Sub Pop

The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of the (Unproduced) Film…The Jazz Daredevil is the bold third album by Jon Benjamin - Jazz Daredevil. It follows his landmark 2015 debut Well I Should Have… Learned How to Play Piano, which garnered gushing coverage from NPR’s All Things Considered, blew through two vinyl pressings, and is now a sought-after collectible; and the 2020 follow-up The Soundtrack Collection, arguably the first truly great collection of movie theme songs performed poorly with a Moog synthesizer and expertly by an orchestra at the same time. Outside of his trailblazing musical career, Benjamin is a budding actor/comedian, voicing Bob on Bob’s Burgers and Sterling Archer on Archer, among other projects.

The Jazz Daredevil sets the scene:

Through ribbons of smoke, Jazz Daredevil walks across the small stage. He takes his place at the piano. Looking out, he clocks his small audience, most of whom talk amongst themselves. “This is my life,” he thinks to himself. It’s not a happy thought. At one table, a woman in sunglasses sits alone. “Is she as lost as I?” He counts in the trio, “one, two, one, two, three…” The Jazz Daredevil plays. He can’t play, though. It’s complicated. It’s the same feeling. That feeling of both freedom and failure. “There’s never nothing to lose” is the thought that crosses his mind, as he mindlessly hits random notes on the baby grand. He glances at the woman alone. “Can she change everything?”

Let’s find out.