Comments on: What Else is Like the Peter Gunn Theme?

Question: What Else is Like the Peter Gunn Theme?

musofire — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:03:25 -0800

The "Pink Panther" theme and the "Peter Gunn" theme are both jazz pieces created by Henry Mancini in the 1960's. But musically, how are they similar? If I add Lalo Schifrin's "Mission Impossible" theme ... is this a particular flavor or genre of jazz? If I like these as music, what other pieces (that are not necessarily theme songs) would I like?

By: timsteil

timsteil — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:10:43 -0800

The theme from M Squad.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:40:16 -0800

Have you heard of the James Taylor Quartet? (And no, it's not "Sweet Baby James" James Taylor.)

If you like that, you might want to check out the genre of Acid Jazz... it's more modern than Henry Mancini, but it harkens back to the kind of 60's instrumentals you listed.

By: gjc

gjc — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:40:53 -0800

Could it be the big band sound you are hearing?

By: circular

circular — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:43:05 -0800

Crime jazz, crime jazz, crime jazz.

By: nightwood

nightwood — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:46:43 -0800

I actually like all of the music on the Original Peter Gunn album. I was just humming "Sorta Blue" today, in fact.

By: circular

circular — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:57:03 -0800

BTW, check out some of these playlists, you might find more that you like. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=crime+jazz%2C+playlist

By: Scram

Scram — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:08:42 -0800

David Smay calls it Spy Jazz and has some recommended recordings.

By: Jon_Evil

Jon_Evil — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:16:45 -0800

While I don't think it's an actual genre, I've never heard a better description than "crime jazz'. I think mostly that genre is Henry Mancini and people trying to ape Mancini's style. This involves using a minor key with one line that goes up and down a limited chromatic range, and another that goes up and down a different chromatic range, with the effect that the two lines create tension and resolution.

Other crime jazz standards include the John Barry's James Bond theme and Al Hirt's Green Hornet theme.

It's a bit newer, but Mark Ronson's 2007 album Version is totally that style, kind of retro-crime jazz.

By: 2ghouls

2ghouls — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:25:24 -0800

I won't take a stab at a genre, but I like the suggestions above (crime jazz, spy jazz). A piece you may like (out of left field): Dzihan & Kamien's Stiff Jazz.

By: neroli

neroli — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:48:38 -0800

By: misozaki

misozaki — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:44:13 -0800

The theme from the Japanese anime Lupin the 3rd by Yuji Ohno is probably the most famous example of this in Japan. Also, The Great Chase.

By: zoinks

zoinks — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:11:08 -0800

Surf music, also.

By: plinth

plinth — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:18:10 -0800

If it helps, Peter Gunn is all Mixolydian all the time.

You may also like Harlem Nocturne.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:02:05 -0800

Herbie Hancock's soundtrack from Blowup - tracks such as Bring Down the Birds.
Tony Hatch's music such as "The Theme for Crossroads"
Lalo Schifirin's Theme for "Enter the Dragon"
Ron Grainer's theme for "Man in a suitcase".
Music by The Herbaliser - such as "The Missing Suitcase". Their style is more a tribute to those above.
Likewise with "Twiggy Twiggy vs James Bond" by Pizicatto 5

What makes the pieces like the ones you mentioned similar to each other is that the composers have just a few seconds to hit you with something memorable which will set the mood for show. The show is going to involve action set in the 60s. They have a full orchestra at their disposal and are not afraid to use it.

By: dirm

dirm — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:36:37 -0800

Eddie Warner - 'Come' (as used in the Ivan Dobsky sketch on Monkey Dust.) If you like that, there's more on the Album: "Le Jazzbeat vol 2" and other releases on the French label L'Illustration Musicale.

By: Dub

Dub — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:37:03 -0800

Police's Every Breath You Take. There's an excellent mash-up of the two on the Sopranos(pops to Youtube)

By: eschatfische

eschatfische — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:57:50 -0800

SomaFM's Secret Agent Radio specializes in this sound. Turn it on, listen for a while, and I'm confident you'll find more that you like.

By: bluejayway

bluejayway — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:04:52 -0800

You might also enjoy Herb Alpert. He's a lot more schmaltzy than Mancini, but sooo very evocative of the early 60's. Start with the awesome Whipped Cream and Other Delights and go from there. Be careful once you get to the mid-70's though. Yuck.

Interesting aside, the young woman on the cover is covered in shaving cream, not whipped cream. The whipped cream kept melting under the lights.

By: box

box — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:40:47 -0800

Nthing 'crime jazz.'

By: not_that_epiphanius

not_that_epiphanius — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:48:36 -0800

The Herbaliser might scratch that itch. Some live sax and other jazz elements on those recordings, which are very much informed by crime movies (I suppose I had thought of it as 'Spy Music', but 'Crime Jazz' is a catchier term).

Also, check out the Art of Noise cover of Peter Gunn, if you haven't already done.

By: ecmendenhall

ecmendenhall — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:52:00 -0800

Check out all the John Barry Bond scores. The very best Barry pastiche is the soundtrack to "The Incredibles."

By: Gygesringtone

Gygesringtone — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:02:31 -0800

If it helps, Peter Gunn is all Mixolydian all the time.

Er, nope. The bass line has a minor three and a major three. Which is pretty common blue note over V7 chords, but is definitely not Mixolydian.

Personally, I put those two more in the Jazz end of Blues then the Blues end of Jazz, but there's no clear line, so...

The Mingus tune "Boogie Stop Shuffle" has a similar repeating bass line thing going, and "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" should fit in too.

By: balistic

balistic — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:18:44 -0800

Curtis Mayfield and Lalo Schifrin

By: Unsomnambulist

Unsomnambulist — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:30:59 -0800

You'll love David Holmes, especially his work on the Out of Sight and Oceans 11 soundtracks.

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:35:58 -0800

broader category names include exotica, lounge, and space age pop. awesome stuff.

By: plinth

plinth — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:17:56 -0800

Er, nope. The bass line has a minor three and a major three. Which is pretty common blue note over V7 chords, but is definitely not Mixolydian.
I respectfully disagree. I played lead trumpet on this chart and the open section for solos was clearly labeled 'mixolydian', and seeing as the chords and baseline never changed, it was all mixolydian (my other reference is a tenor sax player in my community band in his 70's who played in big bands. You mention Peter Gunn and he says, "it is so easy to play over mixolydian.").

By: Gygesringtone

Gygesringtone — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:28:22 -0800

I respectfully disagree. I played lead trumpet on this chart and the open section for solos was clearly labeled 'mixolydian', and seeing as the chords and baseline never changed, it was all mixolydian (my other reference is a tenor sax player in my community band in his 70's who played in big bands. You mention Peter Gunn and he says, "it is so easy to play over mixolydian.").

Without theory geeking out too much...

I suspect part of this is a "who taught you jazz theory" sort of terminology thing. To me mixolydian refers to the scale, but I've known plenty of folks who use D mixolydian to mean D7. I understand the thinking behind that, and have my own reasons for referring to harmony by chord rather than scale, but those issues aren't particularly relevant here. The arranger of your chart was probably going for a specific sound for the solos, one which I can see working out really well with the over all aesthetic of the piece.

However, glancing at the chart, I see a bunch of b9 and #9s (so I guess I was wrong, it's not a blue note on a V7, the whole thing's an alt7) in the melody. Which puts a completely different group of notes than what most people mean when they say mixolydian in the head of the tune.

What I probably should have mentioned earlier is that a large part of the drive of piece is provided by the tension of those #9s and b9s, and the chromaticism in the bass is especially relevant in context of "how is Peter Gunn like The Pink Panther, which features a pretty chromatic melody. Mancini wrote lots of music, and one of the things that sets those two apart from say "Days of Wine and Roses" or "Mr Lucky" is a use of chromatic melody over a more static harmony (o.k. so, Pink Panther isn't static, but it's got a slower harmonic rhythm than "Days of Wine..."). Which is one of the things that puts them closer to blues than jazz to my ear, and seems to be pretty common in the songs that people recommended as similar in style.

I've been kicking myself for not having recommended that the OP checks out some Soul Jazz, like Lee Morgan's album The Sidewinder, or Cannon Ball Adderley (especially from around the same time as Mercy, Mercy, Mercy). It definitely influenced Mancini's style for those pieces (simpler harmonies than most other styles of jazz, repetitive bass lines, same blurring of the lines between jazz and blues and soul and gospel). So thanks for giving me the excuse to mention that.