Man with The.. Coloured edition

One of the finest jazz soundtracks to come out of the '50s, "The Man With The Golden Arm" is taken from the Otto Preminger film of the same name. Preminger was always very jazz influenced, and on this film he took his chances with Elmer Bernstein. The 1955 movie is about a former heroin addict, Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra). For this movie, Elmer Bernstein composed perhaps the most brilliant jazz score. The drum, Frankie's own instrument, provides the rhythmic basis of the score. In the film's opening it's beat is alternately steady and agitated, just like Frankie's life; meanwhile, the brass screams and whirls out of control, mirroring Frankie's desperation as he runs off in search of one "last" fix.