The Eddy, from executive producer Damien Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land), jazz riffs its way onto Netflix today and with original music and an actual band to belt it out.
The series features a mixture of actors (like Tahar Rahim) learning to play music and musicians (like composer Damian Nueva) needing to do just as much acting as playing. The outcome: basically eight hours of live jazz music punctuated by occasional dialogue.
In a Netflix interview , series songwriter Glen Ballard explained that the show is "about redefining what jazz can be."
And musical supervisor Angela Vicari turns this mission statement into a reality.
The team built The Eddy's set to double both as (aesthetically) a jazz club and (acoustically) as a recording studio; they would be using the sound the actual The Eddy Band produced for the club scenes' audio. Which explains why the series sounds amazing.
"It's so importantand kind of groundbreakingfor television to get this many great musicians together and go to the trouble of actually recording it live," explains Ballard, who also pointed out the diversity of the band.
"It's truly the most international band I've ever worked with. We have a bass player from Cuba, a singer from Poland, a drummer from Croatia, a piano player from Los Angeles, a sax player from Haiti/Canada, a trumpet player from France. This band has turned into my favorite all-time band right before my eyes," Ballard says.
Want to listen to all this original awesomeness? Here's the official soundtrack to The Eddy (mostly performed by, yep, The Eddy Band.)
Episode 1
"Call Me When You Get There"
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Christian Scott; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Bar Fly"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band)
"Au Milieu"
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Sopico; performed by The Unnamed featuring Sopico and Adil Dehbi)
"Fallen"
(Written by Josiah Woodson; performed by The Josiah Woodson Quintet)
"Kiss Your Ass Goodbye"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band)
"Murder In The Rue"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Tahar Rahim)
"Mira"
(Written by Robby Marshall; performed by The Robby Marshall Quartet with Anissa Nehari)
"Play Through"
(Written by Robby Marshall; performed by The Robby Marshall Quartet with Anissa Nehari)
"PCH"
(Written by Glen Ballard; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"The Eddy"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
Episode 2
"Kiss Me In The Morning"
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Julia Harriman; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Au Milieu" (acoustic)
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Sopico; performed by Sopico, Omar El Barkaoui, and Afida Tahri)
"Not A Day Goes By"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"East Paris"
(Written by Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band)
"Let It Go"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Kiss Me In The Morning"
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Julia Harriman; performed by Amandla Stenberg on clarinet)
"Au Milieu" (end title version)
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Sopico; performed by Sopico, Damien Nueva Cortes, Omar El Barkaoui, Ludovic Louis, and Jowee Omicil)
Episode 3
"Elliot's Party Blues"
(Written by Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band)
"Drop Me Off In Harlem"
(Written by Edward Kennedy Ellington and Nick A. Kenny; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Tahar Rahim)
"The Wake"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band and Friends)
"The Long Way Home"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by Randy Kerber)
"Not a Day Goes By"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Black Cat"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
Episode 4
"Paris in September"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by Damien Nueva Cortes)
"I Must Have Known It Then"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by Randy Kerber)
"Can't Stay Away"
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Julia Harriman; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Bar Fly"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Elle Me Dit"
(Written by Laurent Damian Lescarret and Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr. (Mika); performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Toda La Gente"
(Written by Damian Nueva Cortes; performed by Damian Nueva Cortes, Onilde Gomez Valon, Abraham Mansfaroll, Pedro Barrios, Sebastian Quezada, and Anissa Nehari)
"Play All Night"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by Damian Nueva and Randy Kerber)
"Paris in September"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by Damian Nueva and Randy Kerber)
Episode 5
"Le Serpent Qui Danse"
(Words by Charles Baudelaire; music by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; featuring Tcheky Karyo and Joanna Kulig on vocals; performed by Randy Kerber, Joel Shearer, Damian Nueva, and Arnaud Dolmen)
"Dupin's Blue"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Christian Scott; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"My Little Criminal"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by Randy Kerber)
"On the Way"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band with Arnaud Dolmen featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Play All Night"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band with Arnaud Dolmen and featuring Joanna Kulig)
"The Eddy" (Uptempo)
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band with Yoann Danier)
Episode 6
"Open To Persuasion"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"On The Way"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band)
"Sooner or Later"
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Sopico; performed by The Eddy Band and The Unnamed featuring Adil Dehbi and Amandla Stenberg)
"The Guembmri Jam"
(Written by Benjamin Petit, Omar El Barkaoui, Ludovic Louis, Jowee Omicil, and Damian Nueva Cortes; performed by Benjamin Petit, Omar El Barkaoui, Ludovic Louis, Jowee Omicil, and Damian Nueva Cortes)
Episode 7
"Bar Fly"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Catch Me"
(Written by Randy Kerber; performed by Randy Kerber and Damien Nueva Cortes)
"Melancolia"
(Written by Edward Kennedy Ellington; performed by Randy Kerber)
"Can't Say Away"
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Julia Harriman; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
Episode 8
"Gossip"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig)
"Snow"
(Music by Duke Ellington; lyrics by Glen Ballard; performed by Amandla Stenberg, Andr Holland, Ludovic Louis, and Randy Kerber)
"The Eddy"
(Written by Glen Ballard and Randy Kerber; performed by The Eddy Band featuring Joanna Kulig, Amandla Stenberg, and Andr Holland)
"Call Me When You Get There" (Instrumental)
(Written by Glen Ballard, Randy Kerber, and Christian Scott; performed by The Eddy Band)