Warner Bros. Cameron Crowe
So, here’s a Saturday morning. I wake up with well-known jazz track on repeat in my head. I cannot remember the artist’s name and it is damn near driving me crazy. I sing the saxophone riff aloud in hopes of inspiring an answer, I consider shazamming myself singing it but fear being laughed at or worse, being labeled as ‘error’. I do however recall that the song was playing under the Steve/Linda break-up aftermath scene in Cameron Crowe’s 1992 classic, Singles starring Bridget Fonda, Matt Dillon, and Campbell Scott with appearances by Chris Cornell, and Pearl Jam.
The beginning of the song plays as the camera pans to slowly reveal just how much Campbell Scott’s Steve has unraveled post break-up. On the doorknob hangs stacks of delivery flyers, the mail slot is jammed with ignored mail that overflows onto his entryway along with unopened packages and filled trash bags, as we move inside an array of discarded take-out containers, pizza and Chinese boxes litter every surface, an overhead shot finally reveals Steve splayed starfish style on his carpet contemplating life. Maybe this song stood out because it’s the lone jazz track in a movie filled with music and appearances from every grunge headliner that made up the Seattle sound, or maybe starfish while contemplating life is just a relatable feeling, either way the scene is forever burned into memory.
Playing the full scene in my mind but still coming up empty, I jumped out of bed, downloaded the movie, and cut right to the scene. Even decades later, I know exactly where it lands. I simultaneously hit play and Shazam. Damn, I should’ve known the answer. The track is the John Coltrane classic, Blue Train. Blue Train is the seven-minute opening track to the 1958 album of the same name. The album, considered among the most important and influential not only in John Coltrane’s career, but the entire genre features Coltrane on tenor sax, Lee Morgan on trumpet, Curtis Fuller on trombone, Kenny Drew on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. The quintessential jazz standard is now saved and playing in the background.
Fun Fact: I once worked at a jazz magazine, not that it helped this morning. So today, I failed the jazz quiz but I win the pop culture game. Every damn day. Filing this lesson away for future fangirling reference.