Personnel:
Henry Mancini (arr, dir), Pete Candoli, Stu Williamson, Ray Linn, Don Fagerquist, Johnny Audino (tp), Frank Rosolino, Dick Nash, Milt Bernhart (tb), Ted Nash, Bud Shank, Ronny Lang (reeds), John T. Williams, Russ Freeman, Bob Florence, Jimmy Rowles (p), Larry Bunker (vib), Tommy Tedesco, Tony Rizzi (g), Buddy Clark (b), Alvin Stoller, Frank Capp (d), Emil Richards (perc), Maxwell Davis (arr)
Reference: FSCD 2009
Bar code: 8427328620093
"Currently the music director of Spartan Productions, Mancini can now claim the distinction of being the first musican 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're 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 Rolly 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 dueling with fellow trombonist Milt Bernhart on Session at Pete's Pad. Saxist Ronnie Lang, who, in common with most of the musicians 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.
This music is Peter Gunn's kind of jazz. I think you'll find that it's your kind, too."
-Blake Edwards
"This CD collects most of the material Mancini wrote for the late-'50s, noir-ish TV drama Peter Gunn [...] The innovative and appropriate jazz soundtrack includes arrangements by Pete Candoli, Maxwell Davis, and Bob Florence and features some of the best Los Angeles session players of the time (Bud Shank, Russ Freeman, Red Mitchell, etc.). Mancini takes up from his earlier soundtrack for Orson Welles' Touch of Evil with brass-heavy, crime jazz tunes like "Fallout!" and rock & roll swing numbers like Spook!" and the title-track. The bulk of the material, though, is in a cool, West Coast jazz vein, including brisk swingers like "Blue Steel" and breezy and mid-tempo cuts like "Goofin' at the Coffee House." Also included are the kind of sleepy-eyed lounge cuts Mancini excelled at, like "Dreamsville," "A Quiet Gass," and "Soft Sounds." This is an excellent collection and one that ranks with Mancini's other fine film and TV work from the '50s and '60s."
Stephen Cook -All Music Guide
