This stunning soundtrack recording to Ken Burns's epic series features seventeen pieces of music from the film. It includes war-era favorites from Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Bing Crosby, and Nat 'King' Cole as well as music from Edgar Meyer, Aaron Copland and Yo-Yo Ma. The soundtrack also features new compositions from Wynton Marsalis, and Norah Jones's breathtaking performance of "American Anthem"- exclusive to this album.The War Photos
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More from The War
The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945
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The War: A Ken Burns Film
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Sentimental Journey
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I'm Beginning to See the Light
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Songs Without Words
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The War - A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
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The soundtrack for The War, documentarian Ken Burns's 2007 PBS series on World War II, alternates between earlier, wartime, and postwar material, all designed to complement the narrative. The material was clearly selected to evoke the mood of the era: Benny Goodman's sextet tears off a hot 1942 "Wang Wang Blues," and Count Basie lets fly with "Basie Boogie" (1941) and the prewar "How Long Blues." Also evoking the war years are Bing Crosby's hit "It's Been a Long, Long Time" with the Les Paul Trio, "Solitude" (1934) by Duke Ellington's Orchestra, and Kay Starr's "If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)" and the Nat "King" Cole Trio's "If You Can't Smile and Say Yes" from a wartime V-Disc. Classical numbers include Leonard Slatkin and the London Philharmonic's 1989 version of "London: The Death of Falstaff" and an excerpt of Benny Goodman, in his spare time a respected classical clarinetist, performing "Concerto for Clarinet, Strings, Harp, and Piano" with Aaron Copland and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra in 1950. Newer recordings include Norah Jones's "American Anthem," reprised at the end by Amanda Forsyth and Bill Charlap, "Movin' Back," "Until You're in My Arms Again," and "America My Home" by Wynton Marsalis. --Rich Kienzle
