The music was so wrong for this movie

That's the kind of music the lawyer in the book liked and he would sit in on jazz combos. You may not like jazz, but it was a part of the story that Robert Traver wrote, so it was appropriate for the movie. It wasn't a random choice.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

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The music was so obnoxious I actually found it to be offensive. At this time (late 50s), jazz music was associated with racy themes and taboo topics. Given the nature of this movie (i.e. a rape trial; lude talk of panties, sperm, and intercourse; course language; etc.), I think Otto was going for the naughty music because it best fit the material at hand. But holy sh!t was it obnoxious.

Yeah, I agree. And I love Duke.

It kinda reminds me of -now- where so many movies have hip-hop soundtracks for no reason other than it's 'what's happening'.

Otto Preminger always took great care with the score of each of his films. We hear the Ellington score throughout the movie (and Ellington himself even makes an appearance) because we are seeing the story from James Stewart's point of view--and this IS the music that's in his head. He is a jazz guy; he even has a sort of jazz mentality. This is also a film about the effects of reckless sex and desire, hence the score is pretty sexy. What says sex better than jazz--chamber music? Broadway show tunes? Italian opera?

Most movies produced up until the mid to late 1960's, had some variation of a jazz or classical music score. Any other music would have be unacceptable to the audiences of the period

Rock music was for teenagers. Country music was for poor hillbillies. R&B was for Blacks, and rap hadn't been invented yet. Including such genres of music in mainstream films was largely unheard of.

When modern day viewers find the music annoying in older films, it's usually because they don't have an ear for the particular chosen genre. Mainly because jazz and classical music, have been marginalized in popular culture for the past half century.