ALBUM:
Henry Mancini -- Pink Guitar
www.acousticmusicresource.com
TAYLORS USED:
NS74ce, 814c, GA-MC, 814ce
SONG CLIPS:
Pink Panther Theme
Moon River
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No one composed more classic TV and movie themes than the late, great Henry Mancini, whose songs sometimes outshone and outlasted their narrative vehicles. Only the indifferent, cynical, or hardened heart is immune to the languorous poignancy of “Charade”, “Days of Wine and Roses”, “Moon River”, “Dear Heart”, or “Two for the Road”. Mancini’s lyrical melodies — equal parts hopeful soufflé and elegiac lament — so brilliantly captured the emotional arc of mature romance embattled by the gray realities of life that they fused with the characters and the storylines. One cannot imagine one component without the others, yet the songs deservedly became standards in their own rights.
Mancini was no one-note love bug. When the onscreen material called for the impish, the whimsical, the swank, or the swaggering, he eschewed the functional, by-the-numbers approach of many scorers and delivered such evergreens as “The Pink Panther Theme”, “Baby Elephant Walk”, “Mr. Lucky”, and “Peter Gunn”. While today’s TV theme music is as good or better than ever (especially on several HBO series), the fear that we might never again see another film songwriter of his talent is underscored by the steady stream of one-formula-fits-all mediocrities we hear every Oscar night.
Mancini compilations abound, not all of them worthy of the subject, but for enthusiasts of his work, of memorable melodies (remember those?), and of acoustic guitar, this new retrospective is pure pink, er, gold. Henry Mancini — Pink Guitar features all of the abovementioned tunes, plus several others, lovingly rendered by guitarists familiar to fans of the solo acoustic subgenre — Laurence Juber (“The Pink Panther Theme”), Ed Gerhard (“Moon River”), David Cullen (plays a NS74ce on “Days of Wine and Roses”), Doug Smith (“It’s Easy to Say”), Pat Donohue (“Peter Gunn”), Al Petteway (“The Thornbirds Theme”), Mark Hanson (814c on “The Sweetheart Tree”), Mike Dowling (“What’s Happening!!”), Aaron Stang (GAMC on “Charade”), Wayne Johnson (“Dear Heart”), William Coulter (“Baby Elephant Walk”), and Amrit Sond (814ce on “Two for the Road”).
These thoughtful interpretations demonstrate that Mancini’s muse was not preserved in ’50s-’60s amber but remains adaptable to contemporary contexts and sensibilities. Witness Cullen’s bossa nova reading of “Days of Wine and Roses”, which imbues the tune with a jaunty insouciance without losing the plaintiveness at its core. There’s even a bonus cut, a Hanson and Smith duet on “A Shot in the Dark”, from the same-named film that introduced Peter Sellers in the role of Inspector Clouseau and launched the Pink Panther series.
James Jensen produced Henry Mancini — Pink Guitar for his own label, Solid Air Records. He contacted us in December with good news: the CD has been nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Pop Instrumental Album” category. It deserves to win.
— John D’Agostino
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