For a novel that's so steeped in the culture of jazz and rhythm & blues, the soundtrack for director Walter Salles' adaptation of
Jack Kerouac's On the Road feels relatively tame, with just under half of the collection reserved for music from the era in which the book takes place. That said, selections from the likes of
Billie Holiday ("A Sailboat in the Moonlight"),
Charlie Parker ("Ko-Ko"),
Son House ("Death Letter Blues"),
Dinah Washington ("Mean and Evil Blues"),
Ella Fitzgerald ("I've Got the World on a String"), and vocalese master
Slim Gaillard ("Yip Rock Heresy") effortless set the tone, while composer
Gustavo Santaolalla's (
Babel,
Brokeback Mountain) appropriately sparse and percussive score perfectly encapsulates the book's willful nonconformity. ~ James Christopher Monger