Green Book begs the question: is there anything composer Kris Bowers can’t do?
The film follows classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley’s (played by Mahershala Ali) 1962 tour across the deep south and heavily features musical performances by Shirley alone and his famous trio. To make these believable, Bowers taught Ali how to play the piano and acted as the stand-in for close-up shots of Ali’s piano playing. His brief cameos, despite being effectively unrecognizable, are reminiscent of Duke Ellington’s own brief cameo in Anatomy of a Murder.
Not only does Bowers ever-so-briefly portray Shirley, he re-recorded many of his original songs. These songs, with their virtuosic performances and unconventional high-energy combination of classical and jazz, form the backbone of the film, establishing Shirley’s awe-inspiring presence and skill. They also give a unique identity, as their style has been largely unreplicated in the nearly 60 years since their last recording. Adding to this identity is the use of less well-known 50s and 60s pop, blues, and jazz singles, firmly entrenching the era while avoiding the tired over-familiarity of so much music used in other period pieces.
It would have been easy for Bowers’ biggest film scoring opportunity to have been overshadowed in a movie already so filled with fantastic music. Smartly, he differentiates his original compositions from the experimentation of Shirley and the nostalgic catchiness of the licensed music. While still relying heavily on piano, Bowers’ approach is more atmospheric and incidental, coming in brief, building waves or slow, deliberate melodies. Even though it is not the most memorable film music, Bowers makes use of the minimal room given and deftly accentuates the emotional peaks and troughs, a job the film’s other music simply could not do.
Although his score for Green Book may not necessarily be remembered in the years to come, Bowers’ work in reproducing Shirley’s original music will be, both for its skill and its reintroduction of a classical and jazz great to a new audience.
