"Peter Gunn" on Night Lights

[ghost of miles]

This week on Night Lights it's "Peter Gunn." Peter Gunn was a hit TV crime show with jazz at its center that ran from 1958 to 1961, with Craig Stevens (described as "a poor man's Cary Grant") as the stylish, jazz-loving private detective title character, and frequently directed by Blake Edwards, who would go on to make The Pink Panther several years later. Gunn paid frequent visits to a jazz bar called Mother's and dated a jazz singer (played by Lola Albright); West Coast jazz musicians such as Shelly Manne and Shorty Rogers sometimes appeared on the show. For composer Henry Mancini, who wrote the ubiquitous theme and the rest of the show's background music, Peter Gunn was a career breakthrough; Mancini had just been laid off from Universal Studios when a chance visit to the studio lot to get a haircut led to the job. Mancini went on to record two best-sellng albums of music from Peter Gunn and to win two Grammys as well.

We'll hear music from both Mancini albums, in addition to Peter Gunn interpretations from Shelly Manne and Joe Wilder and dialogue from the show itself. The program airs Saturday, October 22 on WFIU at 11:05 p.m. (9:05 California time, 12:05 a.m. NYC time); you can listen live, or wait until Monday afternoon, when the program will be posted in the Night Lights archives.

Next week on Night Lights: "Moodsville 1"

Next week on The Big Bands: "Kay Kyser's Haunted House Halloween Bash."

P.S. Legendary bassist Henry Grimes, who recorded in the 1960s with Sonny Rollins, Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, and many others, and who then vanished for 35 years (he was thought by many to be dead) will be a special guest this Thursday on WFIU's Just You and Me, airing from 3:30 to 5 p.m.. Grimes will be performing Friday, Oct. 28 at the Madame Walker Theater in Indianapolis. I will also be interviewing Grimes for a future Night Lights program; I'd long wanted to do a show about him, and never imagined I'd have the chance to talk to him in person. His comeback is one of the most remarkable stories in jazz history.

[.:.impossible]

Congratulations David. I'm glad to see the show is doing so well, and that you have the opportunity to meet and speak with Henry Grimes!

[sheldonm]

Can't wait to hear this show; big fan of Manne!!!

[montg]

This looks like another great show. The breadth, and depth, of this series is truly impressive.

[ghost of miles]

Thanks much, montg, for your comments here and elsewhere. Positive Organissimo feedback always makes my day... Pardon the delay, but "Peter Gunn" is now archived.

[tatifan]

Fantastic show!

[graaspiano]

Great show!

[ejp626]

Just streaming it now (finally got my software working), but definitely enjoying it. You have some very nice programs in the archives that I am looking forward to sampling. Have you done anything on the Farmer/Golson Jazztet yet? A linked theme might be the Fuller Blues-ette recordings.

[ghost of miles]

Just streaming it now (finally got my software working), but definitely enjoying it.  You have some very nice programs in the archives that I am looking forward to sampling.  Have you done anything on the Farmer/Golson Jazztet yet?  A linked theme might be the Fuller Blues-ette recordings.

←

ejp626,

Meet the Jazztet

It drew exclusively on the Mosaic box. At some point I would like to do a show on the 1980s reunions.

[ghost of miles]

The "Peter Gunn" show discussed in this thread is re-airing tonight at 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville and airing for the first time on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio tomorrow evening at 10 p.m. EST. That's because we'll be doing a live fund-drive broadcast on WFIU this evening at 11:05 EST, featuring the following CDs that will be available as thank-you gifts for pledging:

Art Blakey's HARD BOP w/Jackie McLean (Mosaic Single)

Jackie McLean, LET FREEDOM RING (RVG Blue Note)

Lee Morgan, THE GIGOLO (RVG Blue Note)

Sonny Rollins, V. 1 (RVG Blue Note)

John Coltrane, FEARLESS LEADER (single disc from the box-set)

Truly grateful for all of the support this show has received from this board (definitely helps me to justify the time I spend at work on a late-night Saturday slot) and from those who've contributed to the archives (and if you'd like to make any sort of pledge there, now or at any time, that would meet with much appreciation too). In all sorts of ways, you folks have helped to make this show and its continuation possible.

Coming up in the next few weeks:

Nov. 18--"The Avant-Garde Plays the Great American Songbook."

Nov. 25--"Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite."

Dec. 2--"The French Connection."

Dec. 9--"The Arrival of Victor Feldman."

In the meantime, "Peter Gunn" is already archived for listening under the Oct. 22, 2005 date.

Edited November 4, 2006 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

Up in about 10 minutes (11:05 p.m. EST) for broadcast. 1-800-662-3311 to pledge, or online at WFIU. You can also contribute via the Night Lights archives.