Film music has a face that only becomes visible when the images are removed.
In 1963, Quincy Jones covered "Exodus" on his album Plays Hip Hits. The theme Ernest Gold had written for the 1960 film — when it passed into the hands of Quincy's jazz orchestra, it began to radiate a completely different kind of light.
🎬 The Film "Exodus" — Its Weight and Background
The film that gave birth to this melody must be touched on first.
Released in 1960, Exodus is an American film depicting the founding of Israel in epic scale. Directed by Vienna-born Jewish filmmaker Otto Preminger, starring Paul Newman. European Jews who had survived the Holocaust seeking to immigrate to Palestine, cutting a path toward freedom through British encirclement — that is the vast story at its center.
Paul Newman plays the protagonist Ari Ben Canaan, a member of the military organization Haganah, who attempts to smuggle Jewish refugees from a Cyprus detention camp onto a ship called the Exodus and deliver them to Palestine. Eva Marie Saint plays Kitty Fremont, an American nurse initially indifferent to the Jewish cause, who is moved by her encounter with a refugee girl to become involved in the escape plan.
The tense standoff between the ship's immigrants and the British military, and the difficult road to Israeli independence — what this film depicts is not merely a historical record, but the story of human beings risking their lives for "homeland" and "freedom."
🎼 Ernest Gold — The Melody of a Composer Who Fled Vienna
Ernest Gold was born in Vienna in 1921.
He began piano and violin at six, composition at eight, and had written an opera by thirteen. But in 1938, when Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany, Gold — whose paternal grandfather was Jewish — fled with his family to the United States.
Knowing this history changes the weight of the piece called "Exodus." A Jewish composer who had escaped Nazism wrote the theme for a film depicting the "exodus" of Jews who had survived the Holocaust — this was not simply a professional assignment but a deep personal resonance with Gold's own history.
The melody of "Exodus" is not merely beautiful — it has gravity. A line that rises and falls repeatedly, reaching toward some distant horizon — within it are embedded the feelings of people who had lost their home and were searching for a new "promised land."
Gold won the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 33rd Academy Awards and the Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album for the film. The instrumental version by Ferrante & Teicher became a massive hit, reaching number two on Billboard's annual chart for 1961.
🎷 Quincy Jones — The Magician
In 1963, Quincy Jones released Plays Hip Hits on Mercury Records.
The album was a project of performing contemporary pop hits and standards with a jazz orchestra — the form in which Quincy's genius for arrangement shines most brightly: breathing entirely new life into existing masterworks.
"Exodus" was included as one of those pieces.
The "Exodus" with Quincy's arrangement maintains the "grandeur" of the film theme while adding the "fluidity" and "improvisational breath" of jazz. The strings carry forward the lyricism of the film version; the brass section gives the piece forward momentum; the rhythm section generates the jazz groove.
And at the center of this performance is Zoot Sims on tenor saxophone.
Zoot Sims (1925–1985) was a tenor saxophonist who lived through the transition from swing to bebop, known as one of the "Four Brothers." His sound is warm, flowing, and never excessive — singing Gold's melody while never subordinating himself to it, maintaining a precise balance.
When Zoot's tenor saxophone plays the "Exodus" melody, it suggests the "quiet resolve" of Paul Newman's protagonist. Not crying out loudly, but simply moving forward — that conviction lives in the sound of the saxophone.
⭐ When Film Music Becomes Jazz — The Enduring Power of Exodus
What Quincy Jones's "Exodus" demonstrates: a great melody shines more deeply when its "context" is changed.
When Ernest Gold wrote it for the film, the melody was bound to the story of Israeli independence. When Quincy performed it with a jazz orchestra, the melody was lifted to a different dimension — "the universal hope of humanity."
The theme of "seeking a promised land" is simultaneously the story of a specific people and a specific history, and the universal human impulse toward "a better place." Quincy's jazz arrangement drew out that universality to its fullest.
Ernest Gold, who had fled from Vienna to America, wrote the melody. Quincy Jones, born in Chicago, interpreted it through jazz. In that process of "translation" lives the most beautiful power music possesses — the power of a single melody to keep reaching people across language, culture, and history. 🎷
ーーーーー
🎹
Quincy Jones: Pioneer of Soul Jazz and Music Producer Extraordinaire 〜
Quincy Jones occupies a singular place in the history of twentieth-century popular music.
Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1933, he moved to Washington State at ten and there encountered Ray Charles — the man who created soul music — forging a friendship that would last a lifetime. That meeting formed the foundation of Quincy's musical identity: a deep understanding of "music of the soul" that would underpin every stage of his career.
After graduating from the Berklee School of Music, he joined Lionel Hampton's orchestra as a trumpeter. His gift for arrangement quickly distinguished him, and he began handling music for giants such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington. In 1957 he traveled to Paris, studying composition with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen — as a musician grounded in both jazz and classical traditions, Quincy climbed to a level uniquely his own.
"Soul Bossa Nova," from the 1962 album Big Band Bossa Nova, became his signature piece. In 1981, his album The Dude — its title borrowed from Japanese director Nagisa Oshima's film In the Realm of the Senses — produced the hit single "Ai No Corrida," another demonstration of the deep respect for film and international culture that always ran through Quincy's work.
Then in 1978, on the set of the film The Wiz, he met Michael Jackson. "I wonder if there's a producer who's right for me," Michael said. "What about me?" Quincy replied. That exchange changed music history. The trilogy of Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad followed. Thriller became the best-selling album in history, certified by Guinness World Records. In 1985, Quincy produced "We Are the World" — bringing America's greatest stars together for one of the most significant charity recordings ever made.
Quincy Jones is the person who changed what the word "producer" means. 🎷
https://toshiyu03.blog/let-me-have-my-say-%f0%9f%8e%b5-the-music-memories-corner/
🍒
advertisement
https://link.amazon/B005gbMr2
Make everyday shopping a little easier with Amazon Prime. 📦✨
Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, Prime Video, Amazon Music, and more—all in one membership.
If you shop on Amazon regularly, Prime is worth taking a look at.
→ Explore Amazon Prime
https://www.amazon.com/b?node=53634300011&ref=CG_ac_banner_092526_Announcement_40
Choose your plan
Enjoy your free 30-day trial of Prime. After, Prime is just $14.99 per month. Cancel anytime.
Start your free 30-day trial
https://a.co/d/01yLl40C
Enjoy Quincy Jones' timeless music with a warm cup of coffee. ☕
Discover Pella Mushroom Coffee
👉
https://link.amazon/B08LaO702
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GTHM64HR?ref_=kfw_samples_getbook_reader&dplnkId=b9e7e30a-b2f0-482d-8b97-79eadf57af8d#
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3450252385793781 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});