Henry Mancini. A lot of what's wrong with recent Lawrence of Arabia, still in print on disc (Bell 5- film scoring has been blamed on Mancini; and 1205), beat out Bernstein's beautifully simple To there is certainly no denying that the bass-osti- Kill a Mockingbird (* ava, AS -20). Currently in- nato-under-jazz-theme genre established by the print Bernstein scores include the exciting The Peter Gunn TV music set is an overworked trend. Great Escape (United Artists 5107), with its de- This takes nothing away from the fact that not lightful title theme, and Return of the Seven only is Mancini capable of writing some of the best (United Artists 5146); a recording of the original melodies being turned out for any medium these Magnificent Seven was scheduled but never re- days, but he has also been responsible, via his leased. scores, for much of the mood and atmosphere of One can only regret that another Bernstein pictures ranging from the tragedy of Days of Wine (Leonard) has written just one film score-for Ka- and Roses and Soldier in the Rain to the wit and zan's On the Waterfront-a symphonic suite from irony of Shot in the Dark and the suaveness of The which can be heard on Columbia (MS 6251). Pink Panther. (The more or less complete sound- track of the latter is available on RCA LSP 2795.) Lalo Schifrin. Along with Morricone, Schifrin has An excellent selection of many of Mancini's fin- proven to be one of the most innovative instru- est movie and TV themes, if not the "background" mentators for recent film scores. This combined music, can be heard on the two "Best of Henry with his often striking themes has helped him Mancini" albums put out by RCA (LSP 2693 and create some of the most intriguing and attractive 3557). Relatively complete scores currently avail- movie and TV scores done in the Sixties, the best able include The Thief Who Came to Dinner of which include The Fox (*Warner Bros. 1738) (Warner Bros. 2700) and Visions of 8 (RCA ABL 1- and Cool Hand Luke (*Dot 25833), not to mention 0231). And then there is the apparently Herrmann- the popular music for the TV series Mission: Im- esque score Hitchcock rejected for Frenzy ... possible (*Dot 25831). Unfortunately, the only Schifrin soundtrack currently in print is Enter the Some Jazz Soundtracks. Elmer Bernstein's Dragon (Warner Bros. 2727)-mediocre, but good ominous Man with the Golden Arm, one of the clean fun. first jazz soundtracks to receive wide recognition, is still available on Decca (78257). A pioneering Pierre Jansen. Of the many other composers I and utterly successful experiment was done in could mention to conclude this all -too -brief list- 1958 by Louis Malle for his first film L'Ascenseur ing, I would like to single out a French artist who pour l'echafaud (Frantic), for which Miles Davis has worked almost exclusively with one director, and four other musicians improvised a taut, bluesy Claude Chabrol, for whom he has scored over score during a screening (Columbia Special Prod- twenty films since 1960. Jansen's music demon- ucts JCL 1268). Another classic is the strange, bleak strates that the so-called "classical" film score is music written by John Lewis for Robert Wise's neither dead nor doomed to eternal Self -mimicry. Odds Against Tomorrow (*United Artists 5061), Working in a style that generally falls somewhere which should certainly be reissued along with between chamber and symphonic music, he has Lewis' score for Vadim's Sait-on jamais? (No Sun ranged from the subtle atonality of La Femme infi- in Venice, Atlantic 1284). dele to the neurotic disjointedness of La Rupture The vogue for jazz is definitely dying out in the (which features an ondes martenot in the instru- cinema, and when it is used these days, such as in mentation). He has produced some first-class the Charlie Parker -Sidney Bechet score for Malle's cloak-and-dagger music as well for Chabrol's Murmur of the Heart (Roulette 3006), it tends to be middle -period films. In the U.S., perhaps only "source" music. Most of the best jazz or jazz -ori- Leonard Rosenman, in the first twelve-tone Holly- ented movie music on disc-including Ellington's wood score, The Cobweb (*MGM E 3501 ST), has Anatomy of a Murder (*Columbia CS 8166), written film music with a similarly sophisticated Previn's Two for the Seesaw (*United Artists "classical" orientation. 5108), Art Blakey's Les Liaisons dangereuses If Jansen's name remains obscure, it is because, (*Epic 16022), Bernstein's Walk on the Wild Side incredibly, not a single note he has written has (*Mainstream 6083), and Leith Stevens' The Wild been recorded, as far as I know, and because Cha- One (*Decca 8349)-has been long deleted from the brol's beautifully crafted and often brilliantly catalogues. But United Artists has just revived original films have, like many European movies, Johnny Mandel's searing score for I Want to Live! been getting rotten distribution, although the situ- (LA 271-G). ation seems to be improving. So deeply is director Chabrol committed to music (he once said that, if Elmer Bernstein. One of the greatest of the many he hadn't become a film director, he would have sins committed in the name of the Academy been a conductor), plans apparently exist for a Awards took place when the pseudo -Arabian Jansen opera based on a Chabrol libretto. I can't pomp and bombast written by Maurice Jarre for wait!

JULY 1975 55