As the notes to this set indicate, Henry Mancini changed the idea of a film soundtrack from one that was rooted in European classical music to an American style incorporating jazz and even rock and roll. The first CD contains music from soundtracks of numerous films: 1956’s Rock Pretty Baby, Touch Of Evil, High Time, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Experiment In Terror and Hatari, plus the Peter Gunn television series (with the original Peter Gunn Theme) and the Mr. Lucky TV series. Musically it ranges from the lush, big band “Dreamsville” and the cool West Coast jazz sound of “The Floater” to the rinky-dink piano of “Blue (Angel) Pianola”, the Spanish flavoured “Siesta” with Laurindo Almeida on guitar, Audrey Hepburn crooning “Moon River”, and the R&B-inflected “Lease Breaker” with the great Plas Johnson blowing some dirty tenor sax. “Hub Caps and Tail Lights” certainly sounds like a precursor to “The Pink Panther Theme” and we also get the goofy “Baby Elephant walk”. And then there’s “Mr. Lucky”, which sounds exactly like a piece of soundtrack music… The second CD includes materiel from the albums The Mancini Touch (the four Lola Albright songs), The Blues and The Beat (both issued in 1960), and 1961’s Combo. The Tex Beneke title is, despite the album title, from 1951 – it’s the oldest track here and, along with “Too Little Time”, it sounds it. Trumpeter Ray Anthony’s version of “The Peter Gunn Theme” was the first to be released on a single, with Plas Johnson prominent on this hit from 1959. Finally Frémeaux close out the set with their own recording of French pianist and band leader Claude Bolling’s version of “The Pink Panther” from 1995. it ‘s not too far removed from Mancini’s original and well worth a listen, as indeed is the whole collection if your interest lies in film soundtracks.
Par Norman DARWEN – PIPE LINE
Par Norman DARWEN – PIPE LINE
