Dave Grusin — Why Does He Exist and What For? A Highly Respectful Analysis.
There’s something that always baffled me for the majority of my life, and it’s this — why did director Sydney Pollack keep using Dave Grusin to provide the soundtrack for all his thrillers?
It’s not that I’m not partial to a bit of Grusin here or there and I’ll sometimes put on one of his records every ten years or so to remind myself why I never put them on more frequently, but it’s just that he’s just so… so… safe and bland?! Christ, he’s so middle of the road that he might as well be a set of cat’s eyes and I’m not even sure if he’s ever used a minor chord, let alone gone full atonal, in his life (Grusin’s entire musical output seems to be a radical manifesto against, and a total rejection of, any and all forms of harmonic dissonance).
In the 1970s Grusin cornered the market in accessible, immaculately produced, tightly arranged jazz for people who don’t really like music. His record label, GRP, was a stable to some of the most spectacularly tedious and unchallenging musicians of the 20th century including such sonically daring and radical artists as The Rippingtons, David Benoit and Spyro Gryra. Smooth, inoffensive and technically spotless (Grusin’s music is polished and refined to the point where any real grit, and hence interest, is buffed completely away), this was music for assholes who wanted to demonstrate to their friends that they had a kickass hi-fi along with an incredibly pedestrian taste in music. GRP were, basically, ECM for Kenny G. fans.
Now none of this would be worth mentioning if Grusin’s music was kept safely corralled within the ranch of his record label but it’s the fact that Pollack repeatedly used Grusin to provide the score for his political, mafia and conspiracy thrillers which is something I find utterly bizarre. How can a musician who seems to function purely in a realm of uplifting fluff create anything that even remotely hints at the sensations of thrill and/or danger?
Seriously, try this as an experiment right now. Put on some Dave Grusin, sit back, close your eyes and then ask yourself — “What’s the worst thing I can imagine happening to me whilst I listen to this music?” and I bet your ass it won’t include ANY of the following –
1/ The possibility of imminent physical violence.
2/ A realistic chance of being assassinated by Max von Sydow.
3/ Being killed by Japanese gangsters with swords.
4/ Becoming terrified that Gene Hackman might arrange to have you murdered by the mob.
5/ Anything at all unpleasant, uncomfortable or unsettling happening in any way shape or form whatsoever.
See!
Now try it again and this time ask what CAN you imagine happening whilst listening to Dave Grusin? For me it’s the following –
1/ Having a nap.
2/ Reading Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury and worrying that I don’t find it funny or even fully understand it.
3/ Thinking I’ve got a splinter in my finger but turns out the skin wasn’t actually broken and was only grazed so I heave a sigh of relief.
4/ Casually wondering whatever happened to the TV show ‘thirtysomething’.
5/ Drinking some coffee and realising I’ve ordered decaf by mistake but it’s a sunny day so I can’t feel TOO annoyed or stimulated.
6/ Becoming suddenly possessed by the overwhelming desire to put on a woolen jumper and visit the state of Vermont.
7/ Eating some pancakes.
8/ Getting bored, irritated, switching it off and putting on some Peter Brötzmann instead.
It’s not that Grusin hasn’t made some decent (if shallow) music or good soundtracks over the years, with ‘The Milagro Beanfield War’ being quite a bit of fun, but it’s the incongruity of Grusin’s sound and style being used to imply the thought of deadly danger that I find so peculiar. This is why I’ve never once thought — “Christ! They’re playing Dave Grusin! Some wild, crazy, out of control shit is about to go down now!”
But maybe that’s Pollack’s point? That by creating a world that’s seemingly sonically “safe” that it comes as more of a shock when a killer does strike? Or maybe it’s just to provide a slick veneer of surface “sophistication”? I don’t know, but I do know that if I’m ever brutally murdered whilst listening to Dave Grusin I’m going to be looking like a total idiot… and not just because I was listening to Dave Grusin.
