Based on operatic themes of Giuseppe Verdi, the film’s soundtrack    represents the music Sam Rodia sang while working atop his Towers.  From classical to contemporary musical styles – spanning the time and distance covered by Rodia’s life from 19^th-century Italy to modern America – the score was arranged, composed, performed and recorded exclusively for I Build the Tower.

The Verdi themes arranged by Robert Israel remain in classical form while Nate Morgan uses Verdi’s music as inspiration for original pieces in the jazz, blues and salsa styles identified with the Watts community.

The orchestral music was recorded in the Czech Republic, performed by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Robert Israel. The music of the Robert Israel Ensemble and the Nate Morgan Ensemble was performed and recorded at Warren Dewey Sound in Santa Monica, California.

The hip hop song, “Yo, Sam”, was conceived by filmmakers Brad Byer and Edward Landler who arranged the lyrics from Sam Rodia’s recorded words. Using Rodia’s own voice as lead singer, Michael Abels composed and arranged the music with Dwight Trible and Logan Johnson, Jr., as backup singers.

1)  Overture  (La Forza del Destino) – orchestral arrangement
2)  “Miserere” (Il Trovatore) – orchestral arrangement
3)  “Addio del passato”  (La Traviata) – classical ensemble
4)  “Addio del passato” – jazz ensemble
5)  “Addio del passato” – jazz ensemble – salsa
6)  “Moving West” – blues guitar and piano
7)  “Caro nome”  (Rigoletto) – orchestral arrangement
8)  “Caro nome” – jazz ensemble
9)  Prelude (La Traviata) – orchestral arrangement
10)  “Di provenza il mar” (La Traviata) – classical ensemble
11)  “Di provenza il mar” – jazz piano and bass
12)  “La donna e mobile” (Rigoletto) – jazz ensemble
13)  “Di quella pira” (Il Trovatore) – orchestral arrangement
14)  “O patria mia” (Aida) – classical ensemble
15)  “O patria mia” – blues guitar, piano and vocal
16)  “Yo, Sam” (The Rodia Rap) – hip hop arrangement

Robert Israel, internationally recognized as one of today’s pre-eminent silent film composers and accompanists, has composed, arranged and conducted scores for keyboard, ensemble and orchestra for numerous silent films released on video, including the restoration of Erich von Stroheim’s Greed

The late jazz pianist Nate Morgan, a long-time member of Horace Tapscott’s Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra and Build an Ark, was a dominant figure in Los Angeles jazz as a composer, arranger and leader of his own ensemble. His CD’s include Retribution, Reparation (1982), Journey Into Nigritia  (1983) and Live in Santa Barbara (1996).

Composer/arranger Michael Abels’ orchestral work has been performed by the the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Kronos Quartet, among many others.  In addition to his classical work, he composed the music for Jordan Peele’s films, Get Out, Us and Nope.  He also received the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Music with librettist Rhiannon Giddens for composing the opera, Omar, translated from the  Arabic autobiography of a West African Islamic scholar brought to the United States as a slave in 1807.