A bit of diversion post while awaiting the imminent post of this week's Night Lights show, Live at Cafe Bohemia:

Today I went to see Public Enemies, and sat through the usual simultaneous snooze/barrage of previews and commercials beforehand. On my way home, I found myself remembering the catchy little trailer that used to announce feature presentations, back in the General Cinema days of my childhood. Dig that jazz harpsichord!

Then there's this "Prevues of Coming Attractions", with a rather groovy late-1960s/early-1970s psychedelic/funk-jazz vibe to it:

I have no idea who wrote the music for these, though I'd like to find out (a fast and none-too-deep Google search didn't turn up any ready information). Anyway, the videos are some fun for nostalgia trippers (guilty party right here) and another reminder of how jazz remained so present in the popular/commercial-music culture of those decades, even as it gave way in popularity to rock.

Updates To This Post

1. Musician and Organissimo jazz-discussion wizard Jim Sangrey IDs "Prevues of Coming Attractions" as being written by the British composer Keith Mansfield, who evidently did some work for trumpeter Maynard Ferguson in the 1970s. The tune is called "Funky Fanfare" and you can hear a longer version of it here:

2: This kind of thing always becomes addictive. Here from the land of TV comes Henry Mancini's theme for the NBC Sunday Night Mystery, which featured a rotating cast of Columbo, McCloud, McMillan & Wife, etc. My parents were regular viewers of this series and got me hooked too... partly because I always loved the opening:

Relevant Resources

• For more Mancini and TV crime-jazz, check out the previous Night Lights show, A Profound Gas: Peter Gunn.
• If you want to go all hardcore on 'snipes,' TV billboards and themes, and Keith Mansfield, here's the thread I started over at Organissimo.