Henry Mancini Quotations

Strangely enough, in movie writing I've been more influenced by big bands than by any other film composer. The big bands of the 'forties and then the carry-over into the modern jazz field - Basie, Ellington, all the way up to Mulligan - these are my influences rather than, say, Franz Waxman or Tiomkin or anyone like that. I don't think in their terms.

Jazz is capable of doing much more than depicting the dope fiend and the drunk and the slinky gal. In our show there are many very funny sequences where we were able to use jazz as it can be used-in a happy way.

If you want to make money in music, get into the band uniform business.

If you're feeling fancy free, come wander through the world with me, and any place we chance to be, will be a rendezvous. Two for the road, we'll travel through the years, collecting precious memories, selecting souvenirs and living life the way we please.

It took me a long time to figure out what Holly Golightly was all about. One night after midnight I was still trying. I don't drink much, but I was sipping. And it came to me. I wrote [“Moon River”] in half an hour.

With the new technology that keeps entering the media, film composers are constantly being placed in new learning situations. Acknowledging this and realizing that one must keep up, I maintain, nonetheless, that the real creative power is in the mind and heart of the composer.

The Romeo-and-Juliet type of film writing is not so successful in TV because it is such a small medium You might record in the best studio in the world-but it still has to come out of that little three-inch speaker.

If it calls for a Madison or a Twist, I'll do it. And if it calls for a tone row or anything in surreal music I'll do that, too. But the dance band is what has given me the kind of little edge towards the jazz field.