MANCINI

His influence is a matter of records

They just released a tribute album celebrating the music of Henry Mancini in this the year he would have turned 100. Mancini died in 1994 at the age of 70.

It was a typical tribute album focusing on some of his best-known movie/TV hits with full celebrity participation. As we noted in an earlier post, the “Peter Gunn” reprise was touching with John Williams, who played on the original 1958 recording, back on the piano, and Quincy Jones, who just died, making one of his final turns at the controls.

While it’s always a nice idea to bring great musicians into the studio to play Mancini, folks, it’s been done. Musicians started releasing albums of Mancini songs in the early 60s, when Mancini was still churning out soundtrack hits faster than you can say Duane Eddy.

The recently-deceased Quincy Jones released his own distinguished album of Mancini tunes in 1964 but plenty of other compilations have hit record-store racks. I went to one of my favorite websites, Second Hand Songs, to get a look (and listen) to some of them. I found out that the Frankie Capp Percussion Group released an album of Mancini tunes back in 1960. Among the selections: “Dreamsville,” “Mr. Lucky” and, of course, “Peter Gunn.”

I mean everybody and their brother have recorded “Peter Gunn.” When that tune took off in the late 50s it switched something on around the world and we’ve never been the same since. To think it started off as a mere TV tune but that was the marvel of Mancini. He took an otherwise undistinguished private eye show and made it sing—with great jazz artists—and his own impeccable taste.

There’s not enough room on this computer to list all the covers of “Peter Gunn.” Even picking out favorites is a challenge. You have Duane Eddy’s twangy version from 1959 and, later, his collaboration with the Art of Noise in 1987. There’s Hugo Montenegro from his album Boogie Woogie & Bongoes (1962) and check out the Cedarville High School Band on YouTube from 2017. The aforementioned Frankie Capp group does a nice version, too--drum-heavy, as you would expect.

Rock groups have their own affinity for “Peter Gunn.” Here’s a partial list of some of the players who recorded the song: Dick Dale, Kingsmen, Paul Revere & Raiders, Jimi Hendrix, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Blues Brothers, and Roy Buchanan.

While Mancini’s own Peter Gunn album was a masterpiece, so, too was Mr. Lucky, another Mancini album inspired by a TV show. Billy Vaughn, George Shearing, Charlie Byrd, and the Anita Kerr Quartet are just some of the folks who provided covers of that tune in the 60s.

Anita Kerr’s album was We Dig Mancini (1965), an album that spotlights numerous Mancini treasures in the easy-listening mode of the 60s (it wasn’t all Beatlemania).

So many Mancini hits. So little time. Try the Ramsey Lewis Trio’s version of “It Had Better Be Tonight,” the Fran Jeffries song performed in Pink Panther (1963). A more recent rendition of that song is offered by La Bandada Mancini (2015) along with a marvelous version of “Lujon,” complete with vibes and accordion.

Speaking of Pink Panther, it turns out Benny Goodman recorded a neat version of the tune on his 1964 album Hello Benny. You may have missed that one since so many of us were saying Hello Beatles at the time.

You just can’t hear enough versions of “Pink Panther” (then again, maybe you can but it’s a tune I’ve been accused of liking too much). Among the countless copies, Bobby McFerrin’s acapella version of “Pink Panther” stands out, the lone bright spot in the dismal Son of Pink Panther release from 1993.

Anyway the next time the subject of the 60s comes up and experts cite the decade’s biggest influences as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Stones, don’t forget about old Henry and his easy-listening, jazzy, romantic, up-tempo style of composing. And you really don’t need to make any more tribute albums—just listen to the ones that are already out there.