Jazz in video games

For some unknown reason, jazz music is rarely found on video game soundtracks. Especially lately, we most often hear Hollywood orchestral scores written in the manner of heroic hymns. To be convinced of this, just listen to the latest performances of the orchestral troupe at the annual awards ceremony The Game Awards. I’m not writing that this is bad, don’t think. For the most part, these same scores are also very good in their own way. However, I, and probably not only me, am a little upset by such monotony in the approach to creating game soundtracks today. Surprisingly, one of the oldest musical trends in America is now not popular and not in demand. However, this does not mean that video game soundtracks are devoid of prominent representatives of jazz music.

Three years ago there was a blog topic about jazz. By the way, you can literally list blogs about jazz on one hand. One hand. So that topic called “Jazz, Whiskey and Freedom – The Melody of Life in New Orleans of the 20th Century”, it was not so much about jazz from the point of view of discussing the genre, but about the era of its birth and its performers. I advise you to read it too if you missed it.

In my blog, I set myself the goal of talking about the different interpretations of jazz that can be heard in video games. I’ll start with a question. What do you associate jazz with?? Swinging long grace note on snare drums. The muffled roar of a trumpet. A musty layer of cigarette smoke above the tables of club visitors. Short phrases from Scat into the microphone. That’s what jazz vocals are called, if that’s the case. If this is the only way you see jazz, then you are mistaken. Jazz can be different, it is always different – that’s its meaning! Jazz is improvisation, and because it is improvisation, the accomplished jazz musician requires extensive knowledge of chord theory and tonal modulations, as well as rigorous and constant practice on his chosen instrument. If jazz had never existed, the exciting chord changes and melodies we hear in popular music today would not exist either. It would be sad to live, you must agree?

Just don’t think that in this blog I just randomly threw together soundtracks from everywhere from different games, so that then a person like this comes to the blog with the thoughts: “So what do we have here… WHAT A MESS!?"It won’t happen to me! No no no. I have a clear division here into licensed and original soundtracks, I will sign each composition to what style of jazz it belongs to. If you have never been interested in jazz, then perhaps after reading this blog you will change your mind. For my part, I will try to make every effort for this.

Licensed soundtrack

First of all, I want to admit to you that I’m actually not a big fan of jazz. To be completely honest, I have little understanding of how music works in detail. I’m nothing more than just a listener. Although I have musical instruments such as kalimba and guitar at home, I play them only for myself because of serious problems with low self-esteem in fact, but that’s not what we’re talking about. I may not be the best person to talk about music, but since we’re talking about video games, I couldn’t resist trying to write about it. Moreover, jazz is an amazing genre that includes simply a huge number of subgenres.

Jazz Style: Calypso turns into Swing.

My first love for jazz performers were these three charming girls shown in the preview video above. The Andrews Sisters. The work of Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane and the beautiful Ella Fitzgerald is also amazing, but I learned about them later, that’s how it worked out for me. The Andrews Sisters’ songs have never been licensed for video game soundtracks. You might have heard them in BioShock, Mafia 2, L.A. Noire and in games of the Fallout ¾/76 series. But the first time I heard The Andrews Sisters was not in a video game, but in the 1947 movie Road to Rio starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. It was shown on the Kultura TV channel on the weekend. Some time after that, when I heard the song “Rum and Coca Cola” in Mafia 2, I recognized the vocals of these girls who appeared in the scene with a musical number from that same half-forgotten black and white film.

Jazz style: Ragtime.

From the list of games where the songs of the vocal trio The Andrews Sisters are heard, I would like to highlight the games of the Fallout and BioShock series, because they are similar in many ways. They use jazz music in a very similar way. In both places one can observe the contrast of the “old-fashioned” youth of popular music of the early-mid 20th century with the wild violence of the post-apocalyptic world. Jazz songs of that time are placed in a new context – a world of devastation and pain, ruled by terrifying mutant psychopaths. That’s why they begin to be perceived differently. The songs take on a nostalgic sadness for a bygone time.

But what impressed me most was how it was done in Bioshock Infinite . Like this ragtime jazz version of the song Tears For Fears "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" – absolutely wonderful composition. The composer took a melancholy synth-pop song and remade it to suit the setting and era of the game. I can’t remember anyone else doing anything like this. Albert Fink’s reinvented cover of this song in the context of the story in Bioshock Infinite sparkled with new colors. In the context of the game, the text hints at the main antagonist and his accomplices, who literally wanted to rule the world, and in the end destroyed both his and their own lives. But at the same time, in combination with the musical accompaniment, the song seems at the same time very dark and at the same time very cheerful (?) Maybe I’m the only one who feels this way, I don’t even know… Be that as it may, many in the comments note that these are the things that make Bioshock Infinite a phenomenal and unique video game, no matter who says any nasty things about it, and I completely agree with them.

Elena Noguerra looks like Bayonetta herself. Just look how beautiful she is!

Jazz style: Swing + Synth-pop (technopop)

I wrote earlier that I couldn’t remember anyone else doing something like this, but that’s not entirely true. There is a composition Fly Me To The Moon (∞ Climax Mix) from the Bayonetta soundtrack, when the composer did the same thing only in reverse. Originally sung by Frank Sinatra, the song was melancholic and smooth. In the cover version of ‘Climax Mix’ Hiroshi Yamaguchi combined swing and upbeat techno with sensual female vocals Helena Noguerra. That is, literally like it was with the composition Tears For Fears for Bioshock Infinite, only exactly the opposite. And yet the ‘Climax Mix’ version can technically still be considered a representative of jazz music, like most of the other compositions from the soundtrack of this video game.

The Bayonetta soundtrack has https://bcgame-casino.co.uk/bonus/ its own unique charm. The style of the compositions can probably be called gothic jazz to match the atmosphere of the game itself. They mix moody string progressions with piano, organ, electric piano, xylophone and synthesizer.

Jazz style: Jazz-manush (Gypsy Jazz) or as it is also called gypsy jazz.

Since I mentioned the second mafia, it would be a shame not to mention the first one in the context of the amazing licensed jazz video game soundtrack. Moreover, I love Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven since school. In fact, I was that person in class who walked around with a page cut out from a gaming magazine and told everyone about what a great game it was and that everyone just had to play it.

The scene when Tommy Angelo runs away from two gangsters of the Morello family to the composition Latcho Drom – La Verdine is rightfully considered one of the most striking examples of extremely successful use of licensed soundtracks in video games. What still surprises me in this scene is how much is happening around the player as he runs along a choreographed route through the courtyards to Salieri’s bar. What makes me especially laugh is a man and a woman who stand in different aisles and complain to each other because he/she did not come to a meeting at a pre-agreed place at a certain time. At three o’clock in the afternoon to be exact. That nuance in this brilliant scene is pure comedy gold!

The soundtrack of Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven is overall simply beautiful and includes many hits from the 1930s by artists such as Django Reinhardt, the Mills Brothers, Louis Prima and Lonnie Johnson. Moreover, all these jazz performers made a great contribution to the rapidly developing musical direction. In turn, the undeniably great video game Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven immortalized their works among then young people in the early 21st century.

Jazz style: traditional jazz, blues, swing.

L boasts the most licensed jazz tracks on a video game soundtrack that I know of.A. Noire . Its soundtrack includes 32 songs from very popular and talented performers of the last century. They play on the radio in cars or indoors. Most of the licensed songs, oddly enough, have almost NO connection with criminal themes. I mean even the song "Murder" He Says by Dinah Shore. Although it would seem that “Murder” – murder – the main character of the game is investigating murders, it doesn’t fit? But in fact, it is about a woman’s failed romance with a man who has a very poor vocabulary. The only "crime" song in the game radio repertoire is "Stone Cold Dead in the Market" by Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald, which literally talks about murder and repeats the lines "I ain’t killed no one but my husband/She ain’t killed no one but her husband.".

Most of the songs on the L soundtrack.A. Noire reflects human experiences of unrequited love, dreams of love or failed love. Which in general also fits into the noir culture and themes reflected in the game.

The only pity is that L herself.A. Noire as a game is quite bland and monotonous in terms of gameplay. Most of the passage. Alas. Half of the investigations are predictable, the ending is somehow crumpled and, unlike Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, the licensed soundtrack here is almost not played out in any way and is not tied to what is happening on the screen. But the jazz songs and the 40’s atmosphere in L.A. Noire are still very good.

Despite its shortcomings, L.A. Noire has many loyal fans. Many players write in their reviews that the game has become special for them. Some of them dream of a sequel coming out in the same era or in a different one. If "L.A. Noire 2" will be announced someday, I will be only glad. I’d love to see a sequel or spiritual successor with more unpredictable investigations with a truly compelling story from start to finish.

I’m here describing licensed music from video games that, by the way, have composers, and you may get the impression that I’m downplaying their work by not writing a word about them. Of course that’s not true. The works of composers Harry Schumann, Andrew Hale, Vladimir Shimunek and some others, including the aforementioned Hiroshi Yamaguchi, deserve no less attention than the licensed songs in these games. In particular, I really like Andrew Hale’s title theme in L.A. Noire. I listened to it on repeat several times. I sincerely love the musical compositions of Harry Schumann for all three Bioshock and Vladimir Simunek for Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. It just so happens that I had to choose a storytelling style for my blog, and I decided to divide video games into those that use licensed jazz music and those in which players only hear original jazz music. This was done for convenience.

Original Soundtrack

Jazz style: Tango nuevo with jazz accompaniment.

It would be wrong if I started the story about original jazz soundtracks in video games with something other than Grim Fandango. Not only because the game has one of the brightest best soundtracks in this genre of music, but also because it came out before everyone else. Soundtrack consisting of 32 compositions by author Peter McConnell received huge positive reviews from critics and players in 1998.

Grim Fandango is set in the Land of the Dead from Mexican folklore in a noir style. The obvious parallels with the movie Casablanca of 1942 will not be noticed unless… Let’s be honest – current visitors to game portals are not interested in black and white cinema of the last century, so most will really not notice. Be that as it may, Peter McConnell, while working on musical compositions, was inspired by Mexican folklore and the film with Humphrey Bogart. The composer and producer talked about this in documentary film, which you can easily find on the YouTube channel of Tim Schafer’s studio DoubleFineProd. For example, listening to the song "Manny and Meche", you can feel it. A feeling of something very sad and turning point, but at the same time satisfying. Just like the story in Casablanca! Even if you haven’t played the game, you’ll understand that it’s about a sad love story between a man and a woman.

According to a story I read online, when creating the soundtrack, McConnell found a group of San Francisco musicians who, at his request, interpreted his score with a little freedom in performance. The composer wanted to achieve a jazz atmosphere in music and, so to speak, followed tradition. The soundtrack also featured a Mariachi band from the Mission District, whom McConnell found in San Francisco. The area is known for having a large Mexican and Latino immigrant population. This is all to give the music a South American flavor to match its visual design, inspired by Mexican folklore.

Jazz style: Acid jazz

It would be a crime if, after talking about Grim Fandango, I started talking about some other game, and not about Persona 5 . They are very similar in importance. This is officially one of the best video games of our time, with one of the best jazz soundtracks. Dot. In principle, we could end here and go on to reproach all those who, for some reason, passed by this amazing video game.

Jazz on the Persona 5 soundtrack surprisingly different. There are compositions in the Jazz Rock subgenre. As a rule, these are combat themes, but there are exceptions. There are compositions in the acid jazz subgenre, like "Whims of fate". Most often they sound while exploring palaces and preparing for a robbery. There are compositions written in the Bebop jazz style. They sound at relatively calm moments in the game, when the game protagonist is engaged in everyday activities. For example, he goes to school.

There is such a term as Jazz fusion. In fact, there is a whole popular musical trend that has gained popularity in Japan as well. In America, where it originated in the 60s of the last century, oddly enough, it is not particularly liked. Jazz fusion is when a musical style combines elements of jazz and music of other styles. In fact, the entire Persona 5 soundtrack can be described by this term. It’s also funny that in the game itself, the player also has to deal with the fusion of different demons in the velvet room, combining their abilities and opening access to new, more powerful types of demons. In the Persona series, these creatures are usually called shadows, and in SMT, demons, but in essence they are the same mythical creatures with their own unique characters and abilities.

Composer Shoji Meguro along with the vocalist Lin Inaizumi like the player in the velvet room during the next fusion ritual, they also boldly experimented, mixing jazz music with other styles when writing the soundtrack for the game. The result of their joint efforts was incredibly impressive.

Jazz style: Big band, Dixieland.

In the conversational audio podcast “Music Respawn! Swingin’ With Kris Maddigan & His Big Band Score For Cuphead" composer Cuphead Christopher Maddigan said that he tried very hard when writing compositions for the soundtrack. The game developers are his friends and they asked him in a friendly way to help them. That is, it was not a matter of a large monetary fee. Christopher even admitted that he tried so hard that he went too far with quantity (and quality too)!) music he wrote for this game. The Cuphead soundtrack includes a whopping 56 tracks! Plus 30 for The Delicious Last Course DLC.

I know that many of you haven’t played Grim Fandango because it’s very old and the point-and-click adventure gameplay is scary with its slowness and sometimes even downright tediousness. I also know that many of you have not played Persona 5, because many Russian players grew up on crooked Gothics, where more than half of the gameplay is based on forced savescamming. A convenient and enjoyable JRPG, even if made three million times better in literally every way, doesn’t seem like something familiar to you. I can understand everything. Is it true. But in Cuphead I have a feeling that almost everyone played. And the majority of those who played completed both the original and its addition.

As I understand it, no one is indifferent to a video game in the classic “run and gun” genre, and even stylized as cartoons by the Fleischer Brothers and Walt Disney of the 1930s? Apparently so. Feedback from players on all Internet resources is extremely positive. Judging by the wild popularity of Cuphead among the people, most people sincerely love jazz music, even if they themselves did not realize it before. It may very well be! Be that as it may, I am very happy about this, I sincerely approve and support the love for the creation of the MDHR studio.

You know, I have to admit to you that I can’t remember any other games where the soundtrack was at least half jazz compositions. Either I’m such a poorly educated gamer, or jazz is really a very rare guest in video games. When I wrote this blog, I literally walked around the room in circles, sometimes from side to side like a convict, wondering what other soundtrack I could write about. Yes, apparently I have nothing to do, or I’m just fired up with a desire to write a blog on this unpopular topic. Well, I remembered Policenauts 1994 from Hideo Kojima. A wonderful game that no one seems to have played. Me included, of course. But in her soundtrack, only 3-4 compositions can be classified as Jazz-fusion genre, namely Jazz-rock and Synth-pop with jazz accompaniment, all other tracks in the album are pure synth-pop. In addition, it turned out that two jazz compositions that I liked were not included in the game itself and were distributed on a separate CD. I mean Just who i needed to see and Nobody Knows. Doesn’t work? Doesn’t fit. The other one was Gran Turismo. There are jazz compositions, one or two for each album, but everything else is a hodgepodge. Doesn’t fit either! Super Mario Odyssey? Apart from the amazing Jump Up, Super Star!, which almost every one of us seems to have heard, the rest of the game’s soundtrack has nothing to do with jazz music. IN Super Mario 3D World unfortunately I didn’t play. Here they say almost the entire soundtrack is jazz and amazingly creative. Grand Theft Auto? Yes, there is jazz music on radio stations, but there is no special emphasis on it. Of the games currently in the series, none of them are directly related to jazz culture. Finally The Saboteur 2009 year. Well, here it comes! – you write. But there is nothing particularly interesting or original in the game itself, and it would be frankly boring for me to write about it. I played through it completely at the time of release and can hardly remember anything noteworthy. She belongs in Debriefing.

Jazz can be different. Calming, energetic, inspiring. Evoke a variety of emotions and moods. Use a variety of musical instruments and styles. However, many composers working in the video game industry pass him by. Maybe they’re afraid of him or maybe they’re not interested in him? Who knows. But when a talented composer undertakes to write a jazz soundtrack, and even for an interesting video game, the result is a bomb! The game is showered with prestigious awards, extremely positive reviews, high ratings, and most importantly, it gains great and sincere love from the players. Still, I’m glad there is jazz music in video games. Until the industry finally drowns in monotony, everything is fine and everything is fine.