Crime and Spy Jazz on Screen, 1950-1970

Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn theme. Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme. John Barry's arrangement of the James Bond theme. These iconic melodies have remained a part of the pop culture landscape since their debuts in the late 1950s and early '60s: a "golden decade" that highlighted an era when movie studios and TV production companies employed full orchestral ensembles to provide a jazz backdrop for the suspenseful adventures of secret agents, private detectives, cops, spies and heist-minded criminals. Hundreds of additional films and television shows made during this period were propelled by similarly swinging title themes and underscores, many of which have (undeservedly) faded into obscurity. This meticulously researched book traces the embryonic use of jazz in mainstream entertainment from the early 1950s--when conservative viewers still considered this genre "the devil's music"--to its explosive heyday throughout the 1960s. Fans frustrated by the lack of attention paid to jazz soundtrack composers--including Jerry Goldsmith, Edwin Astley, Roy Budd, Quincy Jones, Dave Grusin, Jerry Fielding and many, many others--will find solace in these pages (along with all the information needed to enhance one's music library). The exploration of action jazz continues in this book's companion volume, Crime and Action Jazz on Screen Since 1971.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Cheryl Pawelski
Introduction
Prologue: The Naked Truth
1. Audition: 1947-1956
2. Dreamsville: 1957-1958
3. Blue Satin: 1959
4. Breezy Capers: 1960
5. Contract with Depravity: 1961
6. Jamaica Jazz: 1962
7. Champagne and Quail: 1963
8. Meet Mr. Solo: 1964
9. Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: 1965
10. Mission Blues: 1966
11. Home, James, Don't Spare the Horses: 1967
12. Shifting Gears: 1968
13. This Never Happened to the Other Fella: 1969
14. Soul Flower: 1970
Appendix A: Instrument Abbreviations
Appendix B: Discography
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index