Jazz Interpretations Of The Film Music Of Henry Mancini, Part 2

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Henry Mancini was born Enrico Nicola Mancini in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland to Italian immigrant parents. He is universally acknowledged as one of the great American film composers, and his melodies have long appealed to jazz artists.

Mancini had an affinity for jazz. In the '50s and early '60s he led his own jazz big band that included the brothers Ted Nash, Sr. and Dick Nash on saxophone and trombone. Ted Nash, a saxophonist who spent decades in the Lincoln Center Orchestra, is the son of Dick Nash.

Mancini was remarkably prolific in the early 1960s, writing scores for Blake Edwards films and other directors as well. He won an Oscar for the theme of Edward's film Days of Wine and Roses.

Part II of "The Music of Henry Mancini" features jazz interpretations of "Two For the Road" and "Slow Hot Wind" along with some less well-known Mancini tunes. Featured jazz artists include Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden. Phil Woods, Frank Kimbrough. Marian McPartland, Johnny Hartman, Joe Locke, James Moody, Quincy Jones and Mancini himself.

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