A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

While it is rarely as lauded in film music circles as the collaborations between, say, Herrmann and Hitchcock or Williams and Spielberg, composer Henry Mancini's relationship with director Blake Edwards was, in many ways, just as important - and almost certainly sold more records!  Their first collaboration of note was, somewhat surprisingly, for television, with Edwards' series Peter Gunn.  While most people in the world would recognise the theme music instantly, the number who actually know what the show was about is probably considerably lower - it was a detective show focusing on a smart and cool detective (played by Craig Stevens), stylish and very hip for its time.  

Needless to say, those latter qualities found their way into the music (though it could be a chicken and egg situation - perhaps the show was so cool because of the music, rather than the other way round!  This album, which sold by the bucketload and - incredibly - won the Grammy for Album of the Year (how many instrumental soundtracks have managed that, I wonder?) - is a series of re-recordings done in 1958, featuring the main title and a variety of jazz instrumentals.  The impressive piano solos are by a certain John Williams - you may have heard of him, apparently he went onto other things.  Most of the cues aren't as sharp or downright sexy as the main theme, but there is a lovely, relaxed atmosphere throughout which is impossible to resist.

Mancini was, and remains, best-known for his light jazz rather than the other music he wrote throughout his career, some of which is outstanding, and this is as unfair today as it was when he was writing so many scores of so many different types, but music like this was certainly his first love, and no film composer has ever come close to matching him at this kind of thing.  Peter Gunn is a classic album and shows the composer at his absolute peak.

Tracks

1. Peter Gunn (2:07)
2. Sorta Blue (2:58)
3. The Brothers go to Mother's (2:57)
4. Dreamsville (3:56)
5. Session at Pete's Pad (4:00)
6. Soft Sounds (3:35)
7. Fallout! (3:16)
8. The Floater (3:18)
9. Slow and Easy (3:07)
10. A Profound Gass (3:20)
11. Brief and Breezy (3:33)
12. Not from Dixie (4:10)
13. Walkin' Bass (4:24)
14. Blue Steel (3:44)
15. Spook! (2:59)
16. Blues for Mother's (3:19)