Jasmine Music
1999
Play Music From "The Rat Race"
About This Album
The Rat Race directed by Robert Mulligan starred Debbie Reynolds and Tony Curtis and the original score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. The music played here by Sam Butera & the Witnesses (basically the band he put together on the side while playing with Louis Prima and Keely Smith) is not the original soundtrack from the picture, though it might seem that way from the cover, which uses a Paramount Studios promo pic for the front. This CD edition on the Czech Jasmine label was assembled from the 12 tracks that made up the original album, and a handful of bonus cuts of live material from the bandstand recorded at around the same time. The music here is a great deal rowdier than the tracks from the film, rawer, looser and still retaining its inherent swing. It's a fine Butera set, and perhaps a bit more sophisticated, too, as he relies on some stellar hard bop soloing to fit with the latter day, hard swinging big band meets New Orleans style. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Track List (try tracks 1,3,5,7 and 10)

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