SWC75
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Noblesse Oblige. If you want a jazzy theme for your TV series, why not go to the aristocracy of the form?
When M Squad, a tough Chicago cop show starring Lee Marvin debuted in 1957, the series production company, Revue, had an opening and closing theme composed by their in-house composer Stanley Wilson and an “underscore”, (the music played during the episode) from a library of music they used for all their series. This was Wilson’s theme:
M Squad Theme Song - TelevisionTunes.com
In 1958 Revue decided their shows should feature original music for each episode and that they wanted an upbeat, jazzy theme for the show. Wilson approached the great bandleader, Count Basie to see if he’d like to compose a new theme for the show. He came up with a rousing Big Band number that certainly grabs your attention:
Per the book “TV’s Biggest Hits” by Jon Burlingame, Wilson was quoted in 1959: He made the recording that opens the show every week. But it was too large a sound to carry through the rest of the show. That’s when I looked up two really top jazzmen, Benny Carter and Johnny Williams. The three of us now do the writing and scoring. We record with a band heavy on brass – 4 trombones, two trumpets – plus a rhythm section and two soloists” Carter, one of the best known (alto sax) and Williams (piano). “Johnny” Williams is John Williams, who years later wrote the themes for Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc. etc. Naturally, they put out an alum of their M Squad themes:
CD of LP: Stanley Wilson Orchestra: The Music from M Squad
Another series of the time, The Asphalt Jungle, which borrowed its title from the famous 1950 movie but nothing else, was basically M Squad in “an unnamed city” which was obviously New York. They, too decided they wanted the royal treatment so they convinced the legendary Duke Ellington to do their theme. He had just done a jazz theme for the film Anatomy of a Murder. Per the above book, “Ellington wrote 15 minutes of music for the one hour pilot, which was recorded with his own 17 piece ensemble…Experienced film composers normally record a quarter hour of music in one three hour session: Ellington and the band, apparently accustomed to more leisurely record dates, took 11 hours and went into the early morning of the next day. MGM music supervisor Harry Lojewski recalled: “Frankly, there were a lot of problems with Duke’s score. They were very disorganized. They finally had to lock the doors of the scoring stage because every time they’d call a ‘tan’ (minute union required break) the band would go to the bar next door. Finally some of them came in and set up a little bar behind their music stands. Many cues were done but the Duke didn’t understand what the timing was all about. So during the final dubbing of the pilot, there had to be a lot of editing.”
Less than eleven minutes of the Ellington score survived in the final version. And only the theme was retained when the series went into production.“ The rest of the music was supplied by house composer Calvin Jackson, along with “library” pieces form other movies and TV shows done by MGM. The show was a smash flop, being canceled after only 13 episodes and isn’t remembered today. But it does have a Duke Ellington theme: (at 3:12):
The Asphalt Jungle 1961 TV series
Here’s a longer version, more exciting version from the Duke and his band:
Duke Ellington: Theme From 'The Asphalt Jungle' [Live 1963]
Years later, there was an echo of Basie’s M Squad theme when the creators of the spoof “Police Squad, (later turned into the Naked Gun movie series), came up with something very similar for their show:
Police Squad! Intro (In Color)
They even spoofed individual episodes of M Squad, (I wish this poster had put the original first):
Police Squad/M Squad Compared Lee Marvin Leslie Nielsen Part 1
When M Squad, a tough Chicago cop show starring Lee Marvin debuted in 1957, the series production company, Revue, had an opening and closing theme composed by their in-house composer Stanley Wilson and an “underscore”, (the music played during the episode) from a library of music they used for all their series. This was Wilson’s theme:
M Squad Theme Song - TelevisionTunes.com
In 1958 Revue decided their shows should feature original music for each episode and that they wanted an upbeat, jazzy theme for the show. Wilson approached the great bandleader, Count Basie to see if he’d like to compose a new theme for the show. He came up with a rousing Big Band number that certainly grabs your attention:
Per the book “TV’s Biggest Hits” by Jon Burlingame, Wilson was quoted in 1959: He made the recording that opens the show every week. But it was too large a sound to carry through the rest of the show. That’s when I looked up two really top jazzmen, Benny Carter and Johnny Williams. The three of us now do the writing and scoring. We record with a band heavy on brass – 4 trombones, two trumpets – plus a rhythm section and two soloists” Carter, one of the best known (alto sax) and Williams (piano). “Johnny” Williams is John Williams, who years later wrote the themes for Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc. etc. Naturally, they put out an alum of their M Squad themes:
CD of LP: Stanley Wilson Orchestra: The Music from M Squad
Another series of the time, The Asphalt Jungle, which borrowed its title from the famous 1950 movie but nothing else, was basically M Squad in “an unnamed city” which was obviously New York. They, too decided they wanted the royal treatment so they convinced the legendary Duke Ellington to do their theme. He had just done a jazz theme for the film Anatomy of a Murder. Per the above book, “Ellington wrote 15 minutes of music for the one hour pilot, which was recorded with his own 17 piece ensemble…Experienced film composers normally record a quarter hour of music in one three hour session: Ellington and the band, apparently accustomed to more leisurely record dates, took 11 hours and went into the early morning of the next day. MGM music supervisor Harry Lojewski recalled: “Frankly, there were a lot of problems with Duke’s score. They were very disorganized. They finally had to lock the doors of the scoring stage because every time they’d call a ‘tan’ (minute union required break) the band would go to the bar next door. Finally some of them came in and set up a little bar behind their music stands. Many cues were done but the Duke didn’t understand what the timing was all about. So during the final dubbing of the pilot, there had to be a lot of editing.”
Less than eleven minutes of the Ellington score survived in the final version. And only the theme was retained when the series went into production.“ The rest of the music was supplied by house composer Calvin Jackson, along with “library” pieces form other movies and TV shows done by MGM. The show was a smash flop, being canceled after only 13 episodes and isn’t remembered today. But it does have a Duke Ellington theme: (at 3:12):
The Asphalt Jungle 1961 TV series
Here’s a longer version, more exciting version from the Duke and his band:
Duke Ellington: Theme From 'The Asphalt Jungle' [Live 1963]
Years later, there was an echo of Basie’s M Squad theme when the creators of the spoof “Police Squad, (later turned into the Naked Gun movie series), came up with something very similar for their show:
Police Squad! Intro (In Color)
They even spoofed individual episodes of M Squad, (I wish this poster had put the original first):
Police Squad/M Squad Compared Lee Marvin Leslie Nielsen Part 1
