knudsen@ihnss.UUCP (03/04/84)
In case anyone cares, the theme music of the new "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" show (CBS, Sat eve after "Airwolf") is a Jazz classic called "Harlem Nocturne." Beautifully eerie yet sleazy, it matches the show well. I heard it many years ago (Sax solo, guitar backup) and helped play a big-band arrangement last year. Now--could anyone tell us when it was first composed, and by whom? --mike k PS: Don't split the newsgroup--my N key can recognize most rock-group names by syntax alone.
andrew@inmet.UUCP (03/08/84)
#R:ihnss:-194400:inmet:6600093:000:704
inmet!andrew Mar 7 19:13:00 1984
Re: "Harlem Nocturne"
I don't know when it was *first* composed, but it was a hit single when
recorded by the Viscounts (in 1960, on Madison, and again in 1965 on Amy).
My copy of the single credits the song to "Rodgers-Hagen". According to
Norm N. Nite's "Rock On", nobody in the band was named that... so it's
probably a cover of something composed earlier.
The "eerie but sleazy" sound comes from a) the heavily-tremoloed guitar
playing minor chords (cf. Link Wray's "Rumble"); b) the "heartbeat" bass;
and (especially) c) the melody, which sustains the major seventh over the
minor chords (D# over E minor, G# over A minor).
Andrew W. Rogers, Intermetrics ...{harpo|ima|esquire}!inmet!andrew