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The voice of Mancini

The hit songs of composer Henry Mancini have been recorded by many, but in local pops concerts his notes will be given voice by his daughter Monica.

By JOHN FLEMING
Published May 12, 2005

Singer Monica Mancini grew up in the household that spawned great Hollywood film scores from Touch of Evil to Breakfast at Tiffany's to The Pink Panther to Victor/Victoria. Henry Mancini composed at home, but his daughter had other music on her mind during his heyday in the '60s.

"I'm sure he was composing some great things right under our noses, but I was listening to the Beatles at the time, so I probably wasn't really aware of it," Monica said. "He had a piano and a big writing table. You'd walk in, and he'd be playing or writing."

This weekend, Monica performs songs by her father and other Hollywood composers in "Mancini at the Movies," a pops program with the Florida Orchestra, Richard Kaufman conducting.

Henry Mancini, who died in 1994, won four Oscars and 20 Grammys. He was a hugely influential composer. His hard-driving music for the TV show Peter Gunn introduced a lot of baby boomers to jazz in the '50s, and his Moon River (with lyrics by Johnny Mercer) from Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of the most popular songs of all time, with more than 1,000 recordings.

Monica, who lives in Los Angeles, last year put out a collection of her father's music, Ultimate Mancini on the Concord label, bringing elegant style to Two for the Road, Dear Heart, Moment to Moment and other songs. The album, produced by her husband, drummer Gregg Field, also has inventive arrangements featuring the likes of Stevie Wonder, who plays harmonica with a capella group Take 6 on Moon River, and Joey DeFrancesco on the Hammond B-3 organ in the theme from TV's Mr. Lucky.

Saxophonist Plas Johnson updated the solo he made famous in The Pink Panther in 1964. "Plas is in his mid 70s, and he's as active as ever," Monica said. "You could never tell that solo was done today or 40 years ago. He didn't even look at the music. He remembered the whole thing."

At the suggestion that Breakfast at Tiffany's was perhaps her father's best film score, Monica hesitated. "Oh, boy . . . no," she finally said. "I mean, I think it's terrific, and it's a wonderful reflection of who he was as a person. He had great humor and style, and I think it really comes through on that recording. But I just think there are so many other wonderful ones. The Thorn Birds, for that miniseries, was a piece of music that I think is one of his most brilliant, just gorgeous stuff. It's hard for me to pick."

Naturally, Mancini is a perceptive critic of film music. "When I go to a movie, that seems to be all I pay attention to because the movies are usually so bad," she said. "Since I was a kid, I really paid a lot more attention than a normal person would to the music. When it works, there's nothing better. It's a perfect marriage. But when it doesn't, it just ruins a film for me."

Monica Mancini's list of great recent film scores is pretty short. She praised The Firm, a 1993 movie starring Tom Cruise, with music written and played by jazz pianist Dave Grusin.

"You just noticed there was something really interesting about what was happening in a scene," she said. "It was just this guy playing piano through the entire film."

She also touted John Williams ("You know what you're getting, and it's always going to be terrific") but not much else. "It's an interesting process just to see if you think whatever the heck they were doing with the music had anything to do with what you were seeing on the screen. Sometimes it's very odd."

Henry Mancini conducted many orchestra pops concerts in his day, and musicians appreciated his sophisticated arrangements.

"They come up to me and say how delightful it was to play his music," Monica said. "A lot of pops concerts, it ain't much fun for them. But they really enjoy this music. It's not just an augmentation to whatever rhythm section I bring in. It utilizes the entire orchestra. That's the idea of Dad's music."

"Mancini at the Movies" incorporates film clips into the performance from such movies as Days of Wine and Roses. "People forget what a powerful film that was, and then when you hear the song, it'll break your heart," she said.

Monica started singing professionally at 14 in a chorus her father put together, and she went on to be a studio and backup singer. In her 40s, she embarked on a solo career, releasing her first CD in 1998. She now has four CDs, mainly of songs from the movies.

Her mother, Ginny, was a studio singer and member of Mel Torme's Mel-Tones, and her twin sister and older brother also have good voices. "Everyone in the family can sing," Monica said. "Dad was the only one who couldn't. He was really lame."

Monica Mancini is the soloist in pops concerts by the Florida Orchestra at 8 p.m. Friday at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m. Saturday at Mahaffey Theater and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall. $22.50-$50.50. 813 286-2403 or toll-free 1-800-662-7286; www.floridaorchestra.org

[Last modified May 11, 2005, 09:32:06]