 The film score was composed , arranged and conducted by Elmer Bernstein , but the picture also featured jazz themes performed by the Chico Hamilton Quintet , and two soundtrack albums were released on the Decca label in 1958 . Allmusic 's Blair Sanderson noted , " The soundtrack to Alexander Mackendrick 's 1957 motion picture Sweet Smell of Success combines orchestral music by the versatile Elmer Bernstein and modern jazz by the Chico Hamilton Quintet , including numbers performed in the film 's club scenes . Both provide a moody backdrop to the cynical showbiz drama and intersect at several key points through the use of a common theme , the tune ' Goodbye Baby ' . ... For his part , Bernstein employs richly dissonant big band sonorities and nocturnal urban blues in his score , and much of his music has the hard @-@ edged , gritty sound that was associated with big city life in the 1950s . Hamilton 's exploratory improvisations and Bernstein 's studio orchestrations make this a highly sophisticated film score " . In The Guardian , John L. Walters called the soundtrack " the sonic equivalent of a well @-@ mixed Manhattan : seven cool cues by drummer Chico Hamilton 's adventurous band , and 14 orchestral blasts by Elmer Bernstein " . 
