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The Cinematic Orchestra

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Cinematic Orchestra is a British group that Jason Swinscoe founded in London in 1999. Swinscoe had studied fine art in Cardiff and worked at the London label Ninja Tune, where the group also signed. He gathered a group of jazz musicians around him, including PC (Patrick Carpenter) on turntables, the drummer Luke Flowers, the saxophonist Tom Chant and the double bassist Phil France. That same year the debut album Motion appeared.

Music and breakthrough

In 2001 the Porto festival, that year European Capital of Culture, asked for new music for Man with a Movie Camera, the Soviet film by Dziga Vertov from 1929. The group played that music live at screenings of the silent film, toured with it and in 2003 released the album Man with a Movie Camera. Swinscoe reworked many of those pieces for the album Every Day (2002). Then followed Ma Fleur (2007), with the much-used To Build a Home, sung by Patrick Watson, the nature film score The Crimson Wing (2008) and To Believe (2019).

Influence

The group belongs to nu jazz and downtempo. A live band improvises together with a turntablist and electronics. In the studio Swinscoe often remixes those live recordings, so that jazz improvisation and electronic production merge and it is hard to hear where one ends and the other begins. In this way The Cinematic Orchestra uses the methods of the DJ and the producer to make jazz that sounds like film music.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Man with the Movie Camera and follow how the piece is built up layer by layer and grows ever fuller. Try to hear which sounds are played live and which come from the electronics.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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See also

Categories: ArtistsNu jazz