Henry Mancini: My Manne Shelly

Track

My Manne Shelly

Group

Henry Mancini

CD

More Music from Peter Gunn (RCA 74321 29857 2)

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Musicians:

Pete Candoli (trumpet), Dick Nash (trombone), Victor Feldman (vibes), John Williams (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), Shelly Manne (drums),

Bob Bain (guitar), Ted Nash and Ronnie Lang (unspecified saxes)

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Composed by Henry Mancini

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Recorded: Hollywood, February 17, 1959

Albumcoverhenrymancini-moremusicfrompetergunn

Rating: 94/100 (learn more)

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Henry Mancini was the sincerest man in Hollywood. Donning different styles like a bald man trying on toupees, Mancini purloined other people's music as smoothly, efficiently and utterly without shame as a pickpocket. A favorite mark for his Peter Gunn TV series was Count Basie, whose Neal Hefti arrangements Mancini counterfeited weekly (and weakly). The best was "My Manne Shelly," filched from Basie/Hefti's "Cute" (1958). When, during Episode 27 ("Breakout"), Shelly Manne—playing Himself, as the credits used to say—performed this showcase onscreen, Mancini's role in bringing 1950s jazz's favorite drummer to prime time became exculpatory. Shelly was da Manne.

Reviewer: Alan Kurtz

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