Harry Betts & Jack Conrad - Soul Cinema: Black Mama, White Mama / The Monkey Hustle (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2001)

A Soul Cinema compilation release of two unreleased Blaxploitation soundtracks from the 1970s: "Black Mama, White Mama" a 1973 film directed by Eddie Romero starring Pam Grier and "The Monkey Hustle" a 1976 film directed by Arthur Marks starring Rudy Ray Moore.

More than a curiosity, this album compiles two original soundtracks of blaxploitation incunabula – an approach used throughout the excellent “Soul Cinema” series dedicated to the genre. The Monkey Hustle, while it is certainly not the best of the two films illustrated here (we owe it to Arthur Marks, director of Friday Foster whose music is available in the same collection), is the one whose score is the most classically funky, even soulful. We owe it to Jack Conrad, a real handyman in the B series who is also an actor and filmmaker. However, the piece of choice on this CD is undoubtedly "Black Mama, White Mama" (a story of women in prison, one of whom is none other than Pam Grier, a wacky remake of a classic with Tony Curtis and Sydney Poitier: The Defiant Ones), whose music, more complex and ambitious, varies the atmospheres with a consummate knowledge of arrangements, as does Lalo Schifrin for example, mixing funky themes, obviously, but also easy listening with a Brazilian sound ("Bus Stop" ) or pieces drawing a large part of their inspiration from West Coast jazz. The theme song for Hawaii State Police sometimes comes to mind. It is Harry Betts, known for having worked with Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, who signs the orchestrations. A host of West Coast musicians jam out, including Jack Sheldon, Bud Shank and Bill Perkins. To discover.