Customer Reviews

Mancini, Henry / Peter Gunn TV

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Although this album is credited to Henry Mancini, it is actually Dave Pell Plays Henry Mancini, a session from about 1960 that was recorded by P.R.I. Records as part of a big "Dave Pell Plays" series that mostly included Big Band Era names. Why this is credited to Mancini is strange, especially since Pickwick Music (who licensed the music to LaserLight) had access to genuine RCA Mancini recordings; perhaps there was a mix-up somewhere.

As to the music itself, it is essentially the Mancini charts with all sorts of percussion added into the mix (which explains why it was also reissued around 1962 on Kimberly Records with percussionist Frankie Capp listed as the leader...at least he was actually on the recording!). The arrangements often sound very corny, not what a Mancini fan would be looking for.

The album's saving grace is the personnel. Many of the players (such as Larry Bunker and Ted Nash) were on the actual Mancini recordings, and a few even gained leader status themselves (Bud Shank, Frank Rosolino). As a result, the solos on this album are excellent, underlining the players' reputation as the best the West Coast scene had to offer.

In short, it is an unessential album but is definitely worth a listen. The Dave Pell reissue has much better sound quality, though, so unless you see this CD for a very low price the other version is the one to get.

Not the original - un-named studio musicians with some different instruments cover Peter Gunn - skip it and buy the original

Friends, this is NOT a soundtrack recording of music from the Peter Gunn television series. Strictly speaking, even the "official" soundtrack album released in the late 1950s was not a soundtrack recording, containing stereo re-workings of music that had been recorded in mono for the show. But at least it was arranged and conducted by Henry Mancini. This collection, released by Laserlight (Delta), has some truly strange arrangements of some of this music, in no way resembling the original treatments by Mancini or any of several other conductor/arrangers of the time who released successful recordings of it.
In addition, the track listing as presented here is not accurate. There are only ten tracks on this release, six of which could be found on Mancini's "Music from Peter Gunn", three from "More Music from Peter Gunn", and a version of the "Mr. Lucky" theme (What is that doing here?).
All of the foregoing constitutes the bad news, but there is some good news. Despite a few weird arrangements (the "Peter Gunn" theme and "Sorta Blue" come to mind), the rest is palatable. "Dreamsville", which must be just about impossible to screw up anyway, is done really well here.
As I write this, the posted price for this 33-minute, middling-quality CD is about 50 dollars. This is coming from outer space, as I paid five dollars for it in the early 2000s--and only bought it because I had the vague hope that these were original Mancini recordings (all of which were unavailable at the time).
Laserlight does not provide any information about when or where these recordings were made, or by whom. I'm not joking--there is no information whatever identifying the musicians, or even whether the same ones recorded all of the selections (It sounds to me like there could be at least two ensembles involved). Titles of the selections--with composer and publisher listed, to avoid lawsuits--are the only information you will find. Still, if you can get a copy of this for five dollars, as I did, your expenditure might be justified for "Dreamsville", "My Manne Shelley", and a few others. Please don't pay 50 dollars for it, though.