I haven't found any additional films lately Mik. Everything I try comes back negative. I thought THE COWBOYS main title and various parts in HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER sounded like a clavinet was used (at least through the TV), but I'm pretty sure they don't. Nothing but dead-ends brotha, so thanks for keeping it alive...
NOTES: - Not sure about the Goldsmith In Like Flint reference - need Mikael or OB to confirm. My intial view was that it was a very early model Clavinet, if at all.
- If In Like Flint is valid, it is the first identified Clavinet use in film; otherwise, Rosemary's Baby is the first (that we've identified).
Hey, lexedo!
I don't know much about the Clavinet sound, but would this piece of cocktail lounge source music that Piero Piccioni wrote for 1963's LE MANI SULLA CITTA' (HANDS OVER THE CITY) contain an early Clavinet?
This doesn't sound like an electric organ or an electric harpsichord, but it seems to me to be of the electric piano family...
Usually, the easy way to tell the Clavinet is the way it reverberates after a key is pressed bc as soon as the player lifts his finger from the depressed key, the string inside the box falls silent due to the damping process I initially described w the thread on the string-ends.
I think it's an early Clavinet, TR. We need Mik's verification though bc he's the expert. The late model D6 is the one I am most familiar with, but that's mostly the 70s. The reason I think it's a Clavinet is bc at ~ 1.55, you can hear the natural Clavinet-phasing as the player uses his left hand. The player is not used to the instrument bc he's playing it like a Hammond; he seems to start getting the natural feel for the instrument about the time I cited above. Anyway, I'm listening open-air w my iPhone, so I could be way off.
Let's see what Mik says. Figures TR would light up the scoreboard by just posting once. Hats off to you --- Manderley Faiola Jr.
Nico Fidenco's score to Joe D'Amato's "Porno Holocaust" (1980) also features the Clavinet:
Just catching up and this is a great thread, lexedo! Am I allowed a quick side question - I'd like to know what the lead instrument is that doubles more or less with the voices in the P.H. theme from 1:50-2:25? That high, modulating synth that's so tyical for Italian 70s movie music. Can anybody tell me that? Thanks.
EDIT: Is it a Moog? I remembered that I heard that sound on the 'Solamente Nero' soundtrack and I know Claudio Simonetti, who most likely perfoms it in S.M. used one on 'Suspiria' (which they rented, couldn't afford to buy one).
Right here on FSM you can hear the clavinet in Mandel's POINT BLANK track # 2 ("trackdown").
POINT BLANK was recorded in July of 1967, so it comes after IN LIKE FLINT (which premiered in March '67) and before ROSEMARY'S BABY which wasn't shown until 1968.
Nice. Thanks Drive. Tbh, I'm about to hit a 4lb porterhouse w a lady friend. I should post pix, bc u guys have never seen a NY steak or shrimp cocktail. Anyway, Mik is the expert on that, and he'll probably hit you up tomorrow bc he's in the EU somewhere.
TR, we missed Cleo Jones too. It started by just highlighting some obvious ones. You really have to go back and consciously listen for it. Point Blank is a huge miss for sure, but that's what the review process is for. :-D
Have a nice shrimp cocktail lounge with clavinet!Old Homestead on 8th/13th near Chelsea Market. I've seen Woody Allen there twice, but during the week in the 90s. Paul Sorvino did table stops one night on his b-day; it was real cool. Best steaks in the country, and I've had 'em everywhere.
Maybe tomorrow you'll ammend the thread title to include the 1960s, too? A quick scan of the master list, and the films I've yet to include since the last master list update, shows that more than 80% of the films we've identified so far are from the 70s, w more than 95% outside the 60s. I do think it would be interesting as anything if Piccioni is the first(-ish) usage in film. This becomes an interesting question about instrument adoption, usage, and migration (where's McCrum?) -- especially since Hohner is German, PP is Italian, and well... it seems like it's speading West. Help? :-D
As far as missing some obvious ones, geez, there's been a bunch. Probably Streets of SF was the biggest miss bc everyone should know that one. It'd be awfully difficult to see any of these entries being specifically popular bc of the Clavinet, say as Stevie Wonder's Superstition is - the song is the Clavinet. I did identify Mandell's rejected score from the Seven-ups in the OP. Those are actually the hardest ones, like the Seven-ups "Home to the Junkyard" or An Unmarried Woman main title -- the Clavinet is used in each case for less than a few seconds, and way back in the mix. If you weren't specifically listening for it, and didn't have your headphones on, chances are that you'd miss it altogether. That's why I am purposely going back and watching everything I have 70s, as well as using the Encore and Retro channels to see other things I've missed.
04 Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier - Cannabis 1970 - Used on cue "Dernière blessureuse," and the "Cannabis" instrumental. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gGXZ_wo9lg
06 JJ Johnson - Across 110th Street 1972 - Various tracks (e.g., #2).
07 Quincy Jones - "The Streetbeater" 1972, which is the theme to Sanford and Son. - Just about sure it's Dave Grusin on the Clavinet in this one. - In this respect, it would be Grusin as the early-adopter, as opposed to QJ. This is also based on a prior post I did regarding the theme, and Chuck Rainey the bassist. CR described the sessions as being a bit more open and improvised, so I figured the musician (in Grusin) deserved the credit. Also, he was a pianist / keyboardist, so he would have showed-up to any studio session w his Clavinet & Case in tow - the studio would not have had one, not at this early date. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5DnqW3F57E
11 Johnny Mandel - The Seven-Ups (Unused score) 1973 - At the end of the "Home to the Junkyard" cue.
12 Bruce Broughton - Hawaii Five-0 1973-4 (Season 6) - "The $100,000 Nickel" episode. - Bruce's first full score for the series (he had partially scored "The Finishing Touch" earlier in the season). Episode also features nice piano work by Artie Kane.
28 Bill Conti - An Unmarried Woman 1978 - Clavinet accenting the e-bass starting with the Abmaj7 G7#9 of the main title (about 0:16).
29 Bill Conti - Uncle Joe Shannon 1978 - Used during the "Uncle Joe (Theme from Uncle Joe Shannon)," which was re-recorded according to the notes. Maynard Ferguson plays on this one.
NOTES: - Grusin Pope of Greenwich Village is the most recent use during the period in question; this does not include the couple of entries from the 2000s.
- All entries listed here were posted within this thead.
- So far, 2 from the 60s, 37 from the 70s, 5 from the 80s, and 2 from the 2000s.
Tbh, I've only ever worked or played on a D6, so I've never seen the others in real-life. I'm not really a keyboard guy at all - in that respect, it's really Mik's thread, and I just happened to start it. I do think the D6 has the crazy 70s tone everyone digs; it's really a huge sound.
I'm really good with guitars from the late 40s to about 82 or 84-ish -- when they started building them in Japan.