Tv's Biggest Hits: The Story of Television Themes from "Dragnet" to "Friends

Tv's Biggest Hits: The Story of Television Themes from "Dragnet" to "Friends by Burlingame, Jon. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780028703244.

Everybody loves TV themes - from the silly "Mr. Ed" and "The Addams Family" to the intense "Mission: Impossible" and "Peter Gunn" to the atmospheric "Hill Street Blues" and "The X-Files." But few people know how this music is made, or the stories of the men and women who have worked tirelessly (and often anonymously) to create it. This book offers the complete story of this important musical style, giving it the serious, and colorfully anecdotal, history it deserves. Divided into chapters on each genre, Burlingame provides the real stories of the composers who worked behind the scenes to create the memorable music we all love. Among those who have written and performed for television include many famous musicians - like jazz pianists Dave Brubeck and Duke Ellington, arranger/producer Quincy Jones, film music giant John Williams, Broadway composer Richard Rodgers, and classical composer Morton Gould. Illustrated throughout with rare photos of the composers at work, this is a fascinating story of how a new genre of musical artistry was created.