One Night in Miami... (soundtrack)

Terence Blanchard composed the musical score and also co-produced few of the songs. Blanchard had said it as a "brilliant experience" on working with Regina King, as she had a "really strong directing talent".^[1] When they began working together on the score, Blanchard suggested King on trying few approaches to score for the film. He initially intended an orchestral music with a large ensemble, but King wanted to use a piano-based score, as it "creates a historical narration for the film".^[2][3]

Blanchard called it as "an interesting exercise for me, because then everything about the piano became bigger, like the dynamics, the touch, the attack, the range. All of those things became extremely important and having variables to help tell the story."^[4] Since the musical style is a jazz-based, he roped in popular jazz pianist Benny Green to "improvise and manipulate the melodic content for that theme". For the prayer scene with Malcolm X, he used the duduk for that particular cue.^[2]

As the filming was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, scoring for the film began later that month and completed in early December 2020. Blanchard recorded the score at his home studio during the pandemic, and since he used limited instruments for the film, he felt the recording was easier and need not use the orchestral section where he had to record each orchestra separately due to restrictions.^[4] The film's editor Tariq Anwar, had used temp music while editing the film, to help in the picture cutting.^[5] He thought of using the solo piano for the transitions, and had downloaded several samples and played with jazz, blues and gospel, assigning different styles to the four Black icons to capture their personalities. However, Anwar had said that "Fortunately, Regina liked the idea but she didn't like the style of piano. She was keen on an Aretha Franklin's influence. She then used that to implement that in Terence Blanchard's score."^[5]

On December 11, 2020, ABKCO Records officially announced the soundtrack for the film featuring 22 tracks.^[6] Sam Cooke's songs — “You Send Me,” “Chain Gang,” “Good Times”, “A Change Is Gonna Come” and "Put Me Down Easy" (Hampton House version) — were performed by Leslie Odom Jr., who portrayed Cooke, and Jay Livingston and Ray Evans' song "Tammy".^[2] In addition, an original song "Speak Now" was also performed by Odom Jr., who co-wrote the song with Sam Ashworth, who wrote for the former's 2019 album Mr.

Odom Jr. on writing the song "Speak Now" commented that "the producers were always very interested in whomever was cast as Sam [being] the person that would write the song for the movie. That they would take that experience of Sam and then [write a song]."^[7] He then collaborated with four different songwriters to write four songs, after which King chose the track "Speak Now". He further explained on the song, saying:^[7]

"The song feels a little bit like a ghost story or like a gathering around in the woods, because three of these men at least are speaking to us from beyond the grave. They're speaking to us from someplace else, and I just imagined the things that they might say and what they might ask of us right now. “Speak Now” resonated because it sounded like: Listen, your time is precious and you're not guaranteed a lot of it, so speak right now in this moment. Use your life, use everything that you are given, to make a change and to make a difference right in this moment."^[7]

Jeremy Pope who played Jackie Wilson also performed Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops".^[2] The One Night in Miami band also performed two of the tracks, which included Ray Charles' single "I Believe to My Soul".^[6] The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra contributed to the instrumental portions of the songs.^[8][9]

The album was officially released on December 25, 2020 in digital formats, in CD on January 15 and in vinyl on March 5.^[6][10] Prior to the release, the song "Chain Gang" was released as a single on December 4, 2020, on the date of the album's pre-order,^[11] and "Speak Now" was released on December 11.^[12][13]

The soundtrack featured eight instrumental compositions from Blanchard's score, including "Howl For Me Daddy" performed by Keb' Mo', Tarriona "Tank" Ball and Blanchard. Those tracks were released into a separate score album on January 15.^[14]

Speak Now (Selections From One Night In Miami... Soundtrack) is the soundtrack extended play, featured four songs from the soundtrack performed by Leslie Odom Jr. It was released on May 7, 2021.^[15]

The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney complimented the score as "cool" and "jazzy".^[16] Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times felt that the score "beautifully augments the history-in-the-making gathering of these four icons at a pivotal moment in their lives".^[17] Michael Philips of Chicago Tribune wrote "Terence Blanchard's score goes for solo jazz piano lines, nimble and expressive. This isn't a full-orchestra kind of affair; it's a jazz quartet of a play, and a movie."^[18] Alex Ramon of British Film Institute called the score as "insistently jaunty".^[19]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences disqualified Blanchard's score from the longlist of Best Original Score for the 93rd Academy Awards as it failed to meet the eligibility criteria of having 60% original music composed specifically for the film. The film accompanied several existing cues from several artists, such as Sam Cooke (whom the film is based on) and lesser number of cues.^[20][21] It also failed to be longlisted for BAFTA Award for Best Original Music at the 70th British Academy Film Awards who specified 50% original music as the eligibility criteria.^[20]