Beginners

Personnel: Tina Guo (cello); Daniel Rosenboom (trumpet); Joseph Meyer (French horn); Dave Palmer (piano).
Audio Mixers: Michael Perfitt; Eric "ET" Thorngren.
Liner Note Author: Mike Mills .
Recording information: DPM Studios; Maryannis.
Arranger: Roger Neill.
Beginners is a quirky, low-key comedy of sorts about a man whose dog can talk (via subtitles, anyway) and whose aging father abruptly declares himself to be gay after being widowed. The story requires a suitably quirky soundtrack, and it gets it by means of a Bach suite played on a horn, some early jazz recordings from the likes of Jelly Roll Morton and Hoagy Carmichael, and some scoring by Dave Palmer and Roger Neill. Palmer and Neill contribute an elegant piano waltz in "Moon Waltz" and a stride piano piece in "Veronica's Blues." Their eight-minute "Beginners Theme Suite" brings out some of the film's melancholy aspects that go along with its oddball humor. ~ William Ruhlmann