Peter Gunn - Henry Mancini

LPM 1956 RE

LPM-1956 RE

LPM 1956 RE2

LSP 1956 RE2

Sorta Blue

Peter Gunn
From The NBC Television Series Peter Gunn
Composed and Conducted by Henry Mancini
Produced by Simon Rady
Recorded in Hollywood, August 26 and 31, and September 4 and 29, 1958.
RCA Victor LPM-1956 RE & LPM-1956 RE (featuring factory applied "The Original" sticker)
LPM 1956 RE2 & LPM 1956 RE2
1959

From the back cover: In an industry often referred to as "cannibalistic," swept as it is by constant change and unpredictable developments, we at Spartan Productions were faced with the compelling need for something genuinely new in dramatic television. When the idea for PETER GUNN was still incubating, the vital question was: How do we set the PETER GUNN show apart from other mystery-adventure series?

We already had many exciting components, but what was missing was some distinctive element to invest this series with something extra, something superlative. It hit me then-JAZZ. If we could use the music as an integral part of the dramatic action, fusing story-line and score, we should have something very worthwhile.

By sustaining the jazz background and source music throughout the show's 39-week run, I strongly feel we have given the program a positive identification, not to speak of attracting the viewers into an awareness of this vital musical form. As creator of the show, I naturally insisted on using live music throughout. In this case esthetic necessity was implemented by the fact that many of the nation's greatest jazz musicians are in the Hollywood area-an ideal opportunity to handpick the most creative jazzmen. To give us the musical background required, we also needed a composer with roots in the jazz idiom, one who could interpret dramatic action in the language of modern jazz. Henry Mancini is that composer.

"Hank" Mancini, only thirty-four, had already written for such films as "the Benny Goodman Story," Orson Wells' "Touch Of Evil" and "The Glenn Miller Story." For his contribution to the latter he was nominated, at twenty-eight, for an Academy Award.

Currently the music director of Spartan Productions, Mancini can now claim the distinction of being the first  musician to compose modern jazz for the sound track of a filmed television series.

The music in this album offers an excellent sampling of the sounds you've likely to hear any Monday eve when Peter Gunn swings into action on NBC-TV. The musicians are the same jazzmen who are heard to outstanding advantage in all the programs. Here are some of them:

Drummer Jack Sperling and bassist Rollt Bundock state the show's forceful opening motif, Fallout! The raw-sounding trumpet belongs to Pete Candoli, a veteran of the Woody Herman and Stan Kenton bands. Dreamsville, which might be subtitled "a love refrain for hipsters," features a moving alto sax solo by Ted Nash; his brother Dick can  be heard dusting with fellow trombonist Milt Bernhart on Session At Pete's Pad. Saxist Ronnie Lang, who, in common with most of the musician here, is a graduate of the Les Brown band, wields a bulging baritone on Sorta Blue, Other soloists at Mother's, the nitery where Peter Gunn hangs his Brooks Brothers jacket, are vibist Larry Bunker and pianist Johnny T. Williams. – Blake Edwards

Peter Gunn
Sorta Blue
The Brothers Go To Mother's
Dreamsville
Session At Pete's Pad
Soft Sounds
Fallout!
The Floater
Slow And Easy
A Profound Gabs
Brief And Breezy
Not From Dixie