Prolific and self-effacing, Henry Mancini was crucial in turning movie scores from their classical music sources toward an often jazz-based contemporary sound.
A new Mancini CD box set, The Classic Soundtrack Collection (scheduled for release in November), includes the complete soundtrack albums for 18 films (some with bonus tracks). Although the sunny optimism of the Kennedy years seems to have been his touchstone, Mancini continued to absorb influences like a sponge. He fell into rock’n’roll via noir jazz with “Peter Gunn”; later, in his score for The Party, he took a stab at late-‘60s jazz-rock. In the ‘70s Mancini even flirted with electronics on Visions of Eight.
And yet, he was more comfortable serving jazz straight up, as in his witty apotheosis of cool, “The Pink Panther,” or by softening the music into bachelor pad mood seduction. Mancini was also capable of the heart-tugging, wistful dreaminess of “Moon River,” the strangely arresting theme for Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Separated from the motion pictures they were meant to accompany, much of The Classic Soundtrack Collection is background music—but such lovely backdrops seldom materialize any longer.
