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Jazz recordings of television themes


ghost of miles

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Hey all, I'm working on a Night Lights show about jazz recordings of TV themes and have been putting together a list of some obvious candidates (Shelly Manne and "Peter Gunn") and perhaps not so obvious (Ornette Coleman and "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman").  What can you think of or suggest?  It can be either covers/interpretations or the original recordings (thinking here of Nelson Riddle and "Route 66," for example).  I've come up with quite a few, but I always like to check in with the Organissimo brain-trust for recommendations.

(Along these same lines, there's a fun new CD out from pianist Randy Waldman:  Superheroes.  I played his version of Oliver Nelson's theme for "The Six Million Dollar Man" on my afternoon show today.)

Edited by ghost of miles
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37 minutes ago, GA Russell said:

David, I have a compilation cassette of Nelson Riddle playing "Route 66 and Other TV Themes," but I'm not sure how many you would consider jazz.

I also have a CD which combines the soundtracks of Mike Hammer and M Squad.  These are "jazzy" but you might not consider them jazz.

I have both of those too!  I also have Mundell Lowe's TV ACTION JAZZ cd.  Thanks for all of the suggestions so far, everybody.

 

Some others I'm considering:

Bill Evans, "Suicide Is Painless (Theme From MASH)"

Bob James, "Angela (Theme From Taxi)"

Phil Woods, "Theme From Star Trek"

Betty Carter, "Theme From Dr. Kildare"

Pete Rugolo, "Naked City" 

Earle Hagen, "I Spy"

... in addition to the aforementioned Shelly Manne and Ornette Coleman.

Maybe a good version of the theme from "Mannix," too?  "Mission: Impossible"?

Has any jazz artist done the Flinstones theme?  I remember Sting's circa-BRING ON THE NIGHT group jamming on it in a documentary about his Brandford-era band.  

Edited by ghost of miles
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I have a vague memory of a jazz version of the soundtrack to a show called "Checkmate".

Yes here it is: Shelly Mann!

https://smile.amazon.com/Checkmate-Bonus-Tracks-Shelly-Manne/dp/B00HWCCN6S/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1539065295&sr=1-3&keywords=checkmate&dpID=51Gu1efEfbL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Edited by medjuck
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11 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

I have both of those too!  I also have Mundell Lowe's TV ACTION JAZZ cd.  Thanks for all of the suggestions so far, everybody.

 

Some others I'm considering:

Bill Evans, "Suicide Is Painless (Theme From MASH)"

Bob James, "Angela (Theme From Taxi)"

Phil Woods, "Theme From Star Trek"

Betty Carter, "Theme From Dr. Kildare"

Pete Rugolo, "Naked City" 

Earle Hagen, "I Spy"

... in addition to the aforementioned Shelly Manne and Ornette Coleman.

Maybe a good version of the theme from "Mannix," too?  "Mission: Impossible"?

Has any jazz artist done the Flinstones theme?  I remember Sting's circa-BRING ON THE NIGHT group jamming on it in a documentary about his Brandford-era band.  

Many jazz artists have done the Flintstones theme. (Just look under Flintstones Theme in Songs on Spotify). I particularly like the version by John Fedchock's New York Big Band.

Edited by BillF
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Some more jazzy UK ones from boththe BBC and ITV -

 

Joe Harriott/John Mayer ‘Acka Raga’ (theme from Ask The Family/ BBC)

Harry South - theme from ‘The Sweeney’ (ITV)

Frank Ricotti - theme from ‘The Beiderbecke Connection’ (ITV)

John Dankworth - theme from ‘Tomorrow’s World’ (BBC)

Edited by sidewinder
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In addition to the Aaron Bell LPs of 77 Sunset Strip and Victory At Sea already mentioned above, here are some LPs I picked up through the years (for the fun of it - as "period" jazzy lounge oddities):

https://www.discogs.com/de/Video-All-Stars-TV-Jazz-Themes/release/2342371

https://www.discogs.com/de/Harry-Betts-His-Orchestra-The-Jazz-Soul-Of-Doctor-Kildare/release/6464553

https://www.discogs.com/de/Metropolitan-Jazz-Quartet-Plays-The-Great-Themes-From-TV-Shows/release/5511023

 

 

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10 minutes ago, medjuck said:

"The Jazz Soul of Doctor Kildare""!!  Wow. 

Regardless of how one feels about every detail of the recordings, you must admit that the lineup is quite something ... ;)

And actually the "Dr Kildare" track is just one of many different TV features ...

Edited by Big Beat Steve
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Clark Terry also did The Flintstones. 

I worked under the arranger/conductor/pianist, Leo De Lyon, a pisser of a guy, who did the voice of Benny in the cartoon 'Top Cat'. He could whistle and sing at the same time, and used to entertain the guys in the band by whistling and singing Bach Inventions. There was a lot of big band swing influence in TC and other cartoons like The Jetsons. Hoyt Curtin was the composer of a lot of that stuff for Hanna-Barbera

Edited by sgcim
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