Ive been watching Columbo recently, wishing that the great scores would get a release one day. So I checked Youtube and came across this. Okay, so its not the original score and its all on a keyboard but hey! This is fun and well put together.
Interesting note: this is the ONLY Columbo score done by composer Oliver Nelson (whom you may know from doing scores such as Zigzag). He did it as a quick replacement job instead of an unused score by Paul Glass, who did an amazing job.
If any label is secretly toiling away on a Columbo box-set, you may want to contact me and feature at least parts of this score.
I like the piano playing. Nice. I'm not too keen on the synthy stuff, though. I'm pleased that someone thought to perform something fairly obscure like that.
What I love about Nelson's "Greenhouse Jungle" score is that it's in a fast tempo but at the same time it's melancholy, particularly the end credits arrangement. It polishes what is an average Columbo episode but it's always nice to hear it when it's tracked on other episodes. My favorite piece of Columbo scoring of them all.
[startquoteHave you heard it? The recording survived? How is it??
Of course, all Columbo scores technically survive, so that's no problem. Glass' music is more of a moody thriller score, lacking the upbeat nature of Nelson's more mod flavored approach. It was actually thrown out for featuring a very interesting instrument called the heckelphone. The composer even planned to turn this material into a "heckelphone concerto", but this never materialized.
