Dan Gould Posted February 22, 2020 Report Posted February 22, 2020 Well this is the longest of long shots but does anyone have audio books of Kirk Douglas, The Ragman's Son or Mickey Spillane, Vengeance is Mine? According to Phil Schaap, Percy France was involved in providing musical interludes for books on tape and he specifically mentioned these two in the Percy France Memorial Broadcast back in 1992. There's a copy of the Douglas audiobook on Amazon for $75 but hearing snippets of Percy ain't worth that much dough. Anyone?? Quote
Niko Posted February 22, 2020 Report Posted February 22, 2020 (edited) This one? There is some good solo saxophone playing in the first ten seconds and the last twenty... Edited February 22, 2020 by Niko Quote
Dan Gould Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Posted February 22, 2020 2 hours ago, Niko said: This one? There is some saxophone playing in the first ten seconds... Thanks. Sounds potentially like Percy but I wish I knew when this audio book was recorded to be more certain. Just a bit of tenor at start and a little more at end. Now if I could find the Douglas book but that doesn't seem to be up on youtube. Quote
Dan Gould Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Posted February 22, 2020 If Schaap is telling the truth, this page https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/vengeance-is-mine/44182 gives a September 1990 date, whether that is recording date or release date its while Percy was still active, prior to his cancer diagnosis I believe. So this youtube capture could definitely be Percy. Quote
Dan Gould Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Posted February 22, 2020 OK, now up next is Kiss Me Deadly, on this person's youtube feed, tenor sounds absolutely the same, and audiobooks.com also says September 1990. We also have Killing Man, identified as December 1989. Kiss Me Deadly opening: https://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/44183 But then there's The Big Kill https://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/44181 which is June 1994 release, two years after Percy died. I would have to bet that he was hired to record a bunch of short intros and outros in one session, for all planned Spillane audio books, so it could be one in the can that they used. To me it sounds a little different though Then there's One Lonely Night https://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/44184 released barely more than six months before he died ... It's tough to be certain that this is Percy when I'm going mostly on Phil Schaap's assertions. Paging Allen Lowe .... Quote
Niko Posted February 22, 2020 Report Posted February 22, 2020 "My gun is quick" is one more https://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/44190 no clue whether there is more music between chapters... checked in various random places in the first video but it's easy to miss ten seconds in a 3 hour video Quote
Dan Gould Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Posted February 22, 2020 8 minutes ago, Niko said: "My gun is quick" is one more https://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/44190 no clue whether there is more music between chapters... checked in various random places in the first video but it's easy to miss ten seconds in a 3 hour video Good catch there, and 1990 too. Unfortunately the youtube account has a longer version up, no music. I tried to skip around the youtube vid and only found more at the end of the book but I guess I should listen thru until i get the end of a chapter to be sure there's only tenor at start and end or what. If this really is Percy would love to somehow find out how he got the gig. I'd guess a jazz fan at Simon and Schuster. Quote
JSngry Posted February 22, 2020 Report Posted February 22, 2020 Listening to a few minutes of My Gun Is Quick and there was tenor at the end of the first chapter, right before the sample ended. Quote
Dan Gould Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Posted February 22, 2020 17 minutes ago, JSngry said: Listening to a few minutes of My Gun Is Quick and there was tenor at the end of the first chapter, right before the sample ended. Thinking its Percy? Quote
JSngry Posted February 22, 2020 Report Posted February 22, 2020 Not sure about that one, but one of the earlier ones, yeah, I could see that, definitely. Seems like there's definitely something there, in those audiobooks, just not sure how much for how long. Quote
Dan Gould Posted February 22, 2020 Author Report Posted February 22, 2020 Just listened to 15 minutes of the first narration on the youtube channel ... no chapter delineations. Some pregnant pauses and spots where I would guess a chapter ended but no statement. Then again first line is from the book, doesn't say 'chapter 1'. So maybe Percy was edited out on the abridged version? Quote
Dan Gould Posted June 9, 2020 Author Report Posted June 9, 2020 Well just returned to this question and listened to the outro/credits on this one "... original music was composed and performed by Percy France" So far none of the other titles on youtube seem to have full credits at the end but I'm glad I listened to the end of this one at least ... Quote
AllenLowe Posted June 9, 2020 Report Posted June 9, 2020 On 2/21/2020 at 1:20 PM, Dan Gould said: OK, now up next is Kiss Me Deadly, on this person's youtube feed, tenor sounds absolutely the same, and audiobooks.com also says September 1990. We also have Killing Man, identified as December 1989. Kiss Me Deadly opening: https://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/44183 But then there's The Big Kill https://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/44181 which is June 1994 release, two years after Percy died. I would have to bet that he was hired to record a bunch of short intros and outros in one session, for all planned Spillane audio books, so it could be one in the can that they used. To me it sounds a little different though Then there's One Lonely Night https://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/44184 released barely more than six months before he died ... It's tough to be certain that this is Percy when I'm going mostly on Phil Schaap's assertions. Paging Allen Lowe .... that first one is definitely Percy. and so is the snippet at the end. I am certain; his tone sounds sometimes like someone inhaling. That's him. Quote
Dan Gould Posted June 10, 2020 Author Report Posted June 10, 2020 (edited) 12 hours ago, AllenLowe said: that first one is definitely Percy. and so is the snippet at the end. I am certain; his tone sounds sometimes like someone inhaling. That's him. Thanks Allen, to be clear while you quoted my post which has many links to the audiobooks website you were referring to the Vengeance is Mine that is up on youtube and linked in Niko's post right? Any thoughts on the other linked snippets? Edited June 10, 2020 by Dan Gould Quote
AllenLowe Posted June 10, 2020 Report Posted June 10, 2020 4 hours ago, Dan Gould said: Thanks Allen, to be clear while you quoted my post which has many links to the audiobooks website you were referring to the Vengeance is Mine that is up on youtube and linked in Niko's post right? Any thoughts on the other linked snippets? that's right; I would say yes on The Killing Man, but it doesn't leap out at me like the other. Quote
Dan Gould Posted June 10, 2020 Author Report Posted June 10, 2020 1 minute ago, AllenLowe said: that's right; I would say yes on The Killing Man, but it doesn't leap out at me like the other. Well The Killing Man is the only one so far confirmed by the credits at the end. I've got that one coming via Amazon for like $7. Quote
Dan Gould Posted June 13, 2020 Author Report Posted June 13, 2020 Decided to join audiobooks.com for their "one free" trial subscription, and downloaded My Gun is Quick. Way more Percy on this one, playing out while Stacy Keach speaks, and with the same little interludes spruced thru out. Very cool. Quote
Dan Gould Posted June 20, 2020 Author Report Posted June 20, 2020 Final report: It is in fact true that Percy was hired for Kirk Douglas' The Ragman's Son, published as an audiobook in 1988. Ironically while this recording has the most Percy (about 3 1/2 minutes) he doesn't get to "say" much in the 26 different saxophone phrases. Ah, but the seven Mickey Spillane books narrated by Stacy Keach are something else. I've edited the audio together and posted to Youtube. There are some moments of considerable beauty here, IMHO. The Ragman's Son has a "special thanks" to Phil Schaap in the end credits, proof enough for me that he recommended Percy for the gig. Clearly they liked him enough to use him for the Spillane projects. I kinda suspect they brought him in to lay down all audio at one time, especially since the last book, The Big Kill, wasn't issued until 2 1/2 years after Percy died. Quote
JSngry Posted June 20, 2020 Report Posted June 20, 2020 Dude, I'll say it again - that's some serious research and dedication to same.+ All-Star Kudos!!!! Quote
Dan Gould Posted June 20, 2020 Author Report Posted June 20, 2020 Thank you. But what about the music? Kudos to Percy for what he put down, 30+ years ago. Quote
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