Kabarett orchestra takes on the music of Wes Anderson films in 'Sonoran Dispatch'
Download mp3 (12.19 MB)Wes Anderson films are known for, among other things, their aesthetics; fans often say they’re drawn to the very specific visuals on screen. But what about how his movies sound?
An Arizona ensemble is putting on a show this weekend of the music of Wes Anderson movies.
Chris Norby is the composer and director of Kabarett, an experimental orchestra. Its show, "Sonoran Dispatch: Wes Anderson Soundtrack Live" — a play on the Anderson film "The French Dispatch" — is Saturday night at the Van Buren in Phoenix.
Interview highlights
Where did the idea of doing a live performance of music from Wes Anderson films come from?
CHRIS NORBY: I think it was based off our cabaret show that we usually do, which is a combination of film scores and my original music. And it was actually Charlie Levy was at that from Crescent concerts and some of my music I realized is quite similar to Alexandre Desplat, the composer. So I'm not sure. Maybe he saw it and went, or maybe he had the idea already and then he thought about it, but we spoke about it then and we thought, could we do that? It's a different style than we usually do. But it's in the same universe, different world.
So like Wes Anderson films, the visuals, like people are, some people anyway, are really drawn to them. And there's a lot written and discussed about sort of his aesthetic and vibe visually. But since you're doing the music, how do you describe the sound of his films?
NORBY: Well, it's, it really complements his films. They're perfectly framed and everything is neat and tidy. So the music has to work within that. So he's got a, he's great at selecting soundtracks. So what I find with the scores, for instance, compared to some of the scores we usually do, is that they're very, they're very neat, and the, the, the colors of them, the orchestral colors are quite simple in a way, and they don't change too much. They're not overly complicated and I find them very well structured and, you know, it was quite easy to arrange them in a sense because of that.
That sounds very much like how a lot of people describe the, the visuals in his movies.
NORBY: Complements it very well. And if you watch his turn the sound off and has his films and you'll see perfectly framed shots, they look beautiful, but they don't, they need the music to give him a bit of life. It's such an important part. If he took the music out of his films, it's, it's missing a huge part of the, the charm of them.
So you mentioned that the music from his films is very different than the music you typically play. In what way?
NORBY: Well, the music we do is a lot and my own music is, it's sort of complicated and it's a lot from horror movies. It's often all over the place and very high energy and, and, and dark sounding and weird sounds. Whereas this stuff is still orchestral and it's the thing that drew me to it is that I find the same influences. I have some of the music we play Bernard Hermann and Danny Elfman. You can hear those influences. But the, the difference is that they're just, they're neater. Everything is in the right place. There's no wrong notes.
And so when I was arranging it, that was the first challenge or the first thing I had to realize I can't put my own spin on this. It has to be exactly what people are used to hearing. Exactly. And because I'm transcribing it all by ear, there's, there's no scores, there are scores but it's too hard to get them. They're probably a vaulting in Los Angeles. So when I was trying doing these things, I said I have to get this as completely the right atmosphere, the essence of it. No messing around and keep that aesthetic of it.
Do you have any particular favorites of songs that are in Wes Anderson movies?
NORBY: Oh, yeah. ... My favorite so far is the music from "Fantastic Mr. Fox." That is really fun.
And I'm looking forward, we haven't rehearsed it yet, to doing the music from "The Grand Budapest Hotel" where we have a guest musician coming in, Jacob Adler, in town who's going to play. It's called a chimbal. So it's like a cymbal on, it's a hammered dulcimer and that's going to be, there's unusual instruments in this. I can't wait to play that.
So that's the scores. They were my favorite so far playing them and the songs are just, they're so fun. We're doing Nico and Les Paul, the Kinks. I, I don't think there's any music on there that I don't like. It's, it's all really cool.
What is it like, I mean, playing something that is so vastly different than what you usually not only perform but what you usually write and compose yourself?
NORBY: Yeah, I mean, it was just, it was realizing that was the important thing. So just take my skills as an arranger, first of all, so don't try and put my own color on it. So in that sense, it was more of a technical type of job. Secondly, was making sure we had the right group. So everybody in our group, it's not just orchestral players, they all play in bands and they all do different styles. So we had to get the right singers and then with the, the players, as I say, which is essential for me, anyway. They can easily go and playing on a rock or a pop tune and at the same time play this sort of heavy orchestral music so everybody involved can jump between the styles. If you don't have that, then it's a no go.
So, are you a fan of Wes Anderson movies?
NORBY: Yeah. My wife loves them. My daughter, that's mostly where I watch them. Now, anybody around town that knows my stuff. I like things a bit more rough around the edge. Sometimes they're a bit perfect for me. But I do really appreciate them.
And one of the things I zoom in into, when I watch them, I heard the music scores and the songs, you know, they're, they're great. You know, when we watched "Asteroid City," I recognized some of the songs from the, the last Paul song we're doing, "Smoke Rings." It's just great, too.
And actually funny enough, there's a song in the, what's it called? "Indian Love Call" or something that was on "Mars Attacks," which was the Tim Burton, Danny Elfman score. So I noticed all that stuff. Yeah, I like them and the visual style of them was really cool.
Now that you've been transcribing these songs and really sort of delving into them as you're getting ready for this performance. Has that made you look at the movies a little differently or appreciated them maybe in a different way?
NORBY: Yeah, definitely. Getting them, the music in that detail, give me even more of an appreciation for them. The subtlety of them is the thing. There's such a wide sort of culture in the music as well that, that you get the influences that what I found when I was transcribing it, is that I'm listening to music and references that I had never listened to before and now I'm off down another path thinking of I'm going to try it out in my own music now. So it's been great that way.
