Jan Berry's Original Music Scores Published

[Rocker]

I hope Mark doesn't mind me posting this. Just saw it linked on Facebook:


Jan & Dean — Bat Cues (from their Batman LP) — Wrecking Crew — Original Music Score Transcriptions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmMOv1Xbvm4



The Batman album is such a great record. Criminally overlooked.

[Mark A. Moore]

Here are the latest Jan Berry music arrangements that have been transcribed and published (or are slated for publication). Expand the video descriptions on YouTube to see the specific Wrecking Crew instrumentation for each track and other details.

The tracks linked below are transcribed from Jan Berry's surviving music scores from the 1960s and rendered with MuseScore:

"The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" (1964)
The studio backing track for the classic #3 hit from the summer of 1964. The bass line and horn arrangement are classic Jan Berry. Covered by the Beach Boys on their live Concert LP in 1964.

https://youtu.be/4bFe8NH_-RA?si=w0UANPzO6oLy01V_

"My Mighty G.T.O." (1964)
An album cut from the "Dead Man's Curve" LP and later the B-Side of "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)." The track for "My Mighty G.T.O." is more sophisticated than "Little Old Lady" and has several interesting things going on. It has the transition between 2/4 and 4/4 time signatures that Jan was fond of, and which he also used in his arrangements for "Dead Man's Curve" and "Anaheim, Azusa ..." (to name a couple). A fantastic bass line, especially in the chorus. The four-part horn ensemble features Tenor Sax, Trumpet, Flugelhorn, and French Horn. The galloping eighth- and sixteenth-note groove on the Danelectro 6-String Bass Guitar in the chorus was also later employed by Jan in his arrangement for "Ride the Wild Surf."

https://youtu.be/Ah90J4oOBd4?si=fudU4nUvfmLVfp8q

"Batman Theme" (from Jan & Dean Meet Batman) (1966)
Neal Hefti's classic theme with a flourish . . . Jan Berry and George Tipton's arrangement pays homage to composer Nelson Riddle, who wrote the music for the first two seasons of the Batman television series in 1966.

https://youtu.be/LItycM3bAFs?si=96LDSeWDtm6j4m1B

"Bat Cues" (from Jan & Dean Meet Batman) (1966)
Jan Berry and George Tipton go Baroque with moody underpinning and quirky connectors for the Batman LP.

https://youtu.be/tmMOv1Xbvm4?si=4u7TiBJC288Naum2

"Fan Tan" (String Sextet from Carnival of Sound) (1967)
Jan Berry's first songwriting collaboration after his car accident, which later became part of his Carnival of Sound project for Warner Bros. Working with George Tipton, Jan's string arrangements for "Fan Tan" and "Love and Hate" picked up where 1965's "Pop Symphony" left off.

https://youtu.be/KXpbjGvSiCE?si=o09MAKxPpwUnTlYH

[Mark A. Moore]

IT’S AS EASY AS 1, 2, 3 — Transcription of Jan Berry's original music score and charts used by Wrecking Crew studio musicians to record the original track in 1964.

Released on Jan & Dean’s Dead Man's Curve and Little Old Lady from Pasadena albums in 1964, and as the B-Side of the Top-30 hit "You Really Know How to Hurt a Guy" in 1965. Also released as a single by Jill Gibson (with alternate lyrics) in August 1964. Both versions were arranged and produced by Jan Berry.

This ballad moves between 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures. And it illustrates how Jan Berry used brass and woodwinds differently than Brian Wilson used them. Jan often used horns as an integral part of a song’s melodic structure. Brian Wilson used horns as chord padding with maybe a melodic riff here and there. Both approaches are cool.

Interesting Fact: "It's As Easy As 1, 2, 3" (credited to Jill Gibson and Don Altfeld) was co-written by Jan Berry. The song was identified by Screen Gems in their 1964 lawsuit—against Jan, Lou Adler, and others in Jan's creative orbit—as being among those they knew that Jan had co-written but had deliberately withheld his name from in an attempt to place the publishing with a firm outside of Screen Gems. They were right, and the lawsuit was settled out of court (but Jan lost his writing credit as a result). When Jan's songwriting credits were legally restored in 2002, he could have taken a co-writing credit for "It's As Easy As 1, 2, 3." But he chose not to, in deference to Jill Gibson, because the vocal melody originated with Jill. In 1964, Jan took Jill’s original melody and morphed it into his final version. Don Altfeld contributed to the lyrics.



https://youtu.be/_6TbaqQ21g4?si=Tnv0wv5uH3ZnJb0Z

[Mark A. Moore]

DEAD MAN'S CURVE — Jan Berry's original music score, used by Wrecking Crew studio musicians to record the original track in 1963-64. A Top-10 hit for Jan & Dean in the spring of 1964 (#8 Billboard; #9 Cash Box).

Transcribed by Mark A. Moore from Jan Berry's music archive, in association with his estate. Moore is the author of Dead Man's Curve: The Rock 'n' Roll Life of Jan Berry (McFarland 2021) and The Jan & Dean Record (McFarland 2016).

Jan Berry wrote a master score for “Dead Man’s Curve” with a Big Band-style brass and woodwind arrangement (featured in this publication). He initially scored the song in the key of G Major, and then transcribed it to F# Major to fit the desired vocal range. The 1963-64 studio (hit single) version and the version used for live performances in the ‘60s were culled from this arrangement. It moves between 4/4 and 2/4 time signatures. Jan’s initial horn arrangement for the inferior 1963 Drag City album version of the song was largely scrapped.

This sound font recording (and publication) reveals Jan's brass and woodwind arrangement for "Dead Man's Curve" in all its glory. We hear parts that were buried on the hit single version, but brought forward just enough to underpin the vocals in an interesting way. And we also hear parts that were played for live performances in the '60s, including a fuller intro and filling in for vocal parts that were not sung live.

And the "Taps" motif at the end plays a dirge for the dead driver of the Jaguar XKE.

"Dead Man's Curve" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.

https://youtu.be/zOwmwfRfAog?si=TE4RZ4drPynipfSb

[Rocker]

Thanks Mark!


Hope you don't mind me posting this but I somehow can't access the Jan Berry messageboard but wanted to share this picture of Jan post-accident:


Info Jan Berry, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork



Source: https://monkees.coolcherrycream.com/people/jan-berry/pictures

[Mark A. Moore]

Great photo, Rocker. That Monkees tour in '67 was just what Jan needed.

[Mark A. Moore]

"Surf City"

Jan Berry's original music score, used by Wrecking Crew studio musicians to record the original track in 1963.

The studio backing track arrangement featured rhythm instruments only, but Jan wrote a separate Big Band-style horn arrangement that was added for live performances in the 1960s.

There were three guitarists on the original tracking session (held March 20, 1963). This transcription features four guitar parts: Guitar 1 is a chord chart with a combination of slashes and rhythmic (slash) notation. Guitars 2-3 provide a transcription of the grooves heard on the studio recording. There are slight change-ups across the song, but these authentic grooves can be tweaked to match the nuances of the recording. Guitar 4 is the Danelectro 6-string bass guitar, a specific note-for-note part written in standard music notation (treble clef) that doubled the bass line.

As with all of Jan Berry's music arrangements, the bass part is written in standard music notation. Note-for-note bass lines that match the recordings are a hallmark of Jan's original music scores.

The drum part is also written in standard notation, used by drummers Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, who played the part live in tandem in the studio.

The ending in this transcription features a mashup of elements heard in the extended-fade version of the studio recording, together with the hard ending used for live performances in the ‘60s.


Studio Backing Track Arrangement:

https://youtu.be/35RtRytTBns?si=5ygZlahQOfvnb3DK


1960s Live Performance Arrangement:

https://youtu.be/VYusWzsVOBo?si=MbBCqzHU6RDqAq8_