U.N.C.L.E. Jazz CD becoming available

The original U.N.C.L.E.s, Robert Vaughn and David McCallum

A jazz CD featuring a live performance of music from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is becomes available this week.

The Jazz From U.N.C.L.E. is the brainchild of Robert Short, an Oscar-winning film industry professional and first-generation U.N.C.L.E. fan, and Jon Burlingame, a journalist and movie and TV music expert.

The CD consists of 14 tracks of music performed at 2014’s The Golden Anniversary Affair, a Los Angeles-area gathering that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the series.

The music was performed by the Summit Six Sex Sextet  and “played from the original sheet music used during the scoring sessions,” according to the project’s website.

Short runs a Facebook page, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Inner Circle. The CD is being offered at a special price to page members through today, July 10. After that, it becomes generally available for a price of $15 plus $3 shipping and handling. The CD is limited to 1,000 units. For more information about ordering, CLICK HERE. Full disclosure: the Spy Commander was asked to proof some of the pages of The Jazz From U.N.C.L.E.’s website.

Here’s a sampling of the music.

Joseph Sargent, accomplished director, dies

Joseph Sargent (1925-2014)

Joseph Sargent, an Emmy-award winning director, has died at 89, according to AN OBITUARY AT VARIETY.

Sargent won a total of FOUR EMMYS and was nominated for five others. He also directed some feature films, including 1974’s The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three and 1977’s MacArthur.

His main connection to spy entertainment was how he directed 11 episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. during that show’s first three seasons as well as one episode of its spinoff, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.

On U.N.C.L.E., his debut was The Project Strigas Affair, which featured the first pairing of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy two years before they acted together in Star Trek. Several of his episodes rank among the best of the series. One of his Emmy wins was for the 1973 television movie The Marcus-Nelson Murders, which begat the Kojak television series.

One of his last public appearances was at THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY AFFAIR, a fan gathering in late Septmeber in the Los Angeles area to celebrate U.N.C.L.E.’s 50th anniversary.

UPDATE: Here’s another obituary on the DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD website.

New U.N.C.L.E. book coming out in 2015

The original U.N.C.L.E.s

A new book about The Man From U.N.C.L.E. television series is due out next year.

“Solo and Illya: The Secret History of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” by Craig Henderson is to be published by Bear Manor Publishers, according to the Facebook page of THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY AFFAIR, the two-day event held in the Los Angeles area last month in connection with the show’s 50th anniversary.

Henderson created the File Forty fanzine in 1970, according to a Jon Burlingame response to the post. Henderson also assisted Burlingame when the latter produced a series of U.N.C.L.E. soundtracks in the 2000s.

“He’s uncovered a lot of information about the show no one else has,” Burlingame wrote.

Finally, Henderson produced A CENTURY OF U.N.C.L.E., which details how the worlds of U.N.C.L.E. and James Bond intersected for more than a century, beginning with the birth of Ian Fleming in 1908 until the death of U.N.C.L.E. executive producer Norman Felton in 2012. It’s a resource this blog has cited numerous times.

U.N.C.L.E. music future and past

Composer Daniel Pemberton took to Twitter to say the recording of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie score was wrapping up on Oct. 12.

Not many details beyond that, but Pemberton has been Tweeting pictures from the recording session. The Tweets included a short video of the orchestra warming up. In response to one of Pemberton’s Tweets, musician Grant Olding responded, “it’s quite a messy theme.”

Perhaps it’s a reference to Jerry Goldsmith’s original theme for the 1964-68 television series. We’ll see. The movie won’t be released until August 2015.

Last day of recording #UNCLE.. The big one!! pic.twitter.com/sVWzHbzO39

— Daniel Pemberton (@DANIELPEMBERTON) October 12, 2014

Meanwhile, a highlight of last month’s Golden Anniversary Affair that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the original show was a live performance of U.N.C.L.E. music.

Some highlights were uploaded to YouTube by Arthur Greenwald, who was there:

U.N.C.L.E.: the week that was

“I can’t believe everything that’s going on, Illya.”

The week of Sept. 21-27 may be the busiest U.N.C.L.E.-related week since the 1964-68 series ended its first television run in January 1968. At least social media amplifies activity to make it seem that way.

It was also the week where news about U.N.C.L.E. 1.0 (the original series) and U.N.C.L.E. 2.0 (a movie version scheduled for release in August 2015 and starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer) collided.

Here’s a look:

Sept. 21: In the U.S., the MeTV channel runs the third episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Quadripartite Affair. It’s one of the best of the entire series and was the first to include significant screen time for David McCallum’s Illya Kuryakin character. The director was future movie director Richard Donner and scripter Alan Caillou would do much to develop Kuryakin in several first-season stories.

Sept. 22: Fans celebrate the show’s 50th anniversary across a variety of social media.

Sept. 23: Composer Daniel Pemberton confirms via Twitter that he’s written the score for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie directed by Guy Ritchie and that recording of the music begins on Sept. 24.

Sept. 24: Recording sessions of the U.N.C.L.E. score begin at Abbey Road Studios. Separately, the movie gets a rating of PG-13 from the Motion Picture Association of America, according a list of MPAA ratings compiled by Box Office Mojo.

Sept. 25: Warner Home Video announces plans to re-release The Man From U.N.C.L.E. series, according to TVSHOWSONDVD.COM. The re-release, scheduled for Nov. 4, will have all the extras a 2007 release had but the packaging will be different.

Sept. 26: The Golden Anniversary Affair, a two-day gathering of 100 fans, begins in Culver City, California, at the site of the former MGM studio where the show was produced.

Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, stars of the original series, aren’t able to attend but post greetings on the event’s website. Fans post pictures on social media of crew members, including associate producer George Lehr and composer Gerald Fried, who scored the most episodes of the show.

Also posted are photos of original props, including the U.N.C.L.E. special, such as THIS ONE by author Paul Bishop.

Half a world away, composer Pemberton makes a posting on Twitter that appears to reveal one track of his movie score will be titled His Name Is Napoleon Solo.

Sept. 27: The Golden Anniversary Affair and the U.N.C.L.E. movie recording sessions continue. Andrew Skeet, a musician working on the recording, Tweets a picture of Pemberton working on his keyboard at Abbey Road.