When I was younger and first studying music, I didn’t dare tell any of my friends or classmates that I listened to Henry Mancini’s music. That was “old fogie” music. And I’d have been branded a square. While my friends were into sex and voilence, I was into sax and violins.  Looking back, most of the Mancini albums we owned were soundtracks, and aside from some scattered tracks, we really didn’t have much in the way of Mancini’s jazz recordings.  Thanks to a donation from my mother’s aunt, I had a new world open up for me.  And I had a whole new outlook on music and, particularly, on jazz.

“Peter Gunn”.  Even the name sounded cool!  As I soon found out, the music was even cooler, a West Coast type of cool.  My young ears recognized the Mancini sound, although I could not put a finger on exactly what it was…I just knew it was him.  She had given me three of his albums:  The Music from Peter Gunn, More Music from Peter Gunn, and The Music from Mr. Lucky (which was more like jazzy instrumental music, punctuated by the organ sound of Buddy Cole).  The first Peter Gunn album would turn out to be a major success for RCA, selling over one million copies rather quickly.  And also a success for the versatile Mancini, who wrote and arranged the music for the Blake Edward TV series.

In later years, as I got to know more about the jazz musicians behind these recordings, I discovered that these weren’t just a group of studio musicians: these were the cream of the crop of west coast jazz musicians.  On many of Mancini’s earlier jazz albums, you’d have a young JohnWilliams on piano (who would become a well-known movie composer in his own right–ever hear of Star Wars?), Jimmy Rowles, Rolly Bundock, the Candoli brothers Pete and Conte, Dick Nash, Ronnie Lang, Shelly Manne, Larry Bunker, Plas Johnson…the list goes on.  You would find this same group of west coast jazzers on albums for other artists, such as the bands of Shorty Rogers and Perez Prado, among many others.

This basic lineup would continue through many of Mancini’s jazz albums in the late 50s through the mid 60s.  Among these are my favorites of Henry Mancini’s  many jazz recordings throughout the years.  Granted, there would be different configurations large and small, but the overall feel is generally the same.

Even on many of the soundtracks from this era, you would still find an all-out jazz chart or two in the mix, and other tracks might be orchestral, but have some jazz influences peppered throughout.  The best example I can think of is his signature tune: the “Pink Panther” theme.  It is essentially a big band arrangement, featuring Plas Johnson on the melody and a solo break in the middle, with some strings for sweetening.

One thing that differentiated Mancini from other jazz arrangers was his use of unusual or uncommon instruments.  His big band featured French horns, which could change the mood of an arrangement with their haunting, recessed tone.  Likewise, his use of bass flutes would lend a low, mysterious air to the arrangement.  (Mancini was, himself, a flute player.)  And…a harpsichord?  Sure!  It is featured on a few songs on the Combo! album, including “Moanin'” which leads off the album.

Henry Mancini grew his jazz roots back in his early musical days.  He actually interviewed to be in Glenn Miller’s band, and was assigned to one of the bands in World War II, but never got to perform with Miller before he passed away.  He did join the band with Tex Beneke and would later have stints as a pianist in other well-known big bands.  His stint as a film composer (often uncredited) for a major Hollywood studio gave him a lot of experience on the other side of the music-making equation.

When the studio closed up its music department, a chance encounter with TV producer Blake Edwards led to his gig as the composer and arranger behind Edwards’ forthcoming Peter Gunn TV detective series.  Gunn was the first TV series to feature a real jazz score behind it, and that fact was not lost on the record-buying public: the album sold so fast that RCA ran out of album jackets, and had to put some of their production run into a generic RCA jacket until more could be printed!

So, the short version of all this:  Mancini has serious jazz credentials!  And among his many dozens of RCA albums are jazz titles such as the two aforementioned Peter Gunn albums, The Blues and The Beat, Combo!, Uniquely Mancini, and Mancini ’67.  And scattered among many of his other albums are some small combo or big band jazz tracks that are worth seeking out.

In Part Two of this article, I’ll run down a few of my own personal favorite jazz recordings by Henry Mancini, including entire albums, along with some other good jazz tracks tucked away on his many soundtrack and instrumental albums.