Birthdays of Wine and Roses: Henry Mancini 100

 

Henry Mancini - Gonna Fly Now (From "Rocky")


There are a ton of milestone birthdays this month; for whatever reason, April of 1924 was exceptionally fruitful when it comes to marking the musical centennials.

This here is the second one of three, and the first of two in a row on this page. As the kids say, we're 100.

You know who else is 100? Today's honoree, born this day in that heady year of 1924 and in no danger of being forgotten, even decades departed from our realm.

Of course everyone knows the Pink Panther music, we all grew up going to those films and there can be no debate about the heights to which the instantly-identifiable, ultra-iconic work of today's main man elevates all those movies.

But he also scored dozens of other films, as well as roughly a million TV shows, and in doing so helped to define an entire genre most people refer to as Lounge Music.

So get out your cocktail glasses and your swizzle sticks, because we're going on a 2 hour and 15 minute safari into all those times Henry Mancini got funky. Which was a few.

Henry Mancini
Soul Saga: Mancini Funks the '70s

01 A Bluish Bag
02 Almond Eyes
03 Baretta's Theme (Keep Your Eye On the Sparrow)
04 Battlestar Galactica
05 Bench Warmer
06 Butterfly
07 Car Wash
08 Delta Dawn
09 Easy Baby (single version)
10 El Morocco Rocker
11 Get It On
12 Give Me Some Mo'!
13 Gonna Fly Now (From "Rocky")
14 Here's Looking At You, Kid
15 Ironside
16 Keyboard Harmony
17 Medley: Kojak/S.W.A.T.
18 Medley: Love's Theme/TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)
19 Memphis Underground
20 Men's Room Rock
21 NBC Nightly News Theme
22 Naval Maneuver
23 Peter Gunn (1975 version)
24 Pick Up the Pieces
25 Police Woman
26 Pretty Girls
27 Satin Soul
28 Shaft
29 Shoe Shine
30 Slow Hot Wind (Lujon)
31 Soul Saga (Song of the Buffalo Soldier)
32 Sun Goddess
33 Symphonic Soul
34 The Deacon Speaks
35 The Rockford Files
36 The Streets of San Francisco
37 The Thief Who Came to Dinner/Watching Dynamite
38 The Zinger
39 Theme from Charlie's Angels
40 Theme from "The Night Visitor"
41 White Girl Boogie/Black Girl Boogie
42 You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

Total time: 2:15:01
disc break goes after Track 18

compendium of Mancini funk excursions from the 1970s
assembled and remastered in alphabetical order by EN, April 2024
824 MB FLAC/direct link

You can tell this is a dope mixtape because it goes by so fast... none of the tunes go for too long so if you don't dig one, just wait a minute and a new one will come on.

I'll be back on Sunday and Monday with the last two big b'days for this standout month.

That's in the near future.... the present demands you accept this gift of Mancini Funk and celebrate a foundational American musical figure's centennial. Dare I say, it's the bomb.... were you expecting one?--J.

4.16.1924 - 6.14.1994