The Aaron Bell Orchestra ║ The Peter Gunn Fever (II)

The Aaron Bell Orchestra

Music From "Peter Gunn"

With this album, Outlet Jazz launches a fascinating series of eight tribute recordings devoted to Henry Mancini's masterpiece: the music of "Peter Gunn".

Released at a time when television soundtracks were enjoying a boom in popularity, this album translates the legendary atmosphere of the series into a mid-century small-group jazz setting.

Using Mancini's compositions as a starting point, Aaron Bell's arrangements aim for an exceptionally clean, elegant, and easy-listening sound. Although the performances maintain a consistently high standard, some jazz critics have found the album somewhat lacking in vitality, particularly when compared with the raw energy and tension that Henry Mancini himself achieved with his West Coast session musicians, or with subsequent interpretations such as Shelly Manne's.

Nevertheless, for collectors, it remains a highly polished and sophisticated recording.

For a good two years up until the fall of 1958, you had to rely on six-shooters and stallions almost exclusively if you wanted action on your television set. Westerns dominated the networks and the ratings. Then, like a refreshing breeze, along came a great new detective series — an adult one, too: "PETER GUNN". Gunn (played by Craig Stevens) can handle a gun, but it's mainly his brain that's for hire to people in trouble. He's a new kind of private investigator — urbane, cultured, a bit cynical, with a touch of the "beat generation" about him. Sometimes, he seems almost to wander into a case out of curiosity or just plain boredom. (...)

Gunn's adventures are neatly varied in plot, usually spiced entertainingly with sharp humor even when the action is running high. Like we said, the series is "adult" in concept and execution — and its record-shattering climb in the popularity ratings shows that the formula is tasty to millions of video viewers. (...)

One of the outstanding features of "PETER GUNN" is its music-pulsating, compelling, spell-binding jazz that fuses with the action in brilliant fashion. When the first show in the series was telecast, NBC- TV was flooded with inquiries about the source of this music. Within a few weeks, the name of its composer, Henry Mancini, was a familiar one to TV fans. Mancini, in his work had come up with an exciting television "first": the first modern jazz back- grounds for the sound track of a filmed TV series. Top-drawer jazz, too-as attested to by the acceptance of even the most jaded of jazz experts. (...)

The present album offers ten dramatic themes from the music for "PETER GUNN", including the hit "Dreamsville". Here, the popular jazz specialist Aaron Bell And his orchestra use them as departure points for some of the most listenable music-making you'll hear in many a moon! (...)

About Aaron Bell:  The "most" on a bass, Aaron is known in the jazz field as a dedicated perfectionist. His playing and arranging have always been characterized by good taste and its quality of being able to reach everybody. A veteran of such top American combos as those of Teddy Wilson, Andy Kirk, and Lester Young, he recently appeared at The Embers and The Left Bank in New York City, drawing ratings by fans and musicians as one of the top bass men around today. He also appeared on Broadway in the stage version of "Compulsion". The musicians Aaron chose to appear with him in this album were chosen for their flexibility and inventiveness and are considered to be among America's top musicians. *(from the liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Peter Gunn

2 - Dreamsville

3 - Fallout!

4 - Sorta Blue

5 - The Brothers Go To Mother's

Side 2

6 - Soft Sounds

7 - The Floater

8 - Brief And Breezy

9 - A Profound Gass

10 - Session At Pete's Pad

(All compositions by Henry Mancini)

Seldon Powell (tenor sax, flute), Ray Bryant (piano),

Kenny Burrell (guitar), Aaron Bell (bass), Osie Johnson or Elvin Jones (drums).

Recorded in New York City, circa 1958

(Note: discographical records do not specify which tracks feature Elvin Jones and which feature Osie Johnson)