How do I find that old type of jazz, the ones they use in those old mystery movies?

I really like that type of music but I could never find it anywhere...what exactly is it called so I can get a narrower search

do some research, check wiki like most anyone else attempting to answer this question. there are maybe some jazz scholars sitting around on yahooanswers, but im not sure. i am sure that you are lazy.

If you know the decade you are talking about, in terms of the movies, you can do a google(did I type that?) search on "jazz" and "30's", etc....and that should help. Of if you know of a specific movie, you could do a search on that, and see who the musicians were who performed the music.

You could try listening to John Zorn's "Mickey Spillane" or John Luries' Lounge Lizards stuff.. that should get you started.

there's ragtime from the 1920's - scott joplin is a good example of the era, and "the charleston" and such

big band from the 1930's - try glenn miller

be-bop/swing in the 1940's - miles davis, john coltrane, bennie goodman, count basie

If you're talking about "film noir" era movies, get late 40's and 50's style "cool jazz", "west coast" jazz CDs. Check them out online.

The coolest movie music you will ever hear is in the movie Anatomy of a Murder. The entire soundtrack music was written and played by Duke Ellington and his orchestra. There's also a movie called Young Man with a Horn made in the 1950s with great Jazz soundtrack music.