John Wilson, The John Wilson Orchestra, and That Beyond the Sea Soundtrack, 2004

My bonny John was 32 when he and his JWO recorded the music for that Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea which I saw, not because I’m a particular fan of Bobby Darin or even of Kevin Spacey (for all that he is the definitive Jamie Tyrone of our generation and frankly I don’t care about anything else), but because I wanted to find out how cheesy the production could get. Well honestly, it was pretty cheesy—but my God, the music…

By 1:12 of this clip I was completely blown away by the arrangement as well as the razor-sharp playing, and vowed to remember the name of this bright new arranger-conductor—which of course I promptly forgot (There are a lot of John Wilsons in the world, as Anthony Burgess would be the first to tell you) and didn’t remember again until last May. A 2005 Grammy nominee. Available on Rhino Records, that notorious niche label, and I’ve gotta find out what that’s all about.

• “The Story So Far, with Conductor John Wilson”
• “The Story So Far; Or, Conductor John Wilson—His Limits”