Cool Jazz – MuseScore https://musescore.com/news Music news, analysis, and education from MuseScore.com Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:57:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/wpnews.musescore.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-cover_85.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Cool Jazz – MuseScore https://musescore.com/news 32 32 253427791 Mancini Wrote ‘The Pink Panther Theme’ Around a Specific Saxophonist Before the Part Was Finished https://musescore.com/news/features/mancini-wrote-the-pink-panther-theme-around-a-specific-saxophonist-before-the-part-was-finished/ Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:57:48 +0000 https://musescore.com/news/?p=2733 A side-by-side split image. On the left is a classic cartoon illustration of the Pink Panther, standing with arms crossed against a solid pink background. On the right is a vintage photograph of composer Henry Mancini in a recording studio, wearing headphones and holding a conductor's baton while gesturing with his hand to his chest.

Mancini scored the 1963 Blake Edwards film with David Niven's suave jewel thief in mind, not the cartoon cat that came later. The opening ostinato mimics a tiptoe, the chromaticism behaves like a man climbing in through a window, and the saxophone part was written around Plas Johnson's tendency to drag a phrase a hair behind the beat.]]> 2733 Al Jarreau’s Performance of ‘Take Five’: International Jazz Day https://musescore.com/news/daily-score/al-jarreaus-performance-of-take-five-international-jazz-day/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:28:34 +0000 https://musescore.com/news/?p=2546 Al Jarreau performing

April 30 marks International Jazz Day, and few performances capture what the occasion is about better than this one. Five jazz legends brought the biggest-selling jazz single ever recorded to life with the kind of spontaneous joy the song was made for.]]> 2546