Beyond Books is a column intended to alert Arts Knoxville readers to interesting music and video materials new to Knox County Public Library’s fabulous Sights & Sounds collection. As our collection of Blu-ray, 4K, and streaming titles continues to grow, we’ll also revisit classics and oddities as they become available in modern formats.
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Tom Lundberg, Prime Time
(Max Frank Music, 2018)
East Tennessee trombonist, bandleader, and educator Tom Lundberg is a familiar face for area music fans. He plays lead trombone with the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra and leads the Knoxville Youth Jazz Orchestra. He also performs with the Symphony of the Mountains and the Oak Ridge Symphony. And he teaches at Pellissippi State Community College, the Sevier County campus of Walters State Community College, and leads the Bearden High School Jazz Band.
Earlier this year, Lundberg and a handful of fellow educators took to the stage in Lexington, Virginia to perform and record a swinging set of unusual material: TV show theme music.
“I agree that TV themes are quirky,” says Lundberg. “In some cases the theme is hardly the length of a standard song form, often repetitive and arguably formulaic. We whittled down the choices to a short list, based partly on song form and the improv possibilities, and partly on the fact that we didn’t necessarily want to tread on already overly familiar material.”
Lundberg offers the themes from The Odd Couple, The Flintstones and M.A.S.H. as examples of music that might be overworked.
“I knew from the outset,” he says, “that I wanted to present these themes in the context of a jazz band setting, with improvisation being a key component. Some of the songs, such as The Muppets, have a very familiar standard chord progression. Others are less so. It was a challenge to play over Rockford and Mannix, for example.”
It’s always surprising to be reminded how much relational memory can be attached to television theme music. Other than Randy Newman’s “It’s a Jungle Out There,” the theme from Monk, Lundberg has collected music related to comedies, mostly, that this writer associates with childhood. So this music is easy to listen to, associated with laugh tracks and life before loss or regret of any substantial sort. Moving the mood farther along toward the positive tip is the fact that the ensemble is apparently having a blast. Joining Lundberg are Will Boyd and Doug Rinaldo on saxophones and flute, Bethany Hankins on violin, Ben Dockery on keyboards, Harold Nagge on guitar, David Slack on bass, and the inimitable Keith Brown on drums.
The trombone remains woefully under-utilized as a solo instrument. It’s easy to resist the temptation to compare Lundberg to predecessors like Curtis Fuller or JJ Johnson (who, says Lundberg, actually composed and played music for television) because if poor memory serves Lundberg and crew are mostly playing melodies made familiar by string sections. Lundberg gives emphatic credit to longtime collaborator Terry Vosbein for the most excellent arrangements. The vibe is mostly bebop, alternating ensemble with complementary improvised solos. More than lead instrumentalist, Lundberg serves as something like interlocuter, marking changes in mood and making introductions.
All of these pieces are nicely done, and they sound good together. The set never loses momentum. Lundberg warns that the songs were not performed in the order they appear on the compact disc.
“The concert program order was a little different than that of the CD,” Lundberg says, “and I spoke between each of the tunes, primarily about the composers. We opened with Muppets and closed with Jeopardy, arguably the two least known composers of the lot.
“Jim Henson wore many hats and co-wrote with Sam Potter, who had mainly Off-Broadway credits. Merv Griffin also wore many hats. He composed the Jeopardy theme originally as a lullaby for one of his children, prior to the original launch of the game show that was to become Jeopardy in the mid ‘60s. In between we presented—in this order—music by Randy Newman, Sonny Curtis, Bruce Miller, Dave Grusin, Jeff Barry and Janet DeBois, Lalo Schifrin, Jack Elliott, Mike Post and Pete Carpenter, Jose Feliciano and Quincy Jones.”
A few cuts seem exceptional due to what may be unfair advantage. The themes from The Muppet Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show are just so damn happy. Both benefit from Hankins’ violin, which alludes to hot jazz but never cops or sounds cliché. MTM also gives Nagge plenty of room, which he stretches out to fill. Removed from the awkward pretenses and stereotypical characters that made up their episodes, “Movin’ On Up” (from The Jeffersons) and the theme from Sanford and Son actually seem funkier. And, Lundberg’s caveat notwithstanding, the uptempo themes from Mannix and The Rockford Files totally swing.
With all of this talent and teaching cred under harness, Prime Time is something of a master class. And it’s a rejoinder to the narrow-minded notion that a professional musician must choose between the stage and the classroom.
“I have always maintained that my teaching enhances my playing and vice versa,” says Lundberg. “I have many motivated students who constantly keep me on my toes. It is also a source of great personal pride that I have several former students who are absolute masters of the trombone—they continue to school me each time I catch up with them.
“I heard one again last evening and am back in the woodshed today. I’d have gone there anyway, but it is now with renewed focus and energy!”
It’s great to encounter friends and neighbors in such fine form. If there’s a set list coming together for a sequel, let us hope that the theme from S.W.A.T. gets full consideration.
