A collection of some of the famous film themes recorded by Roy Budd during the early 70s – featuring a mix of breezy jazzy numbers, plus others that are in more of a straight soundtrack orchestral mode. Roy's piano is tippling nicely through most cuts, though – and the set list includes 12 tracks in all, with the titles "Get Carter", "Getting Nowhere In A Hurry", "Love Is A Four Letter Word", "Fields Of Green & Skies Of Blue", "All You Want To Be Be", "Little Boy, Little Girl", "Lust", "Envy Greed & Gluttony", and "Walkin Down O'Connell Street". (Soundtracks, Now Sound) CD

A combo session with more than enough excitement to warrant the exclamation point in the title – one of Henry Mancini's jazziest records ever, and a date that's filled with some great west coast players! The sound here is a hip extrapolation of the Mancini groove heard on crime jazz soundtracks like Peter Gunn and Mr Lucky – but it's taken to slightly leaner territory here, with a nice focus on the solo talents of the group members. There's still 11 players in the group – so the combo isn't exactly small – but the spacious Mancini arrangements allow each player to step out nicely with a voice of their own. The lineup includes Pete Candoli on trumpet, Dick Nash on trombone, Ted Nash on alto and flute, Art Pepper on clarinet, Ronny Lang on baritone, Bob Bain on guitar, and Larry Bunker on vibes – and Johnny Williams plays both piano and harpsichord, the latter of which sounds plenty darn groovy! Titles include Cy Coleman's wonderful "Playboy's Theme", plus "Castle Rock", "Everybody Blow", "Far East Blues", "Powdered Wig", and "Moanin". CD