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GAMEPLAY

GAMEPLAY: Jazz

By Keith Brown • Jul 23, 2020

Cover art from the 2017 game Cuphead, whose hand-drawn art style was inspired by 1930s cartoons. Its score by Kristofer Maddigan features original jazz that pays loving homage to ragtime and early 1930s swing.
Credit By source, Fair use: via amazon.com

  When you think of jazz, you might think of big band swing in a ballroom, or enjoying a live combo in a candlelit club with a nice cocktail.

 

But what about jazz... in a videogame?

 

This week on GAMEPLAY, we’ll take a look at three very different but equally irresistible jazz-influenced game soundtracks.

 

We’ll hear irrepressibly fun music from a summer camp for psychic trainees, followed by selections from a period piece influenced by film noir, and then a swinging finale from a game inspired by the hand-drawn cartoons of the 1930s.

The full episode and tracklist are available below, along with exciting behind-the-scenes videos: one from a recording session for Cuphead (complete with looks at the amazing in-game animation) and one featuring the motion-capture technology used in L.A. Noire.

Generous support for the music heard on this program comes from the Robert T. and Ruth Haidt Hughes Memorial Acquisitions Fund. Special thanks to Michael Culler for engineering assistance.  Keith Brown is GAMEPLAY’s host and executive producer.

 

Episode tracklist:

  1. Peter McConnell - The Meat Circus (Psychonauts) - Original soundtrack

  2. Peter McConnell - Stay out of the Moonlight (Psychonauts) - Original soundtrack

  3. Peter McConnell - Hagatha’s Home (Psychonauts) - Original soundtrack

  4. Andrew Hale, Simon Hale - Main Theme (L.A. Noire) - Original soundtrack

  5. Andrew Hale, Simon Hale - Minor 9th (L.A. Noire) - Original soundtrack

  6. Andrew Hale, Simon Hale - Noire Clarinet (L.A. Noire) - Original soundtrack

  7. Andrew Hale, Simon Hale - New Beginning, Part 3 (L.A. Noire) - Original soundtrack

  8. Andrew Hale, Simon Hale - Fall From Grace, Part 1 (L.A. Noire) - Original soundtrack

  9. The Real Tuesday Weld - Guilty (L.A. Noire) - Claudia Brucken, vocalist - Original soundtrack

  10.  Andrew Hale, Simon Hale - Temptation, Part 2 (L.A. Noire) - Original soundtrack

  11.  Kristofer Maddigan - Don’t Deal With The Devil (Cuphead) - Shoptimus Prime, barbershop ensemble - Original soundtrack

  12.  Kristofer Maddigan - Inkwell Isle One (Cuphead) - Original soundtrack

  13.  Kristofer Maddigan - Die House (Cuphead) - Original soundtrack

  14.  Kristofer Maddigan - Threatenin’ Zeppelin (Cuphead) - Original soundtrack

  15.  Kristofer Maddigan - Dramatic Fanatic (Cuphead) - Allison Toffan, tap dancer -  Original soundtrack

  16.  Kristofer Maddigan - Inkwell Isle Two (piano) (Cuphead) - Original soundtrack

  17.  Kristofer Maddigan - Winner Takes All (Cuphead) - Original soundtrack

Behind the Scenes: The Music of Cuphead: Recording Hi-Seas Hi-Jinx!

L.A. Noire: The Technology Behind Performance

Tags: 
GAMEPLAY
Classical Music
Latest in Classical Music
CUPHEAD
LA NOIRE
PSYCHONAUTS
PETER MCCONNELL
KRISTOFER MADDIGAN
ANDREW HALE
SIMON HALE
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Related Content

GAMEPLAY: Jessica Curry

By Keith Brown • Jul 18, 2020
By Source, Fair use: mondoshop.com

  On this week’s episode of GAMEPLAY, we’ll explore three different soundtracks scored by composer Jessica Curry: one of today’s great game music storytellers.

 

No matter the setting or story of a particular game, she is able to adapt her style while maintaining her unique, gorgeously lyrical voice.

 

We’ll look for the secrets held by an island in the Scottish Hebrides, go on a walk through the beautiful but mysteriously empty English countryside, and experience the life cycle of a planet.