It wasn’t long before, a friend was playing his Christmas album on his phone. Vince Guaraldi’s use of jazz in these cartoons is outstanding, surprisingly so. But maybe it shouldn’t be. In 1962 Guaraldi produced ‘Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus’, in a tribute to the film which gave rise to one of my favourite and most haunting jazz standards, Manha De Carnalval.
Guaraldi’s Latin-tinged “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” ended up winning over Charlie Brown’s producer4. His music is a perfect choice, if you think back to the show, Charlie Brown is as anxious as Woody Allen, but without a hint of cynicism. The comic strip and show are philosophical yet charming, warm and fun. The piano-led jazz hit the right tone, with a child-like quality with out being childish and fitting for Schroeder with his minuscule piano.
Talking recently with
, he also loved the show and credits it with playing a big role in his interest in jazz. Which is echoed by Richard Ginell
"the music heard here probably introduced millions of kids (and their parents) to jazz from the mid-'60s onward." 5
4. Tom & Jerry and Warner Bros
I get it, maybe it's a bit of a cheat combining rival studios and various short films. But in my childhood, they all felt part of the same world. I looked forward to their exaggerated silliness, I much preferred an anvil landing on a poor coyote's head or Jerry getting creative with a cheese grater, more than the subdued seriousness of Disney. I warmly remember laughing with my dad and brothers at all these crazy cartoons.
While not typically jazz-themed, Tom and Jerry episodes do swing.6 I remember our old VHS of "Mouse Goes to Manhattan" with its jazzy big band swing, capturing an idea of New York. Warner Bros, known more for classical music, ‘Rhapsody Rabbit’ to ‘What's Opera, Doc?’, also has a jazz story. These frenetic cartoons enabled composers to defy expectations, playing with new harmonies, and musical sound effects.
They ransacked whatever would serve the jokes, from jazz, classical, tin pan alley to avant-garde. Bradley even used the 12-tone system
“I hope Dr. Schoenberg will forgive me for using his system to produce funny music,” he once said, “but even the boys in the orchestra laughed when we were recording it.”7
Music for these films cleverly "quote" songs, like a jazz improviser, adding knowing jokes for those who catch the references. Stalling went so far that Chuck Jones quipped.
“Stalling was good at writing his own music, but he seldom did.”8
Warner Bros. huge catalogue was like an all-you-can-eat buffet and Stalling filled his plate like a hungry teenage boy. Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng would joke about his literalism:
“We both used to say we were afraid to use colored pencils, because whenever Carl [Stalling] saw a red pencil mark, he’d use ‘Lady in Red,’ and when he saw a blue pencil mark, ‘Am I Blue.’ Better to use gray and not risk it!” 9
Stalling, at Warner Brothers, employed jazz musician Raymond Scott and made extensive use of his song "Powerhouse”, especially for fast-paced scenes. And MGM employed jazz musician Mel Powell as a studio pianist.
Jazz often played a role in the stories; just a couple examples, in "Zoot Cat" (1944), Tom attempts to woo a female cat by adopting the style and jazz slang of Cab Calloway. This was more rebellious than we might think; just months before this, Los Angeles criminalised the wearing of zoot suits, and Cab Calloway was banned from the radio! In "Three Little Bops" (1957), the three little pigs get reimagined as jazz musicians, with the wolf desperate to join their band. With Shorty Rogers’ band providing the soundtrack.
Jazz musicians loved these cartoons, adding to the reasons they made my top 10 list. Danilo Pérez, whose album "Panamonk" has been a favourite since my teenage years, discusses Tom and Jerry's impact on his music in an interview with Estefanía Romero.
My lesson was: when you disconnect yourself from what you think is music and start using images, looking for the unknown… […] one thing I did during three months of practising was take the movements I saw in Tom and Jerry to play. That generated a whole new experience for me.
Wayne taught us how to be unpredictable, I understood that playing following the comedy inside the cartoon helped me to generate these non-common ideas, opening a new horizon between music and images. It helped me create a new practice for this challenge. 10
Kenny Davern, the jazz clarinettist, nicknamed record producer Gus Statiris “Yellowfeather." explained:
“You know the cat in the cartoon that chases the canary? And when you ask the cat, "Did you eat the canary?" the cat looks innocent and says, "Oh, Nooo!" But if you look close at the corner of the cat's mouth, you see a little yellow feather.”11
Hiromi a Japanese jazz pianist was inspired by chases of Tom and Jerry.
Don Byron’s album Bug Music12 plays tribute to Raymond Scott's cartoon music and he even played for the Tom and Jerry TV series (I guess he plays the clarinet on ‘The Mansion Cat’ - let me know if I’m wrong)13
And If you like Raymond Scott this is worth a listen https://quartetsanfrancisco.com/currentproject
For classic MGM and Warner Bros. composters, jazz may have been just one genre on the menu, but they certainly made good use of it.
5 Norman McLaren & Oscar Peterson 'Be gone Dull care’
Shifting gears from the zany, let's explore something aiming to capture the essence of jazz, not for laughs or action support, but for artistic expression.
In 1949, Canadian painter Norman McLaren collaborated with Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson on "Begone Dull Care," painting on the film to convey the feelings of Peterson's music. Animated shapes and images dynamically respond to the spontaneity of jazz connecting the music and visuals. The collaborative process was fascinating, a detailed account of their collaboration was documented by Heather Pinson.14
While McLaren wasn't the first to try to visually represent jazz. In 1936, independent animator Len Lye made an ad for the Post Office titled "A Colour Box," using a similar technique. But McLaren, inspired by Lye, became the first to actually collaborate with a world-class jazz musician.
6 The Triplets of Belleville - Sylvain Chomet
Sylvain Chomet's 'The Triplets of Belleville'15 is a visually captivating film that blends the charm of silent classics with Jacques Tati's wordless humour. The story follows an elderly woman's mission to rescue her grandson (who looks a little like Ted Cruse), a Tour de France cyclist, abducted by the French mafia. She is joined by the 1930s music hall singers, The Triplets of Belleville.
We are immersed in a flawlessly executed Paris with an eccentric European comic book aesthetic. We meet exaggerated characters with cameos from the likes of Josephine Baker, Fred Astaire and Django Reinhardt and cool Citroën cars. It feels jazzy, in a very French way!
The minimal dialogue lets the music do the speaking. Benoît Charest the composer, pays musical tribute to the French Hot Jazz sound of Django Reinhardt which perfectly fits the image of the film. He takes the experience to the next level by having the Triplets use everyday items for percussion, such as plucking at metal refrigerator grills and bicycle wheels. Actually, one of the most enjoyable scenes features them playing the Hoover! Chomet’s inspiration for using ordinary objects came while watching Stomp, and Charest masterfully implemented this concept into the music. Part of the world it satirises is that of our next character, Betty Boop.
7 Betty Boop "Minnie the Moocher"
Most people would probably start with Miss Boop if they were writing about jazz and animation. After all, she is early and a rebellious symbol of a jazz-age flapper. But I associated her more with merchandise on lunch boxes than as an animated character. I have of course watched what YouTube has on offer now, and they are brilliantly imaginative and very surreal and funny. Its freedom and excess seemed jazzy.
The Fleischers didn't view jazz merely as background music; they took it seriously, even featuring real jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Don Redman, and the Mills Brothers. Their most famous musician was Cab Calloway, who reportedly loved his transformation into a scary cartoon walrus, helping bring huge crowds to his shows. Minnie the Moocher became the first number-one hit single by a Black artist and led to more opportunities for Cab Calloway.
Conclusion
Remember next time you sit down to watch an animated film or TV show, listen out for the jazz – you won't be disappointed and it is everywhere! I can mention so many more, I did a separate post about that. Did I forget something major or put something too high?
How will Jazz Cow fair in this list of cartoons? Can he kick someone off the top spot? We need your support to make it happen, we’ve got some exciting artists lined up to work on the Jazz Cow soundtrack, follow me to keep up to date. do you know anyone who would like it? Please spread the word.
A few honourable mentions.
I almost made a top 8, just to add The Simpsons, but I initially aimed to do just 5 and didn't want to make this longer still. The show is full of jazz references, guest appearances, episodes and of course Lisa and Bleeding Gums Murphy! Jokes like “The blues isn’t about feeling better, it’s about making other people feel worse.” and my favourite jazz Joke:
HOMER: “Pshhh, Jazz. They just make it up as they go along. I can do that. Dee-dee-dee, dee dee-dee-dee”
MARGE: “That’s Mary had a Little Lamb.”
HOMER: “Okay, fine. Doo-doo-doo, doo doo-doo-doo”
MARGE: “That’s the same thing, you just replaced the ‘dees’ with ‘doos.'”
HOMER: “D’OH!!!!!”
The Hat - John & Faith Hubley improvised a discussion between Gillespie and Dudley Moore, showing soldiers talking about the morality of war. 16
Pixar’s Soul looked stunning, well the bits on earth did, and Jon Batiste soundtrack is excellent, as ever. I might not be as scathing as James Cary but I did find large parts it dull.
Chico & Rita is a rotoscoped film about a Cuban piano player, a forgettable story, but Bebo Valdés gives us a fantastic Cuban jazz soundtrack.
The Jungle Book has Flawless Animation, acting, and a wonderful jazzy soundtrack and yet I have my reservations
Sad postscript
In a discussion on jazz and animation, we can't ignore that certain animated cartoons, even the ones mentioned, include racially offensive tropes. Jazz was also sometimes associated with poverty and delinquency. These representations, typical of their time, often linked jazz to primitivism and hedonism in African American communities.
“By visiting clubs in Harlem and even by viewing cartoons, whites could gain access to something they felt implicitly lacking in their lives: the freedom and hedonism believed to be characteristic of a simpler, more instinctual society”17
I didn't grow up seeing the worst of these cases, I'm not even sure they broadcast them when I was young. But you’ll see milder stereotyping, even in some of the best-loved classics. For some, this may distract from the genius of certain films. But our hope for Jazz Cow will bring joy and laughter to all who watch it.
Thanks for reading!
Edith Lang and George West, Musical Accompaniment of Moving Pictures quoted in Goldmark Tunes for toons
As a fun side note, Henry Mancini also has a track on the same album.
Music in cartoons Scott Bradley from ‘Cartoon music’ Edited Goldmark
“Chuck Jones Interviewed,” in The American Animated Cartoon, edited by Gerald and Danny Peary (quoted in Goldmark, Tunes for ‘Toons)
Freleng, Animation, 105. The colour gray was hardly a safe choice, as Stalling could have used “The Old Gray Mare.” (quoted in Goldmark, Tunes for ‘Toons)
Interview with Danilo Pérez: Each Culture Has Its Own Blues (jazzfuel.com)
205 Jazz Anecdotes Bill Crow
The title “Bug Music” is a reference to an old episode of The Flintstones where they parody the beetles.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2001/nov/16/shopping.artsfeatures5
Belleville Rendez-vous' in the UK
He was a massive Jazz fan, might come back to this in future posts.
Daniel Goldmark Tune for Toons (I’d comment that the attitude comes directly from Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
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Love this focus and all the ideas! The Simpsons and postscript add a lot as well.
Loved this! I was a big fan of Charlie Brown and the soundtrack had a lot to do with it.