The Navigator

Music Box Records is pleased to present the premiere CD release of Claude Bolling scores for the three films directed by Buster Keaton: The Navigator (1924), Seven Chances (1925) and Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928).

At the beginning of the 1960s, the works of Buster Keaton were rediscovered thanks to the combined will of his widow, Eleanor, Raymond Rohauer, a collector and Jacques Robert, a cinephile and independent distributor. For this ambitious project, they hired Claude Bolling to compose new scores for the three restored films.

For The Navigator, Claude Bolling wrote the score for an ensemble of twenty musicians and chose a style reminiscent of jazz music from the years 1930 to 1935, inspired by Duke Ellington. The result was a success and encouraged the team to renew the experiment. The next film, Seven Chances was adapted from a successful play by Roi Cooper Megrue. Faced with impending bankruptcy, James Shannon learns that he will inherit a significant sum of money from his grandfathers will if he is married on his 27th birthday. The lively and virtuosic piano piece was later included in the program of some of Bolling’s Big Band’s concerts. Steamboat Bill, Jr. was the last film directed independently by Buster Keaton. It narrates an impossible love story between the children of two rivals, J.J. King and Steamboat Bill, who want to take ownership of the navigation rights of each other’s steamboats on the Mississippi river. Bolling also hired a Dixieland jazz band and a string orchestra to perform the lively score.

Recorded at Studio Davout, these three OSTs produced at the same period have been selected and remastered from the composer’s original master tapes. The CD comes with an 8-page booklet with liner notes by Gilles Loison, discussing the films and the scores. The release is limited to 350 units.

Tracklist

DISC 1

Total Time • 51:42

DISC 2

Total Time • 52:22

Total CD Time • 104:04