Paul Read News

I URGE you to check out http://www.henrymancini.com/ for a wonderful experience checking out one of the great orchestrators, song writers, film scorers and all round musicians of our (my) lifetime. Those who have known me for a long time recognize that I am a Mancini geek – a Mancini fan to the power of ten (at least). Go to the website and check out the videos of Jack Lemmon recounting his experience hearing The Days of Wine and Roses by Mancini and Johnny Mercer on a backlot on an old upright piano. Check out all the wonderful memories in the videos.
If you haven’t checked out Mancini’s “Sounds and Scores” which I received as a gift on my 18th birthday while trying to learn to score for larger groups in a jazz context, I urge you to get this wonderful book and make your way past the seemingly out of date stuff and grab lessons delivered by a master composer, arranger and orchestrator.
I continue to marvel at the “standards” this man composed: including Dreamsville (see Phil Woods with Tom Harrell), Days of Wine and Roses (Bill Evans) and on and on.
As always, I wish you peace and clear thoughts about our future.
P

Over the past few days I have been intensively reviewing the work of Henry Mancini – a rewarding pursuit if there every was one.

When I was 18, my parents gave me a copy of Mancini’s Sounds and Scores. This was my first formal text on the subject of orchestration and it was incredibly helpful. Why? Because I was VERY familiar with recordings of Mancini’s soundtrack recordings of The Pink Panther, Charade and other films. I was trying to write music for large ensemble and loved the sound of Mancini’s melodies, harmonies, rhythms and orchestration. They just seemed so artful, so simple and so attractive. As I listen to them in 2008, I am struck by these very same qualities. Sure it sounds a bit dated and so on, but the craft is unbelievably impressive. And much of it is drop dead gorgeous ear candy.

The collection I might recommend is called “The Days of Wine Roses” which I found on iTunes. This is a writer’s music, probably as those of us who do battle with pencil, score paper, notation software and ink jet printers, will appreciate the wonderful originality, the spare and clean orchestration, the lush strings (scored often in 8 part closed voicings. Or those 4 horns over the trombone section in the deliriously wonderful Dreamsville. His music still inspires me some forty two years after receiving the text and must lament that we don’t have access to the full scores of this GREAT musician.

Consider the fact that he wrote so many classics. Songs in the standard library (Days of Wine Roses, Two For the Road, Moment to Moment, Moon River and so on) without ever having written for the Broadway stage. And there are tunes I have always considered “immense”. For example, the tune, Royal Blue from the score for the Pink Panther (which featured, I think, the wonderful Jack Sheldon on muted trumpet).

His use of a large array of instruments: 4 horns, or full choir, many varied percussion instruments, accordion, harmonica, adds to the amazing and effective orchestrations which have stuck so strongly with me over the years.

Check Hank out. He is still a gem!!!!!!!!