Varese Sarabande recently sat down with composer Christian
Jacob and Tierney Sutton who worked on and wrote music for the Clint Eastwood
directed film starring Tom Hanks about the airline captain who landed a
commercial plane on the Hudson River.
1. Describe the SULLY soundtrack on Varese Sarabande.
Christian Jacob: The Tierney Sutton Band (TSB) has been
together for over 20 years and has been known for its collaborative process of
arranging music. The scoring began with an improvisational approach over
several themes written by both the director (Clint Eastwood) and myself. Every
member of the band was watching scenes on the screen and improvising their own
parts by following a basic lead sheet. We know each other so well, that our
musical ideas fell beautifully in place. We each brought something special to
the various moments of the music. Director Clint Eastwood was present during
the entire recording process and guided us while still allowing us complete
freedom. I later added orchestral parts on some of the cues to give them more
depth.
2. Which scene did you score first and why?
Tierney Sutton: We scored the film from the first scene to
the last. Then spent a few weeks perfecting the cues. We spotted the film again
with Clint and decided which cues could be "sweetened" with orchestra
and then Christian orchestrated those and wrote the end title suite. While he
did that, I worked on lyrics for Clint's theme and one of Christian's.
3. Did the director give you any interesting instructions or
feedback to help you create the tonal palate?
Christian Jacob: Being a fan of Tierney's beautiful voice
and of the band for the last 10 years, Clint was very familiar with our
"sound", and he believed we could bring something interesting to his
film. Because Clint had used some of our recordings in the temp music for the
film, we had a good idea of what he was looking for. He guided us with a soft
touch and was interested to see where we would put a music cue, even when he
felt nothing was needed there. He would also give directions by mentioning his
preferences like: "only piano
there"; "let’s try one with more space", "have just the
bass and voice there", etc.
4. What does it mean to you to have your music released by
the pre-eminent soundtrack label? What
is your favorite Varese Sarabande title in your collection?
Tierney Sutton: Having Varese Sarabande release the
soundtrack is a singular honor. I am a fan of so many of the composers whose
work has appeared in Varese releases -- the modern masters like Michael
Giacchino, Alan Silvestri and John Debney as well as the classic film composers
like Alex North. This is truly the icing on the cake of the experience of creating
the score for "Sully".
5. What kind of ensemble did you use to record the
score? Did you use any interesting or
unusual instrumentation or soloists who deserve a shout-out?
Christian Jacob: While some moments in the film were colored by single instruments such as piano, drums or voice, the central nucleus of the soundtrack was the sound of our band: piano, bass, drums and voice. The natural way to expand on the band's personal sound was orchestral.
The first track of the Sully soundtrack is an orchestral
Suite with the band being featured. It recapitulates all four themes of the
movie and features every member of the band. It was intended for the end
credits of the film but we ended up only using part of it. Besides the
irreplaceable Tierney Sutton, Trey Henry, Kevin Axt and Ray Brinker, we had the
very best musicians in the orchestra and the wonderful Conrad Pope conducting.
(Photo Credit: Dave Alloca) (Christian Jacob & Tierney
Sutton at the NY premiere of Sully)
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