42 (Original Motion Picture Score) by Mark Isham - Review

Americana Legend

Review by Steven Sharratt

42 is the re-telling of the true story of Jackie Robinson, an African-American baseball player who became a sporting hero despite having to endure unrelenting racism on and off the field. The film mainly focuses on the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season and stars Chadwick Boseman as Jackie and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey.

Legendary composer MARK ISHAM was brought on board to score the music for the film. Isham, now in his 4th decade of film composition is famous for many great scores such as POINT BREAK (1991), A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT (1992), BLADE (1996), THE BLACK DAHLIA (2006) and the Oscar nominated CRASH (2006).

Isham uses this vast experience to create a typical Americana score for ‘42’. To achieve this he opts for one of his trademark trumpet solos which, as to be expected, are performed faultlessly. Light woodwinds, strings and piano complete the sound to add a somber but respectful tone with which to follow Jackie Robinson’s unlikely and difficult journey to fame. The main problem for the listener is the fact that the thematic ideas first hinted at are never fully developed until the end ...

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