Review: ANDERSONS PLAY HENRY MANCINI at Symphony Space By Guest Reviewer Andrew Poretz

Andersons Play Henry Mancini

Featuring Vince Giordano

Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space

August 13, 2022

By Andrew Poretz

Who are the Andersons? Better known as the Anderson Twins, you might have heard these brothers play on the soundtrack of HBO's Boardwalk Empire with Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks. Or perhaps you caught one of their shows at Birdland or The Blue Note. A terrific place to hear them is at Symphony Space, where they've made frequent appearances with their combo presentation/performances. The tall, talented Peter and Will Anderson are what you might describe as the All-American version of jazz men. It seems almost too genteel to call these wholesome-looking gentlemen "cats," with their old-school black suits and ties with starched white shirts - and they also play classical music -- but these guys can swing! The Andersons are identical twins, though Will is an inch taller.

The August Anderson presentation explored the music of Oscar and Grammy-winning composer Henry Mancini, who wrote primarily for film and television, with an emphasis on Mancini's jazz bona fides. One might not think of Henry Mancini and jazz in the same breath, thanks to the "easy listening" part of his extensive catalog, but, in fact, he was a jazz master. A feature of the Andersons' many shows at Symphony Space is a multimedia education of the musical subject at hand. If you walked into Symphony Space knowing nothing about Mancini's music except "Moon River" or the theme from The Pink Panther, that was about to change, with the help of extensive rare video clips from Mancini interviews, a script, and presentation by Will Anderson, and a kick-ass band featuring the great Vince Giordano on aluminum bass. The brothers switched deftly among several instruments, including tenor, alto and soprano saxes, clarinet, and flute, which, along with crafty, contrapuntal arrangements by the brothers, tended to give the sextet the rich sound of a much bigger band.

Each musical selection was delineated with slides identifying the title, year, and which film or show it represented, along with Will Anderson's story about the song's creation. Many Al Hirschfeld lithographs appeared in the slides - no doubt with dozens of "Ninas" hiding among them - courtesy of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation. Many of these melodies have long outlived any memory of their sources. They opened with "Mr. Lucky," the theme from the 1960 show of the same name. It's a theme I've heard countless times, and thought, "So that's what that is!"

Starting with Alex Radermen 's African-sounding beat, the arrangement for the 1958 "Touch of Evil Main Theme" conveyed a sense of foreboding appropriate to the "strangest vengeance ever planned," as the movie's tagline revealed. In a related vein, Will introduced what's known as the "Baby Elephant Walk" - the very familiar instrumental from the mostly forgotten 1962 film Hatari. The tune is essentially a jazz/rock/blues instrumental, with the flute and clarinet giving it its distinctive sound. A film clip of adorable baby elephants was shown during the song. They ended the piece with the classic "Good Evening, Friends" comedic ending.

When it comes to spy movie themes, Mancini pretty much invented the genre with his music for the hit 1959 TV show Peter Gunn. While the theme song was a huge hit single (reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 on the R&B chart), the Andersons first played the lesser known "Dreamsville" from the show's soundtrack (the album charted at number 1 for ten weeks). The lush arrangement of the dreamy, noir-ish melody was intoxicating. A fascinating Mancini interview was shown in which he discussed his work process for scoring films. Though Mancini had been scoring for years, Peter Gunn made him a major name in the music industry.

One of Mancini's most important songs is "Moon River," with lyrics by frequent collaborator Johnny Mercer, from the 1961 Breakfast at Tiffany's, for which they shared an Academy Award for Best Song. When the film's star Audrey Hepburn, who sang it in the movie, learned it would be cut, she told the producers, "Over my dead body." It stayed. Though Hepburn's voice was famously dubbed in My Fair Lady, her real voice was used in Funny Face. In a clip, Mancini demonstrated how he created the melody for "Moon River" with Hepburn's vocal range in Funny Face in mind. Here, he played the first three notes, then exclaimed, "It's so obvious" how the rest of the line would go. This was pure genius at work. To somewhat mirror the movie's touch and Mancini's intent, the lights came down, and Will Anderson played the song solo on soprano sax, with just Dalton Ridenhour's gentle piano accompaniment.

The band really let loose with their rendition of the Pink Panther theme, with blazing sax and trumpet solos, and an energetic bass solo by Vince Giordano that had him scatting along.

Mr. Ridenhour arranged a brilliant solo piano number, a medley of Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet (written with Nino Rota) and the theme song to Breakfast at Tiffany's. He played in near darkness, giving the piece an ethereal quality.

The Andersons played the finale of "Days of Wine and Roses," another Oscar winner (from the 1963 film of the same name), in multiple musical genres, with a rousing New Orleans-style finish that had the near-capacity crowd dancing out of the theater, where Will and Peter awaited them to distribute their CDs, "free with a $20 autograph." Like the old Doublemint gum jingle, you will absolutely "double your pleasure, double your fun" with the Anderson Twins.

Will Anderson: Alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet, flute

Peter Anderson: Tenor sax, clarinet

Vince Giordano: Bass

Dalton Ridenhour: Piano:

Brandon Lee: Trumpet, Flugelhorn

Alex Raderman: Drums

For more info on the Andersons, visit https://www.peterandwillanderson.com. For more great shows at Symphony Space, visit http://symphonyspace.org.

Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space

2537 Broadway at 95th Street

New York, NY

Photos courtesy of Lynn Redmile, whose website can be seen HERE.

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