# They certainly do NOT write like this anymore in film



## dcoscina (Apr 30, 2008)

Some of us older film and tv fans probably remember growing up watching The Six Million Dollar Man but do we remember how friggin cool the main theme by Oliver Nelson is? I just found a site on the web that has a big band arrangement of this fabulous piece that showcases the great harmonies and main line this theme had. Wish more film scores were done by guys with a jazz background as it bred an amazing bunch of great film scores from the '70s when jazz was more mainstream.

here's a link to the piece-just type in Six Million Dollar Man and be blown away by this great chart. Love how the original string cascading figure is bounced around the brass, winds and saxes.

http://www.televisiontunes.com/browse.php


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## Jack Weaver (Apr 30, 2008)

Wow, that's a great link to have. Tons o'stuff. 


Thanks



.


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## John DeBorde (May 1, 2008)

Funny, I stumbled on this site just the other day researching TV Themes for a comedy short I'm scoring. Pretty handy to have everything together like this, tho the quality is a little dodgy on some of them.

And the $6M man theme screams. I used to watch that show, but I didn't remember the theme for some reason.

john


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## Trev Parks (May 1, 2008)

That's just terrific. It really takes me back to being a kid. I remember gaff taping some wire to my arm at school when I was about 7 to try and convince my classmates I was bionic. I can still see their looks of awe turning to 'meh' as I failed to lift up my mate Nigel with my fake bionic arm.


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## madbulk (May 1, 2008)

Oh this is awesome. We should have a confession thread -- top five themes you searched for, after listening to 6 million dollar.
Me:
S.W.A.T.
Days of Our Lives
Dynasty
Hawaii Five O
Picket Fences
Hey, if they were thoughtful choices, it wouldn't be much of a confessional.


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## lux (May 1, 2008)

HIll Street Blues
Chips
The Greatest American Hero

in general I'm a Mike Post fan.


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## David A (May 1, 2008)

QUANTUM LEAP!


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## Ned Bouhalassa (May 1, 2008)

Time Tunnel
Land Of The Giants
Man from UNCLE
Lost In Space
Get Smart


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## Ranietz (May 1, 2008)

I searched for "The Visitor" theme this morning and could not find it. Sent them an e-mail, and now it's uploaded. Brilliant! :D 

-Ranietz-


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## Trev Parks (May 1, 2008)

Buck Rogers in the 25th century

Cagney and Lacey

Steptoe and son - prob wont mean much away from uk but I reckon Larry David would like it, which led me to..

Curb your enthusiasm 

Cheers

Starsky and Hutch


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## Trev Parks (May 1, 2008)

Buck Rogers in the 25th century

Cagney and Lacey

Steptoe and son - prob wont mean much away from uk but I reckon Larry David would like it, which led me to..

Curb your enthusiasm 

Cheers

Starsky and Hutch


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## nikolas (May 1, 2008)

Am I going insane? This is BRILLIANT, but is it legal?

(too obsessed with copyrights atm... :D)

NEver the less! Bloody amazing, if I don't want to use the f word! Marvelous, stunning, brilliant!


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## midphase (May 1, 2008)

"(too obsessed with copyrights atm... ) "

Seriously! Nikolas....relax.  

Everything is legal until someone says it isn't.


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## nikolas (May 1, 2008)

Oh, I've started downloading already

Thundercats
Ulysses 31
Knight Rider
Mc Gyver

etc...


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## poseur (May 1, 2008)

..... and d. elfman's favorite,
"the jetsons".

imo:
great music in (or influenced by) these "veins" is still being written & recorded,
but the TV studios (other than, occasionally, HBO) seem particularly & broadly disinterested.

also..... it's kinda funny!
i do love that oliver nelson material, and etc, myself;
but, during its time, i remember quite clearly
the general attitude towards it 
--- including my own! ---
within my family, from my folks & elder sibling:
"that ain't jazz! why isn't it duke, mingus, or strayhorn,
or rahsaan kirk, or even ornette coleman writing for these stupid TV shows? why isn't it bernstein, for that matter? that sh•t's SOOOOOO corny & tawdry!" was the general attitude;
i think my dad may even have opined that george martin ought to have been writing for TV.....
ha!

time and tide.....

d


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## Stephen W (May 2, 2008)

how could I have forgotten Twin Peaks?!!! I love Angelo & a guy can definitely get lost in Julee Cruise :wink:


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## choc0thrax (May 2, 2008)

Yeah they don't write like that anymore...thank god. o-[][]-o


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## dcoscina (May 3, 2008)

your loss dude if you don't get the skill that went into writing that kind of music or the arranging skills.

different strokes for different folks I suppose.


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## Evan Gamble (May 3, 2008)

choc0thrax @ Fri May 02 said:


> Yeah they don't write like that anymore...thank god. o-[][]-o



I'd agree even though I respect the craft that went into these charts, and enjoy them for fun. They are still very silly, and for anything that I want to take seriously, I would not want some blazing jazz chart accompanying.


cool link though.


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## lux (May 3, 2008)

lol...expecially considering how much crap is on tv musically those days...theres no comparison. 

They sounded better.


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## billval3 (May 3, 2008)

Evan Gamble @ Sat May 03 said:


> choc0thrax @ Fri May 02 said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah they don't write like that anymore...thank god. o-[][]-o
> ...



Silly is a good word for it.


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## Niah (May 3, 2008)

Although I'm a fan 60's & 70's score music and jazz I just can't see something like that being used now with the except of comedies and revival flicks.


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## dcoscina (May 4, 2008)

Being trained in jazz at university, I find associations to what most musicians consider the most difficult type of music to play and the adjective "silly" to be insulting. I'm hoping Bruce Richardson will chime on in his perspectives. If people are simply saying this style of jazz is dated or "silly", that's one thing. If the tenor of what has been said is that Jazz unto itself is silly in the context of tv or film, than I've got a problem with that.

Just for the record, some composers who were trained in jazz and apply their knowledge of advanced harmonies into their works are "silly" fellows like

John Williams
Alex North
Henry Mancini
Jerry Fielding
Elmer Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Michel LeGrand

In truth, I find comments like those posted above to be a very sad statement on how there is this seeping atrophication of artistic aesthetic in our North American society.


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## billval3 (May 4, 2008)

dcoscina @ Sun May 04 said:


> Being trained in jazz at university, I find associations to what most musicians consider the most difficult type of music to play and the adjective "silly" to be insulting. I'm hoping Bruce Richardson will chime on in his perspectives. If people are simply saying this style of jazz is dated or "silly", that's one thing. If the tenor of what has been said is that Jazz unto itself is silly in the context of tv or film, than I've got a problem with that.
> 
> Just for the record, some composers who were trained in jazz and apply their knowledge of advanced harmonies into their works are "silly" fellows like
> 
> ...



Whoah! I wasn't saying jazz is silly at all. I agree with Poseur's family--that's not exactly what I'd call jazz...well not good jazz, anyway. 

I have no problem whatsoever with composers taking from the amazing contributions to modern music that the jazz greats have made. Furthermore, I would hope that I myself would be able to do the same in appropriate contexts.

I think a good example of 60s-ish jazz-orchestral music put to fantastic use is in the score for the Incredibles by Michael Giacchino. Take a listen here. Try "Life's Incredible Again" or "The Incredits."


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## Evan Gamble (May 4, 2008)

billval3 @ Sun May 04 said:


> dcoscina @ Sun May 04 said:
> 
> 
> > Being trained in jazz at university, I find associations to what most musicians consider the most difficult type of music to play and the adjective "silly" to be insulting. I'm hoping Bruce Richardson will chime on in his perspectives. If people are simply saying this style of jazz is dated or "silly", that's one thing. If the tenor of what has been said is that Jazz unto itself is silly in the context of tv or film, than I've got a problem with that.
> ...



exactly...I'm all for jazz scores, if in the right context. Even serious stuff but jazz like other genres have both silly and serious applications. Almost all these television shows are silly therefore the music is as well respectively. (but still obviously well written and fun)

I just wouldn't want to turn on "lost" and hear this (obviously).


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## dcoscina (May 4, 2008)

Well obviously LOST at this point probably would not entertain a big band jazz style because Giacchino has carved out a sound for the show already. Mind you, listen to Ben's Theme which is very sinister and played on muted 'bones and tell me there isn't a little bit of jazz flavor to that- even if it is just in the timbre or sonorities rather than the music itself.


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## José Herring (May 4, 2008)

I happen to be a huge fan of '70's tv music. I'm not the only one. Most of that stuff is still being heard today on Rap and Rnb stuff as well as more urban flared TV and Film. It's changed a little bit, gotten more electronic, ect... But scores like Borne identity, The Italian Job, and much of the work done on Giacchino's show Alias, wouldn't have existed at all without the Jazz/funk influence of the 1970's tv music.

On the other hand I never understood the idea of those high strings in that style. Cheezy now and cheezy then. But, themes like Hawaii five O and Barnaby Miller and of course Mission Impossible are still often stolen and used again and again even in scores that people consider hip today.

Jose


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## choc0thrax (May 4, 2008)

I've always hated the Mission Impossible theme. The worst is Giacchino's score for MI3, that thing should be packaged with Advil. You're right Dave, Lost wouldn't fit with jazz only because Giacchino already gave it a sound...although I really think that the 6 million dollar man theme would've gone great with Charlie's death scene.


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## Evan Gamble (May 4, 2008)

choc0thrax @ Sun May 04 said:


> I've always hated the Mission Impossible theme. The worst is Giacchino's score for MI3, that thing should be packaged with Advil. You're right Dave, Lost wouldn't fit with jazz only because Giacchino already gave it a sound...although I really think that the 6 million dollar man theme would've gone great with Charlie's death scene.




hehe, though we agree here, still don't see how you don't like the MI theme-one of the greatest of all time!


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## Aaron Sapp (May 5, 2008)

dcoscina @ Sun May 04 said:


> In truth, I find comments like those posted above to be a very sad statement on how there is this seeping atrophication of artistic aesthetic in our North American society.



Don't give us all the credit. Plenty of shite composers in Europe too.


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## _taylor (May 5, 2008)

A-team
Transformers
Thundercats
Night court

lol good stuff from yesteryear. I was disappointed not to see the Night Rider theme up there.. one of my favorites


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## nikolas (May 5, 2008)

that's because you probably mean the "Knight" rider and not the "night" one... 

Unless there was a night rider as well, in which case I'm plainly stupid! :D


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## _taylor (May 5, 2008)

nikolas @ Mon May 05 said:


> that's because you probably mean the "Knight" rider and not the "night" one...
> 
> Unless there was a night rider as well, in which case I'm plainly stupid! :D




:oops: :lol:


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## SvK (May 18, 2008)

The Twilight Zone

DUH!!



SvK


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