Jazz has been a frequent partner to film and TV: consider Duke Ellington’s peerless soundtrack for Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder, the improvisations that saxophonist Stan Getz brought to the Eddie Sauter score of Arthur Penn’s bizarre Mickey One, or the brilliant atmospheres Miles Davis contributed to the Louis Malle film Ascenseur Pour L’echafaud. And naturally, jazz artists have also transformed countless movie and television themes, whether or not they were originally imagined as jazz, into primo raw material for improvisation. Chicago bassist Joe Policastro has taken the practice to heart in his current working trio with guitarist Dave Miller and drummer Mikel Avery; the group’s terrific new album, Screen Sounds (JeruJazz), applies a diversity of approaches to all kinds of source material, consistently retaining the essence of the original works while boldly imprinting the trio’s personality.
Policastro’s trio performs at Winter’s Jazz Club on Friday, August 25, and at the Chicago Jazz Festival on Friday, September 1—specifically, at the Jazz & Heritage Pavilion in Millennium Park at 12:30 PM.
