The great Johnny Mandel gets his due with this 3CD set featuring three of his classic scores for M-G-M. Go here for the free online notes for this title.

The multitalented Mandel is a legendary composer, arranger and songwriter who in the 1960s was one of the freshest voices for the screen. He came from the jazz world and specialized in intimate, lovely and poetic scores, two of the best presented here: The Americanization of Emily (1964) and The Sandpiper(1965). His ability to craft a melody to a film, and to arrange it with a characteristically transparent sound (often spotlighting woodwind solos), was renowned especially by his fellow musicians.

The Americanization of Emily is a war (or, arguably, anti-war) film starring James Garner an American Navy attaché (and self-described coward) during World War II who falls in love with a war widow played by Julie Andrews. As their philosophies conflict, and Garner is thrown into a perilous situation on D-Day, the film blends drama, romance and satire in a way seldom achieved with such success (the brilliant screenplay was by Paddy Chayefsky). Mandel’s score is a gem featuring a lovely waltz theme for Andrews’s character (given lyrics by Johnny Mercer and recorded as “Emily”), ironic-sounding military music and heartfelt dramatic scoring. How Mandel managed to balance the film’s changing tones—from comedy to drama to romance—is a marvel.

The Sandpiper is the source for one of the greatest songs ever composed for film, “The Shadow of Your Smile” (lyrics by Paul Francis Webster). The film stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and was directed by Vincente Minnelli in what was billed “an adult love story” set at Big Sur, California. While the film has a reputation for soapy melodrama, Mandel’s score is a masterpiece of jazz and romantic scoring, centering on the song melody but encompassing an array of ineffable moods, led by the unparralled trumpet work of Jack Sheldon. Doug Schwartz, the mastering engineer for this and most FSM CDs, remembers his father, woodwind player Wilbur Schwartz, coming home from the first recording session ofThe Sandpiper and making this comment: “I just worked on the greatest music of my career.”

A third film on this collection is little-known but offers an opportunity to hear Mandel tackle a genre for which he is not known: Drums of Africa (1963) was a B-movie adventure starring Lloyd Bochner, Frankie Avalon and Mariette Hartley mixing it up with African slavers amidst stock footage. Mandel used a reduced orchestra for budgetary purposes (heavy on the percussion) but gave a melodic, jazzy bent far removed from the typical B-movie score of the era. He made use of his characteristic woodwind solos as an evocative way of “speaking” for the animals encountered in the story. The score interpolates a song, “The River Love” performed twice in the film by Avalon and composed by Russell Faith and Robert Marcucci.

Disc 1
The Americanization of Emily
1-01. Emily (01:46)
1-02. Main Title (04:51)
1-03. Supply Depot (00:42)
1-04. Your Limping Commander (Faking Wound) (01:47)
1-05. I Am a Prig at that (01:19)
1-06. Surprise Surprise (02:25)
1-07. Emily's House (02:00)
1-08. Tea Party (revised) (01:49)
1-09. Sussex (Vacation in Sussex) (05:30)
1-10. Now There's an Angle (01:40)
1-11. Bon Voyage (04:24)
1-12. Goodbye Charlie (00:23)
1-13. Condolence Call (04:26)
1-14. Lovers' Reunion/End Title (04:31)
Total Time: 38:00

Bonus Tracks
1-15. Emily (fast version) (01:29)
1-16. Sussex (film version) (05:14)
1-17. Tea Party (album track) (03:24)
1-18. Reunion and End Title (album track) (04:10)
Total Time: 14:23

Source Music
1-19. At Last (01:39)
1-20. I'll Walk Alone (01:56)
1-21. Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (01:30)
1-22. The White Cliffs of Dover (02:15)
1-23. I Know Why and So Do You (01:56)
1-24. Chattanooga Choo Choo (02:18)
1-25. Source Music (02:03)
Total Time: 13:49

Total Disc Time: 66:23

Disc 2
The Sandpiper
2-01. End Credits Vers. 2 (01:55)
2-02. Main Title/The Deer Hunter (05:21)
2-03. To San Simeon/Run Danny Run (02:07)
2-04. Enter Baby Sandpiper (03:50)
2-05. Laura Gives Up/Locker Room (01:51)
2-06. Next Time I'll Visit You (02:04)
2-07. Art Gallery Revised (05:33)
2-08. I Want You (01:14)
2-09. Lonely Laura/Seduction (04:02)
2-10. Home to the Old Lady/Sewing Machine/Weekend Montage (06:57)
2-11. Weekend Montage Conclusion (03:52)
2-12. Let's Talk It Over (05:23)
2-13. Goodbye Claire/End Title Revised (02:26)
2-14. End Credits Vers. 3 (01:06)
Total Time: 48:09

Alternates and Source Music
2-15. Main Title (alternate take) (04:15)
2-16. Thanks for the Mammaries (04:39)
2-17. Nepenthe Folk Yiddish (00:40)
2-18. Nepenthe Watusi (02:18)
2-19. Monterey Restaurant (02:10)
2-20. Guitar and Bass (01:31)
2-21. Bongo, Bass and Guitar Congo (05:45)
2-22. End Credits Vers. 1 (01:28)
2-23. End Credits Vers. 4 (00:51)
Total Time: 22:53

Total Disc Time: 72:08

Disc 3
Drums of Africa
3-01. 1M1 (Main Title) (02:31)
3-02. 2M1A/2M1B (Enter Slavers) (01:37)
3-03. 2M3B (Good Night, Ruth) (02:16)
3-04. 3M1/3M2 (Jungle Life) (01:44)
3-05. 3M3/4M1/4M2/4M3 (Lubaki Pillaged/Carry On, Vultures/Last-Minute Reprieve) (02:42)
3-06. 5M1/6M1A, B, C (Love Scene by the River Bank) (04:42)
3-07. 6M2 (The River Love) (02:20)
3-08. 6M3 (Wounded Elephant) (02:23)
3-09. 7M1/7M2 (Swallowed Whole) (01:24)
3-10. 8M1A/8M1B (Ruins and Capture) (01:58)
3-11. 9M2/10M1 (Forbidden Area) (04:47)
3-12. 10M2 (Dispatching Guards) (02:02)
3-13. 10M3 (Buildup) (01:43)
3-14. 10M4 (Climax) (00:43)
3-15. 10M5 (The River Love) (02:07)
Total Time: 35:50

The Sandpiper: Original LP Program
3-16. Shadow of Your Smile (Vocal) (01:54)
3-17. Main Title (04:16)
3-18. Desire (02:28)
3-19. Seduction (05:00)
3-20. San Simeon (04:15)
3-21. Weekend Montage (04:28)
3-22. Baby Sandpiper (03:51)
3-23. Art Gallery (05:33)
3-24. End Title (02:35)
3-25. Bird Bath (02:18)
Total Time: 36:58

Total Disc Time: 72:34