R.I.P. Lalo Schifrin (1932-2025)
I’ve just caught up with the news of the death last week of composer, arranger and pianist Lalo Schifrin. He was 93. Most of the media coverage of his passing concentrates on his many excellent TV and movie scores, such as Mission Impossible*, Dirty Harry and Bullitt, but he was first and foremost a Jazz musician so I thought I’d pay tribute by posting a relatively early work by him.
Lalo Schifrin was a huge fan of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie whom he met when Gillespie toured Schifrin’s home country of Argentina in 1956. This long piece, Gillespiana was written for Gillespie’s big band in 1958. You can here in it many of the musical ideas that Schifrin was later to include in his film scores. In 1960, Lalo Schifrin moved to York and joined Gillespie’s band as a pianist after the departure of Junior Mance. He only stayed with the band for a couple of years but together they made some great records, especially Dizzy on the French Riviera (which I have blogged about here).
Anyway, Gillespiana is suite in five movements (Prelude, Blues, Panamerica, Africana, and Toccata) that takes up an entire album that was released in 1960. It’s not so well known nowadays but I think it’s great. It gives ample opportunity not only to listen to Dizzy’s trumpet and Lalo Schifrin’s piano – as well as the enormously underrated alto saxophonist and flautist Leo Wright – but also to enjoy the wonderful arrangements.
*The original theme for Mission Impossible is written in 5/4 time. Not a lot of people know that the resulting rhythmic pattern (dash dash dot dot) is Morse code for the letters M I…
In the Dark 
June 30, 2025 at 9:56 pm
Great write up. Lalo also composed the music to Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon ( 1973 / 74)
July 1, 2025 at 8:58 am
I don’t know if you ever watched the MI TV series – it was a lot different from the films. Usually very little action and more about elaborate plans and tricks. The theme tune was one of the best ever.
July 1, 2025 at 9:25 am
Yes, I loved it and watched it avidly when I was a kid. I adored the gadgets, etc. I didn’t like the movies anywhere near as much.
July 1, 2025 at 11:11 am
I see there were 7 seasons of the TV series, produced between 1966 and 1973. I must have been very young when I watched them, though I guess they were repeated quite a lot.
July 1, 2025 at 11:36 am
Yes, it lasted 7 seasons, with Peter Graves taking over as team leader in the second series. Bought the complete series recently on DVD. There were also 2 series filmed in Australia in the late 1980’s (but still set in the US), with only Peter Graves returning full-time. (Others did guest in some episodes).