Roy Budd - Rebirth of the Budd

Morricone, Barry...Budd? Ennio Morricone and John Barry get a lot of credit for their work on scoring the music for film soundtracks - and we very much enjoy their work here at Tweed Towers - but what about Roy Budd? If you're saying, "Roy who?" then we're getting to the nub of the matter. Roy Budd, the British jazz musician and composer who died far too young aged 43 in 1993, is not accorded anything like the credit he deserves for the wonderful music he's composed for films. Why's that? Is it the films? Well, they're typically our kind of films, espionage and crime thrillers, such as The Marseille Contract, Black Windmill and Get Carter. All these star Michael Caine, incidentally. Maybe they're not as well known as Morricone's spaghetti westerns or Barry's Bond films outside the UK?

Music to Cosh a Hitman By

Budd's 'crime jazz' soundtracks packed in atmospheric orchestration with elements of lounge, pop, American funk or just out-and-out jazz, if the film scene needed it. Budd's music is redolent of tough-guy loners waiting for person or persons unknown at a down-at-heal coffee shop, then gritting their teeth and doing what they've got to do.

A good introduction to Budd's music is Vigilante! Roy Budd Cult Film Soundtracks 1971 - 1977 [Amazon]on the Castle imprint of Sanctuary Records, which contains tracks from all the Caine films mentioned above.

Take a look at Budd supplying the music to Get Carter in this promotional trailer for the film from 1971. That unmistakable harpsichord sound is so evocative for anyone who has seen the film.