Point out The Jazz Singer to Neil Diamond and it’s more likely to set off some blended reactions. His performing in Richard Fleischer’s 1980 film earned him a Razzie from the Golden Raspberry Awards (a light-hearted ceremony that “rewards” Hollywood’s extra questionable moments), however his soundtrack was an unqualified triumph. To this point, it has offered greater than six million copies and is hailed as a traditional.
It’s no surprise that Diamond later mentioned, “I decided while I was doing The Jazz Singer that I’d rather be a really good singer than a mediocre actor; that I’d concentrate on my music, my records, and my shows.”
Within the movie, a remake of the Al Jolson traditional from 1927, New York-born Diamond stars reverse Laurence Olivier as Yussel Rabinovitch, a younger Jewish cantor performing on the synagogue of his overbearing father. Diamond, who was about to show 40 when the movie was made, confirmed appreciable braveness in taking over the problem of performing, particularly when you think about that it got here after an extended spell in a wheelchair when he had been recuperating after having had a tumor faraway from his backbone. However regardless of the poor reception for the movie, the album, launched on November 10, 1980, was an prompt hit, with chart placings for songs as emotionally potent as “Love On The Rocks,” “Hello Again” and the openly patriotic “America.”
Diamond had robust credentials as a songwriter earlier than he grew to become a solo artist. As a younger school dropout, he made a residing as a author on New York’s Tin Pan Alley, throughout which period he realized to play guitar by listening to folks group The Weavers.
One of many first albums he purchased as a teenager was by The Everly Brothers, and he significantly cherished a “beautiful, very melodic song” referred to as “Let It Be Me,” initially written in French by Gilbert Bécaud, a person whose compositions had been coated by Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. Earlier than The Jazz Singer, Diamond sought out Bécaud and so they wrote songs collectively, together with 5 for the soundtrack: “Love On The Rocks,” “Summerlove,” “On The Robert E Lee,” “Hey Louise” and “Songs Of Life.”
Essentially the most profitable was “Love On The Rocks,” a weepie love music that grew to become certainly one of Diamond’s requirements, and which was later a success for Gladys Knight. Elsewhere, “America,” in regards to the hopes and fears of immigrants, performed the patriotic card deftly with lyrics about “the flag unfurled” and a catchy refrain. It, too, grew to become an everlasting anthem for Diamond.
The album additionally incorporates a Jewish conventional hymn (“Adon Olom”), used as a 30-second interlude among the many 13 snappy songs. Most tracks are below three minutes lengthy – and all pack an emotional punch, channeled by way of his sugary bass voice. Amongst them, “You Baby” is bouncy and witty, and the jazzy “On The Robert E Lee” is quirky, whereas “Summerlove” is a merely a well-constructed pop music. All of it mixed to assist the album go platinum 5 instances over.
As well as, the guitar work on The Jazz Singer is exemplary, that includes Richard Bennett, who had labored with Mark Knopfler for the previous 23 years. Again within the 70s, Bennett was a daily in Diamond’s band. His marvelous taking part in can be a key a part of The Bellamy Brothers’ 1975 hit “Let Your Love Flow.”
Diamond appreciated to collect musicians of the best caliber. His long-term bandmate Alan Lindgren – the arranger on the album who additionally performed synthesizer and piano – had beforehand labored with Frank Sinatra. One other candy music, referred to as “Acapulco,” was written with guitarist Doug Rhone.
On the time, Diamond grew to become one of many highest-paid debut actors ever for his efficiency in The Jazz Singer (scooping $3.5 million), however later instructed Larry King Stay on CNN that it was not a contented expertise. “I didn’t really understand the process. It was a little scary to me. I had never done it before. And I never did get a real taste for the movies.”
Cinema’s loss was music’s achieve… and The Jazz Singer stays a landmark album.
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