Peter Erskine & The JAM Music Lab All-Stars: Vienna to Hollywood

Hollywood called...

...and Max Steiner was the first of this dynamic duo to answer, arriving there in 1929, initially working for the RKO Studios as an orchestrator and then as a composer. This was not his first affiliation with Hollywood, however; he functioned as Fox Studio's musical director, adding live music to silent films presented in New York theaters where he had already established himself on Broadway. The call to come west must have triggered an urge as primal as the subject of Steiner's first film scoring triumph, the mythical King Kong. That 1933 opus not only turned an unlikely story—conveyed by means of a pedestrian script with rudimentary stop-motion effects—into a believable and jaw-dropping RKO epic, it set film scoring technique and tone for decades to come. "Every character needs a theme," he said. The use of musical leitmotifs comes right out of the Wagner opera playbook, but Steiner managed to codify it as an essential element of film scoring vocabulary. Steiner's gift for melody, however, can be called his own.

While Max Steiner left the continent for London and then New York during the First World War, thus being considered an enemy alien for a moment, Erich Wolfgang Kongold fled Nazi Austria for Hollywood in the days leading up to the Second World War. He first came to America in 1934 by way of impresario Max Reinhardt's invitation to score a film production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

But, it is said that The Adventures of Robin Hood may well have saved the lives of Korngold and his family. Their storied escape from Vienna included occupancy on the last train to leave Austria, bound for the ocean liner that would bring them to America and, ultimately, to Toluca Lake, mere blocks from the Warner Bros studio lot where Korngold composed the score.

Vienna's musical loss would become the world's gain. In a sense, both Hollywood and Vienna could lay claim to Korngold and Steiner.

This album project seeks to connect many dots—spoken and unspoken, uttered but never scored to film, heard in one cinematic fever dream or another, but not yet committed to the art of improvisational jazz, arguably, America's greatest contribution to world culture. Surprisingly few jazz "covers" or treatments of these Hollywood legends' scores exist. And while Kongold maintained a composing life outside of movie theaters, many of his themes initially existed in films. (Korngold enjoyed a unique relationship with Warner Brothers, maintaining unlimited usage of the music he wrote for film.) Kongold proved to be a prolific recycler. The JAM MUSIC LAB All-Stars take things a step further ...

Hey, I have an idea...

If you picture a table of fellows enjoying a dinner in Vienna, it's easy to imagine plates of schnitzel and glasses of beer. It was during one of these get-togeth-ers that I changed whatever subject was at hand by interjecting, "Hey, I have an idea..." Jeff Levenson, the man who brings more ideas to life than anyone else I know, sat up in his chair and this encouraged me to continue: "Why don't we record an album of the music of Korngold and Steiner, who were both from here, celebrating their gorgeous melodies, many of which are ripe for jazz treatment?"

The idea of jazz adapting or adopting film music is not news): Yusef Lateef recorded the "Love Theme from Spartacus" while Eddie Harris covered the title music from Exodus (composed by Alex North and Ernest Gold, respectively). Plenty of Broadway scores that found a second life on celluloid found a third life on jazz records including: My Fair Lady (Shelly Manne times two, first with Andre Previnn and second with John Williams, both jazz pianists-turned-film composers, as well as by Johnny Richards); West Side Story (rendered by Stan Kenton, arranged by Richards, alongside Oscar Peterson's trio version, among others); or my own album Sweet Soul, which covered William Walton's "Touch Her Soft Lips and Part" from his score for Olivier's Henry V. Not to mention, the recordings of songs from Black Orpheus. All to say, while not a new concept, the representation of Steiner or Kongold in the jazz world is noticeably scant.

My home boy Erich von Korngold...

Joe Zawinul was alone on the vast stage, surrounded by his synthesizer keyboards and playing one of the loveliest melodies I'd ever heard. I had ventured into the concert hall after Weather Report's soundcheck, and this random moment brought me face-to-face with musical destiny. "Joe," I asked when he had finished, "Is this a new piece you're working on? It's beautiful!" "Thank you, no, this was written by my home boy Erich von Korngold... a Viennese cat."

Fast forward four or five years, I've left Weather Report and am living the life of the jazz drummer in New York City, playing late night gigs and coming back to my apartment weary and worn. I turn on the radio which is pre-tuned to the city's classical music station, and I take notice of a dazzling piece of orchestral derring-do with solo violin soaring above the woodwinds, brass, percussion and strings. Wow, what was that?

I wrote down whatever the radio host announced on a scrap of paper, and then fell fast asleep. The next morning I eventually came across this paper on my dresser. Korngold Violin Concerto. Remembering how impressed I was, I decided to walk the many blocks from my apartment to a large record store in Greenwich Village. More triumph. I took the LP back to my apartment and sat down to listen. Wow (again!). Fantastic. Gorgeous. It almost sounded familiar. What happened next still blows my mind. When I put 2-plus-2 together and realized that the theme of the concerto's second movement was the same melody I heard Joe Zawinul play years before, I nearly fell off my couch.

Thus began my quest, scouting and looking for any Korngold music I could find. Antique music shops in Berlin. The Library of Congress in Washington, DC.I was braving music by William Walton and Gustav Mahler and even did a treatment of Steiner's "Tara's Theme" from Gone With the Wind, for my own Fuzzy Music label CD, Standards 2, Movie Music. Alas, no Korngold.

Enter schnitzel, beer, Jeff Levenson and Marcus Ratka, who would prove instrumental in bringing together the formidable power and commitment of many musical souls, all of them associated with the JAM MUSIC LAB University in Vienna. The most important ingredient in all of this would be pianist and co-arranger Danny Grissett, who teaches at JAM, lives in Vienna but hails originally from Los Angeles. So... two LA dudes travel to Vienna... and... the dots are connecting BIG TIME.

Forty short years after I nearly fell off my couch, the commitment was made to make this music. I had virtually all of it in my personal music library. Our guidelines were to not just arrange the music as we'd like to play and hear it, but to avoid arrangements that would offend ardent Steiner or Kongold fans. (Every Korngold fan I've met is an ardent one.) With all of this leading up to the recording sessions, Danny's imagination and enthusiasm raced along with mine, and we brought about the following program:

The Music

MARCH OF THE MERRY MEN from The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938, E. W. Korngold), arranged by Peter Erskine

The Lydian mode chord heard in this piece is Korngold's own, inadvertently foreshadowing Woody Shaw's treatment of a melody from Kodaly's "Harry Janos Suite" as heard on the Larry Young album Unity. At the beginning, I'm channeling Elvin Jones. Adding conga drums suggests that the track be renamed "Marcha de los Hombres Alegres," but we'll keep this in Errol Flynn-speak for now. The soloists—Danny Grissett, Thomas Gansch and Herwig Gradischnigall prove themselves noble men, though none more lion-hearted than percussionist Brian Kilgore who added his part in, of all places, Hollywood.

STERBELIED from Lieder des Abschieds (Four Songs of Farewell), Op. 14 (1920-1921, E. W Korngold), arranged by Danny Grissett

An achingly tender melody that proves itself romantic fodder for Danny's pianistic mettle. (Heavy mettle, in fact.) The trio of Danny, bassist Fabricio Pereira and I captured the mood in one take. The lyrics, translated from their original German by Richard Stokes, read:

When I am dead, my dearest, Do not lament. Instead of roses and cypress, Grass shall cover my grave.

I shall sleep quietly in the twilight, In the heavy dusk. And if you will, remember, And if you will, forget.

I shall not feel the rain, I shall not see the dawn, I shall not hear the nightingale Lamenting in the trees.

No one shall ever wake me, All the world has vanished. Perhaps I shall remember you, Perhaps I'll have forgotten you.

OLD SPANISH SONG "Fünf Lieder (Five Songs) Op. 38" (1948, E.W. Korngold), arranged by Danny Grissett

Here's an instance of Korngold repurposing a film cue for his catalog of classical or art music. This melody first appears in the Errol Flynn vehicle, The Sea Hawk, and it is sung to Queen Elizabeth (Flora Robson) by the character Doña Maria (Brenda Marshall). Flynn played Captain Geoffrey Thorpe with the same verve he brought to all his swashbuckler roles. Gansch manages to bring the same spirit of pluck and mischief to his solo, while Bertl Mayer's harmonica honors the folkish earnestness of the tune.

THE BOYS GO TO PLAY from The Prince and the Pauper (1938, E.W. Korngold), arranged by Peter Erskine This delightful bon mot of a cue stands on that fine line of "more Korn than gold." How to arrange this melody? I decided to slow down the tempo from the original bounce and give it the George Shearing treatment. Guitarist Andreas Vardy and vibes player Flip Phillip complete the instrumentation appropriate to pay tribute to the British-born composer of "Lullaby of Birdland," while L.A.-based flautist Bob Sheppard captures the spirit of the twin brothers Bobby and Billy Mauch who played Prince Edward and his look-alike Tom Canty, respectively.

CONCERTO MINIATURE (theme from the 2nd movement "Romance") arranged by Peter Erskine. "Romance" (Second Violin Concerto, Op. 35—Violin Concerto in D major) (1936 -1939, revised in 1945, E. W. Korgold) arranged by Danny Grissett

Composed for violinist/virtuoso Jascha Heifetz and dedicated to Alma Mahler, Komgold's "Violin Concerto" has proven itself to be the most popular and performed of his compositions. This melody—the same one I heard Zawinul play so many years ago on that deserted Tokyo stage first appeared in the film Anthony Adverse (1936). The "Concerto" also quotes liberally from Korngold's own scores for Another Dawn, Juarez and The Prince and the Pauper. The haunting intro channeling Zawinul is played by Judd Miller atop a string quartet comprised of players from the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

TARA'S THEME from Gone With the Wind (1939, Max Steiner), arranged by Peter Erskine

We begin the Max Steiner portion of the program with one of his best-known melodies, the grand and sweeping ode to the O'Hara home and centerpiece of Margaret Mitchell's novel. The music has survived the ages and fared better than Selznick's cinematic song of the south. (Just the notes, ma'am.) Grissett and Vardy are the stars of this "Gone." We added bongos and handclaps because...why not?

BELLE WATLING from Gone With the Wind (1939, Max Steiner), arranged by Danny Grissett

Also known by the title "Belle Watling and Melanie," Steiner provides a tender-hearted melody for a woman of ill-repute (portrayed by actress Ona Munson) Who turns out to be tender-hearted (as is Melanie, played by Olivia de Havilland. Danny's arrangement is not only tender-hearted but is swinging and evocative. Grissett and Vardy shine.

JOHNNY BELINDA from Johnny Belinda (1948, Max Steiner), arranged by Peter Erskine

The film Johnny Belinda starred Lew Ayres and Jane Wyman, who won an Academy Award for her performance as the deaf-mute victim and heroine. This baião version of the song stars Herwig Gradisching on tenor saxophone, and the tune features a breezy, Steps Ahead vibe. Max Steiner's gift for melody is incredibly apparent here. My gift for stealing good ideas, like the Gary McFarland-inspired vamp, is also on display. Enjoy.

STRING QUARTET NO. 2 IN E-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 26 (1933, E.W. Korngold), arranged by Danny Grissett

This ambitious arrangement by Danny is the album's piece de resistance, aided and abetted by the four members of the string quartet on loan from the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra: Kristina Suklar, 1st Violin; Anastasia Lindberg, 2nd violin; Mario Gheorghiu, viola; Julia Schreyvogel, cello. Kudos to engineer Andreas Rathammer and Aaron Walk, as well as co-producer Marcus Ratka, who all took part in editing and assembling this masterwork of Korngold's. And bravo, Danny, for selecting and arranging this piece of music.

A SUMMER PLACE from A Summer Place (1959, Max Steiner) arranged by Peter Erskine

This turned out to be Max Steiner's biggest hit (at the age of 71), thanks in great measure to the recording of the tune by Percy Faith. The original is a waltz-like theme in 6/8 time. For lack of a better idea, I chose to play it in 5/8. The flutes are added by Judd Miller on an electronic valve instrument because the flautist in Vienna never showed up to the studio. This is the one tune with a drum solo.

We end with something called GHOST CODA—that melody, played on the violin by Hollywood studio musician Alyssa Park, atop a barren wind soundscape created by Judd Miller.

In closing, I'd like to thank all the musicians, engineers, assistants and my colleagues Jeff Levenson, Marcus Ratka and Danny Grissett for being instrumental in bringing this passion project of mine to life. My hope—our hope—is that listeners will hear something that makes them want to search out more music by these two great composers, born in and of Vienna, but who composed music for films that were about everything under the sun, but nothing more important than the heart.

Liner Notes copyright © 2025 Peter Erskine.

Vienna to Hollywood: Impressions of E.W. Korngold & Max Steiner can be purchased here.

Contact Peter Erskine at All About Jazz.
I play and teach the drums, I own Fuzzy Music, I write books and make play-along apps.

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