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“The Orson Welles of film composition.”
---Television director David Green about Gil Mellé.
"An artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs."
--Edgar Varèse
The Jazz Genesis
Composer Gilbert John Mellé was born December 31, 1931 and passed away October 28, 2004.
Gil Mellé was a self-taught musician, electronic instruments inventor and engineer, painter and graphic design artist: in short, a demiurge and a modern-day wizard. In 1950, thanks to Alfred Lion, he started his career at Blue Note Records as a baritone saxophonist, band leader (Gil Mellé Quartet), arranger for the jazz scene and also fashioned the album covers for other jazz artists (Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Sonny Rollins): http://www.gilmelle.com/albumcovers.htm. He studied music theory with modernist composer Edgar Varèse (1883-1965) -- known for blending acoustics with mechanical sounds by using tapes: see the musique concrète piece "Déserts" (1954) and the Organized Sound opus "Poème électronique" (1958) -- and from 1959, Mellé built his own instruments from scratch. In the mid-1950's, he left Blue Note and signed with Prestige. In 1968, he achieved the first electronic jazz album for Verve Records under the name Gil Mellé and the Electronauts -- see the veiled reference to Jason and the Argonauts traveling through uncharted waters -- : “Tome VI” (the name of the instrument that he designed from a customized soprano saxophone with circuits; Tome standed for Transistorized oscillator modulator envelop: http://www.gilmelle.com/instruments/tomev1.htm
Almost Ten Years inside the Universal Factory
Still in '68, producer Jack Laird gave Mellé his first job at Universal Studios: “Perilous Voyage”, a two-hours made-for-television movie accompanied with a strong electro-acoustic composition which was broadcast in 1976 due to its violence. The early 1970’s allowed Mellé to be at his creative peak and conceived the first electronically-generated score -- actually, it was electronics combined with musique concrète -- for Robert Wise’s science-fiction film “The Andromeda Strain” by using many of his devices, especially the drum machine called Percussotron III. In the line of this feature film music, TV producer Jack Laird hired again Mellé to write the spooky main themes (performed with the Percussotron III, the Elec-Tar and the Doomsday Machine) for the first two seasons and some season 2 scores (“House--with Ghost”, “Dr. Stringfellow’s Rejuvenator”, “Hell’s Bells”, and some experimental library music) of the horror anthology “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery”. The third great achievement came from a young journeyman director named Steven Spielberg who had Mellé to score episodes for the 1971 short-lived series “The Psychiatrist”, starring Roy Thinnes -- the main theme consisted of an exquisite brief, suave and warm motif --; later, in 1973, Spielberg used him again for a television movie thriller with the IMF couple Martin Landau (as TV reporter Paul Savage)/Barbara Bain (as Savage's TV producer Gail Abbott): “Savage”.
a. The Television Collaborators
Most of Mellé's television music was broadcast on ABC or NBC and he worked a lot for people as writer-producer-director Jerrold Freedman (see “The Psychiatrist”, "Rod Serling's Night Gallery", "A Cold Night's Death”, “The Last Angry Man”, “Borderline”) and writer-producers Richard Levinson/Willian Link (see “My Sweet Charlie”, "Columbo", "That Certain Summer", “The Judge and Jake Wyler”, “Tenafly”, “Partners in Crime”, "Savage", "A Cry for Help"). Let's focus on the fascinating ABC Movie of the Week "The Chill Factor" which is a claustrophobic "huit-clos" about unseen forces running an iceland base whose naked electronic music emphasizes the inner paranoia and the feeling of isolation coming out of two scientist characters—the mood and the setting anticipate John Carpenter's remake of "The Thing": http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/009105.html
Movies Made for Television on NBC
• “My Sweet Charlie” (1970)
• “The Judge and Jake Wyler” (1972)
• “Tenafly” (1973)
• “Partners in Crime” (1973)
• "Savage" (1973)
• “The Questor Tapes” (1974)
The ABC Movie of the Week Commissions
• "If Tomorrow Comes" (1971)
• "The Astronaut" (1972)
• "Lieutenant Schuster's Wife" (1972)
• "That Certain Summer" (1972)
• "The Victim" (1972)
• "A Cold Night's Death/The Chill Factor" (1973)
• "The Six Million Dollar Man/Cyborg" (1973)
• "Trapped" (1973)
• "Killdozer" (1974)
• "Hitchhike!" (1974)
• "The Last Angry Man" (1974)
• "The Missing Are Deadly" (1975)
• "A Cry for Help" (1975)
b. "One more thing…"
During the first (and, perhaps, single best) season (1971-1972) of the police show “Columbo” (starring Peter Falk) whose theme was created by composer Billy Goldenberg, Gil Mellé developed an alternate jazzy Columbo main theme and left three beautiful and sensitive scores: “Death Lends a Hand” (the most ambitious of the bunch owing to the avant garde electronic and refined melancolic jazz bent), “Dead Weight”, “Short Fuse” (including acid funk rock-oriented shades). Meanwhile, Mellé scored two downbeat television movies related to the NASA: “The Astronaut” (1972) -- forestalling the sham plot from “Capricorn One” -- , with Monte Markham and Richard Anderson (future Oscar Goldman) and, above all, “The Six Million Dollar Man” (1973), starring Lee Majors, Martin Balsam and Darren McGavin -- Mellé perfectly recaptured the desperation of disabled pilot Steve Austin owing to his integration of the sad jazz melodies with funky outbursts into agonizing electronic vibrations. In 1973, Mellé took care of a memorable adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel for the four hours television mini series: “Frankenstein: The True Story”, which was a marvelous symphonic score. For the anecdote, both “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “Frankenstein” shared the theme of the man-made monster which took its roots from the myth of Prometheus.
c. “Don’t look now, baby, but Kolchak’s coming back in style.”
Item: after two television movies (1972-1973) centered around the character of monsters hunter reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) for ABC and whose music was by Robert Cobert -- producer Dan Curtis’ personal composer -- , Universal television decided to launch a regular series and asked Mellé to write the main theme and the first four jazz-macabre scores before leaving owing to artistical misunderstandings of the show's tone: “The Ripper” (including acid rock-oriented shades and a hectic climax), “The Zombie” (with Haitian-flavored colors featuring an alternate Kolchak theme with a dominant psychedelic electric guitar: over-used during the show), “They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be…” (the most esoteric of the four due to its alien contact nature), “The Vampire” (slightly baroque). Actually, his Kolchak theme was derived from a previous 1974 unsold pilot created by Gene Roddenberry: “The Questor Tapes”. Finally, as a John Williams replacement, he achieved a last memorable and versalite score for Universal, the 1977 horror film “The Sentinel” which included voices and eighty classical musicians but, sometimes, the repetitive asceticism of the synthesizer reminds John Carpenter's dry leitmotiv for "Halloween"—for the anecdote, one track is derived from Columbo's "Death Lends a Hand" and another has some KOLCHAKesque arrangements.
More Music, More Studios
For other Studios, Mellé composed the 1971 Neo Noir “The Organization” (a jazz-oriented MGM score), two science-fiction films for Warner Bros.: the 1975 anticipation film that ended up Yul Brunner’s trilogy: “The Ultimate Warrior” (with a Kolchak musical leaning) and the 1977 jazz-fusion “Starship Invasions” (starring Robert Vaughn and Christopher Lee); the 1976 biological horror film “Embryo”, starring Rock Hudson (Plura Service Company) and its crossover bent (some chamber music combined with electronics). Because of director Robert Wise and Paramount Pictures and despite the demand of Gene Roddenberry, Mellé failed to score "Star Trek: The Motion Picture": a major commission which could have boosted his career.
At The End of the Road…
Among other things, at the start of the 1980’s, he scored again a film with Lee Majors: the car race/anticipation film “The Last Chase” (his 80's masterpiece featuring some powerful lyrical and funky motifs), a low-grade "Jaws"-like horror film entitled "Blood Beach" for writer-director Jeffrey Bloom -- as well as TV movies: "Jealousy" and "Starcrossed" -- , and collaborated with television director David Greene: “Vacation in Hell” (1979), the Cold War drama with David Soul “World War III” (a grim minimalistic electronic John Carpenter-like score which was humanized by touches of acoustics: piano, cymbalum, guitar), “Sweet Revenge” and “Fatal Vision”.
Gil Mellé in Store or Gil Mellé CD representation?
Unfortunately, Gil Mellé is mostly and vaguely remembered as a jazz musician -- under the name Gil Mellé Quartet -- because only a selection of off-centered hard bop jazz albums ("Patterns in Jazz" at Blue Note, "Gil's Guests" and "Primitive Modern/Quadrama" at Prestige but re-released thanks to Original Jazz Classics) are available on CD. The internet also labels and files him in the jazz genre. Blue Note records seems to have erased his memory because there're no reissues on CD format -- there used to be a cool "Complete Blue Note 50's Sessions" in 1998 but now gone! Needless to deal with his filmography on CD: the desert of the Sahara. Does Mellé sink into oblivion? That also raises the question: when will Mellé be recognized as a pioneer of electronics and soundtrack? There is a huge educational task to fulfil (explaining his musical philosophy and the detail of his sounds by describing his home-made instruments and his audio collages) in order to spread his work. How does the young generation be in touch with Mellé's music? The solution lies in a massive soundtrack CD releases of his seminal film music (“The Andromeda Strain”, "The Organization", "The Ultimate Warrior", "The Sentinel") and his serious and 'popular' input on Universal television (Steven Spielberg's two titles "The Psychiatrist/Savage", “Rod Serling’s Night Gallery”, “Columbo”, "Frankenstein: The True Story", “The Six Million Dollar Man”, “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”). But, who can do this assignment, who will be the champion and, how will this person operate? Until then, keep the hope…
Notes:
Film music critic and Gil Mellé expert James Phillips provides all the informations concerning the articles about Gil Mellé and books mentioning Gil Mellé. Writer James Phillips is also a Lalo Schifrin, Billy Goldenberg and Richard Rodney Bennett expert.
Order and read the booklet of "The Prisoner of Zenda" (Music Composed by Alfred Newman) written by James Phillips:
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=3805
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Articles about Gil Mellé
Gil Mellé website
http://www.gilmelle.com
webmaster@gilmelle.com
“Gil Mellé: Pioneer, Innovator, Maverick”
by Jon Burlingame
in “The Cue Sheet”, n° 1, January 2005, pp. 3-16
http://www.filmmusicsociety.org
"Gil Mellé 1931 -- 2004"
by Scott Bettencourt
in "Film Score Friday", 11/5/04
http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/2004/07_Nov---Film_Score_Friday.asp
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
"Music la Mellé "
by Randall D. Larson
in "Cinescape", 11/11/04
http://www.mania.com/42953.html
"Music la Mellé, Part 2"
by Randall D. Larson
in "Cinescape", 11/18/04
http://www.mania.com/43016.html
"Baritone saxophonist, composer, inventor"
by Todd S. Jenkins from the Jazz Journalist Association
in "The Last Post", 2004
http://www.jazzhouse.org/gone/lastpost2.php3?edit=1099159235
"Gil Mellé"
by Graham S. Watt
in "Legend - the Official Goldsmith Film Music Society Journal", n° 26, September 1998, pp. 8-11
"Primitive Modern"
by Matt P.
In "Ground and Sky – Music Review", 04/20/05
http://www.progreviews.com/reviews/display.php?rev=gm-pm
Music Resources
Original Jazz Classics
http://concordmusicgroup.com/labels/?label=Original+Jazz+Classics
Edgar Varèse, the Father of Electronic Music
http://csunix1.lvc.edu/~snyder/em/varese.html
Books
"Movies Made for Television - The Telefeature and The Mini-Series: 1964-1984"
by Alvin H. Marill
A View from Richard Levinson and William Link
(New York Zoetrope, 1984, 458 pages, ISBN 0-918432-60-X)
"TV's Biggest Hits: The History of Television Themes from 'Dragnet' to 'Friends' "
by Jon Burlingame
(Schirmer Books, 1996, 342 pages, ISBN 0-02-870324-3)
“Rod Serling's Night Gallery: An After-Hours Tour”
by Scott Skelton and Jim Benson
(Syracuse University Press, 1999, 398 pages, ISBN 0-8156-0535-8)
http://www.nightgallery.net/
"The Night Stalker Companion: A 25th Anniversary Tribute"
by Mark Dawidziak
(Pomegranate Press Ltd, 1997, 208 pages, ISBN 0-938817-44-2)
"The ABC Movie of the Week Companion: a loving tribute to the classic series"
by Michael Karol
(iUniverse Inc., 2005, 138 pages, ISBN 0-595-35836-5)
"Television Fright Films of the 1970s"
by David Deal
(McFarland, 2007, 230 pages, ISBN 978-0-7864-2929-5)
VIDEOS
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s8fTCa299k
COLUMBO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlWQhPNT8Xk
THE QUESTOR TAPES main titles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQBhqZKSgFU
THE QUESTOR TAPES Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N2XpKEmEKs
THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzTB92x4gFk
STARSHIP INVASIONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxe6qI429F4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhyyhiOZtQo
WORLD WAR III
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfqZDcLEiWA
POSTERS
THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/254013.1020.A.jpg
THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR
http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/175711.1020.A.jpg
STARSHIP INVASIONS
http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/254424.1020.A.jpg
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QUESTIONS
Tell me when did you first discover the music of Gil Mellé?
What are your favourite scores?
What Mellé CD releases do you wish in the future?
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CONCERNING A CD release
I wonder why some of the most ambitious labels as FSM or Intrada have never attempted to release a Mellé’s score from a flexible Studio. FSM used to release a triple header which included a sci-fi film (“Westworld”--FSM Vol. 8-No. 16) starring Yul Brunner, so what about “The Ultimate Warrior” paired with another one? The topic was previously discussed on the FSM Message Board.
See THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR: perfect Silver Age project!
http://fsm.rciwebhosting.net/board/posts.cfm?threadID=23489&forumID=1&archive=1
On June 10, 2006, Roger Fiegelson was even interested in “The Andromeda Strain” during a discussion at his Intrada forum:
http://www.intrada.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=490
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THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR: perfect Silver Age project!
http://fsm.rciwebhosting.net/board/posts.cfm?threadID=23489&forumID=1&archive=1
Posted: Nov 14, 2004 - 5:19 AM
By: Graham S. Watt (Member)
But back to THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR. As James says, it's an absolutely amazing amalgam of jazz, electronics and symphonic crossover - if any of you haven't heard this, it's kind of like a cross-eyed version of Denny Zeitlin's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS mixed with Ron Grainer's THE OMEGA MAN. But that description doesn't do it justice either - it's very much its own thing, completely Gil Mellé. I'm sure many of you nutters out there would snap this up if it came out. James, you say that Gil was proud of this score - let's hope something can be done to make a tribute to a great composer and a great man (by the way, are you looking at the MovieMusic message board?
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CONCERNING A CD release
On June 10, 2006, Roger Fiegelson was even interested in “The Andromeda Strain” during a discussion at his Intrada forum:
http://www.intrada.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=490
Roger Feigelson
Joined: 19 Nov 2005
Posts: 726
Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 2:59 pm
Post subject: THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
I watched this film last night. It was the first time I'd seen the film and the first time I'd heard any of Gil Melle's music. It does beg the question if the score could be actually considered "music" (and could launch a whole discussion about what music actually is). It was certainly not overscored, but I couldn't help wonder how interesting it would be as a standalone. Was the LP an interesting listen?
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I think I became aware of Mellé from some of his '68-'69 tv work, certainly his fine score for MY SWEET CHARLIE in fall of 1969.
ANDROMEDA STRAIN blew me away with it's novelty. In concept, it's almost in the vein of FORBIDDEN PLANET, walking a line between score and sound design, but still encasing the film in quite a unique aural environment.
For many people, Mellé may be an acquired taste, but my favorite Mellé works remain MY SWEET CHARLIE, ANDROMEDA STRAIN, THE ORGANIZATION, FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY, and (thanks to James Phillips) STARSHIP INVASIONS. That last one is a case of a good score attached to a pretty ridiculous movie.
Stefan, you're missing one tv credit. There were two tv movies made, with two different casts, to try to pitch a series called CRIME CLUB. The second attempt, made in 1975, was directed by Melle´s old friend from Universal, Jeannot Swarc, who evidently brought his former collaborator from NIGHT GALLERY along to score the film. I have this theme on a compilation of stuff I grabbed off tv over the years and it is rather good--a short driving piece with electronic overtones.
And then there's his fine score for the Roddenberry pilot, THE QUESTOR TAPES. What was
the project where he re-used this theme?--was it for a KOLCHAK score?
I do hope FSM, in it's troll of the Warner vaults, might choose to do a release of THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR. (I suppose it would be hard,
rights-wise, to combine it with the MGM/UA score for THE ORGANIZATION, another neat jazz/avant garde effort.)
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And then there's his fine score for the Roddenberry pilot, THE QUESTOR TAPES. What was
the project where he re-used this theme?--was it for a KOLCHAK score?
Please watch this video to understand the genesis of "Kolchak, the Night Stalker":
THE QUESTOR TAPES #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N2XpKEmEKs
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Stefan, you're missing one tv credit. There were two tv movies made, with two different casts, to try to pitch a series called CRIME CLUB. The second attempt, made in 1975, was directed by Melle´s old friend from Universal, Jeannot Swarc, who evidently brought his former collaborator from NIGHT GALLERY along to score the film. I have this theme on a compilation of stuff I grabbed off tv over the years and it is rather good--a short driving piece with electronic overtones.
Thanks for the reference, Vinyl.
Both Szwarc and Kearney worked on "Rod Serling's Night Gallery".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072830/
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QUESTIONS
1. Tell me when did you first discover the music of Gil Mellé?
2. What are your favourite scores?
3. What Mellé CD releases do you wish in the future?
1. The first score that stroke me was the 1973 ABC Movie of the Week: "The Six Million Dollar Man". It was both touching and strong... Mellé really got into the mind of the leading man. Impressive.
2. My favourite scores:
Television: "The Six Million Dollar Man", COLUMBO's three magnificent scores and KOLCHAK's macabre scores.
Cinema: “The Ultimate Warrior”, “Starship Invasions”, "The Last Chase".
3. Future CDs:
"The Ultimate Warrior"
"The Andromeda Strain"
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My favorite is Tome VI (Verve). As I mentioned in another thread, this is available on CD from Japan. Dusty Groove carries it and it's incredible.
I know this jazz LP and the first track "Blue Quasar" (13:15) is shockingly versatile, dissonant, elegant and suave at once.
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CONCERNING A CD release
On June 10, 2006, Roger Fiegelson was even interested in “The Andromeda Strain” during a discussion at his Intrada forum:
http://www.intrada.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=490
Roger Feigelson
Joined: 19 Nov 2005
Posts: 726
Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 2:59 pm
Post subject: THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
I watched this film last night. It was the first time I'd seen the film and the first time I'd heard any of Gil Melle's music. It does beg the question if the score could be actually considered "music" (and could launch a whole discussion about what music actually is). It was certainly not overscored, but I couldn't help wonder how interesting it would be as a standalone. Was the LP an interesting listen?
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STARSHIP INVASIONS
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I love his score to "Frankenstein, The True Story" (and Doug Fake singled out the film "Savages" as a favorite Melle' score, but I haven't heard it.)
-- Jon
Can you give me Doug Fake's reference (website, URL) , please?
Thanks.
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