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This could be a fun book. Actually, two books, by Derrick Bang.
Crime and Spy Jazz on Screen, 1950-1970: A History and Discography
https://amzn.to/34NGFIt
Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn theme. Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme. John Barry's arrangement of the James Bond theme. These iconic melodies have remained a part of the pop culture landscape since their debuts in the late 1950s and early '60s: a "golden decade" that highlighted an era when movie studios and TV production companies employed full orchestral ensembles to provide a jazz backdrop for the suspenseful adventures of secret agents, private detectives, cops, spies and heist-minded criminals. Hundreds of additional films and television shows made during this period were propelled by similarly swinging title themes and underscores, many of which have (undeservedly) faded into obscurity. This meticulously researched book traces the embryonic use of jazz in mainstream entertainment from the early 1950s--when conservative viewers still considered this genre "the devil's music"--to its explosive heyday throughout the 1960s. Fans frustrated by the lack of attention paid to jazz soundtrack composers--including Jerry Goldsmith, Edwin Astley, Roy Budd, Quincy Jones, Dave Grusin, Jerry Fielding and many, many others--will find solace in these pages (along with all the information needed to enhance one's music library).
Crime and Spy Jazz on Screen Since 1971: A History and Discography
https://amzn.to/384F96N
This meticulously researched book begins with Hayes' game-changing music for Shaft, and honors the careers of traditional jazz composers who--as the 1970s gave way to the '80s and beyond--resolutely battled against the pernicious influx of synth, jukebox scores and a growing corporate disinterest in lavish ensembles. Fans frustrated by the lack of attention paid to jazz soundtrack composers--including Mort Stevens, Laurie Johnson, Mike Post, Earle Hagen, David Shire, Elmer Bernstein and many, many others--will find solace in these pages (along with all the information needed to enhance one's music library).
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Definitely my wheelhouse, but damn those prices.
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Yeah, McFarland has some very interesting books in their stable but they shoot themselves in the foot with their way-too-high prices. I suspect they subsist on selling these overpriced tomes primarily to libraries and academic markets.
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Yeah, McFarland has some very interesting books in their stable but they shoot themselves in the foot with their way-too-high prices. I suspect they subsist on selling these overpriced tomes primarily to libraries and academic markets.
Agreed about McFarland's prices. But both ordered nonetheless 
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The books are being published 30th May (at least in the UK, according to Amazon)
For those who can't wait, the Kindle editions are available now, inevitably a bit expensive - but if you like the subject... 
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Oooohhh this looks very interesting.
Some local libraries will purchase books for their collection if you ask--the books won't go on your shelf but at least you can read it on the cheap
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A non-music aspect of this genre is the vintage LP cover art. Some are paintings and some are photos, but large numbers of these old albums are terrific looking.
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Doesn't the author use a fairly flexible definition of jazz if it includes Shaft?
That's fine by me. I think he also mentions Silvestri's CHiPs scores, which are certainly not jazz...
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I just got the 50-70 book now and am enjoying it. So far I'm deep into the fifties with crime jazz coverage of composers North, Stevens, Waxman, Hopkins. Very interested in seeing how it evolves into the sixties and starts including the spy genre. A great thing to read--with corresponding listening--while trying to stay out of trouble. For those who care, I'm also reading a detailed history of Latin Jazz by John Storm Roberts . . and Olen Steinhauer's spy novel The Last Tourist.
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I just got the 50-70 book now and am enjoying it. So far I'm deep into the fifties with crime jazz coverage of composers North, Stevens, Waxman, Hopkins. Very interested in seeing how it evolves into the sixties and starts including the spy genre. A great thing to read--with corresponding listening--while trying to stay out of trouble.
The printed versions aren't expected from Amazon UK until the end of this month / beginning of June. In the end I weakened and bought the Kindle versions while I'm waiting. I read the "Since 1971..." book first and it's an excellent read, recalling Jon Burlingame's TV's Biggest Hits (and Kristopher Spencer's Film and Television Scores 1950 - 1979) in the way it approaches the subject.
There is also a lot of more obscure stuff in there, as well as the well known (for example, Mike Moran's music for the short lived British tv series The Racing Game which entirely deserves inclusion but how many remember its punchy theme music...apart from me?
I can't recall them offhand but there are one or factual errors in the book and I don't necessarily agree with all Derrick's assertions but none of that really matters as it's a great read.
Starting the "50-70..." book on Kindle soon.
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A non-music aspect of this genre is the vintage LP cover art. Some are paintings and some are photos, but large numbers of these old albums are terrific looking.
I agree! I love the album artwork for vintage thriller scores. Are there any covers/illustrations in either of these books? McFarland publications are usually pretty spartan when it comes to photos/illustrations, despite their astronomical prices!
There are illustrations, including occasional album covers, but generally it's weighted heavily in favour of text.
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New article about the story behind writing the books.
https://cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/10822-AUTHOR-DERRICK-BANG-TAKES-US-BEHIND-THE-SCENES-OF-HIS-NEW-TWO-VOLUME-BOOK-ON-CRIME-AND-SPY-JAZZ-SCORES-ON-SCREEN.html
I initially wanted to write the ultimate guide to television’s Peter Gunn. But some quick research revealed that it would be hard to improve upon Joe Manning’s excellent two-part feature story in the June and July 2007 issues of Film Score Monthly magazine; and Mike Quigley’s impressively thorough website guide to that iconic 1958-61 TV series (at www.petergunn.tv). That said, Mike’s meticulously thorough analysis of the show’s music planted a larger seed: perhaps a book about classic TV action jazz? Even there, though, a few existing books — such as Kristopher Spencer’s Film and Television Scores, 1950-1979 — had covered that territory to a degree.
So, go bigger still: a survey of all television and film action/spy/detective jazz, with a focus that I knew hadn’t yet been tackled.
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