Mancini with John Williams (and more!): An Interview with Sound Engineer Richard Wheeler

Mancini and Williams: Composers, Collaborators, Friends.

As Digging Star Wars continues its centennial celebration of famed film composer Henry Mancini, we’ve been lucky to make some pretty cool connections. And now we have a connection to someone in the room at the Peter Gunn – The 100th Sessions recording in LA – that featured many stellar musicians including  Star Wars film composer John Williams (who played piano for the new recording)!

Recording Engineer Richard Wheeler (2nd in from the left in the red t-shirt)
- along with the crew and the ever-vibrant Quincy Jones - 
at the Peter Gunn – The 100th Sessions recording in LA.

Meet recording engineer Richard Wheeler. Rich works at one of the three remaining union scoring stages in Los Angeles on the Warner Brothers lot. While he mainly works on television and film scoring – advising on recording techniques, setting up microphones, designing room layouts for musicians, and interacting with clients and composers – he got to work an incredibly special session with the Mancini family to rerecord Henry Mancini’s classic TV theme song Peter Gunn. Rich was working alongside legendary talent including Producer Gregg Fields, Conductor Quincy Jones, and session musicians Alturo Sandoval, Herbie Hancock, and John Williams. You read that right: Sandoval, Hancock, and Williams were session musicians for the recording. And had a blast doing it - especially Williams, who also played piano as a session musician on the original 1959 recording.

Rich was kind enough to agree to an interview for our blog - as well as share some cool snapshots from the session. Our 30-minute Zoom chat provided some cool insight into this latest version of Peter Gunn. 

Horns section sits in front of banners for
The Henry Mancini 100th Sessions
and behind the audio wirings of Richard Wheeler.

“Well, to start with John Williams. I've worked with him off and on for quite a while…he's brought in a couple of side projects to Warner Brothers, so I had the pleasure of working with him at Warner Brothers,” Rich explained.  “That day [of the Peter Gunn recording] was particularly fun because Williams got to hang out with his musician friends as opposed to being the composer who had to deal with directors and producers. He was acting more like a session musician which was a lot of fun because it's clear to me that he would prefer to do that. He would prefer to be playing jazz music with his musician friends.”

A Star (Wars) studded cast! Front, from left to right: Grammy-winning producer and
Henry Mancini's son-in-law Gregg Fields,
the incomparable film composer/jazz session pianist John Williams (!),
jazz innovator/keytar player Herbie Hancock,
and Mancini mentee/cool composer/conductor Quincy Jones.

Williams's low-key, relaxed attitude is well-known in the recording industry and people look forward to his humble entrances. “Believe it or not: with Quincy Jones in the room and Herbie Hancock, everyone was excited to see the two of them walk in but John came in a little bit later and the room stopped and everyone lit up,” Rich recalled and said this was not out of the ordinary for Star Wars film composer.  “He's a humble guy but he understands his place. He was very receptive and there was a lot of fun. He's just unassuming, which is great considering how legendary he is and how much he's touched so many people with his music. When he walks into a room, there's no air about him. He can sneak into a room and if you're not paying attention, you probably wouldn't know he's there.”

While Rich has worked with Williams on numerous occasions, this was the first time he got to work with jazz innovator Herbie Hancock. “He is incredible,” Rich shared with a smile,  “It took me a while to believe that he's in his 80s because he comes in with energy that I just can't imagine…he hasn't lost his edge at all. He was so excited to be there just to be with the band and especially play something that's fun like Peter Gunn.” Like Williams, Hancock made a quiet entrance but also received a delightful greeting once recognized. Rich was impressed by Hancock’s let’s-get-to-work attitude.  “It was funny because he was able to be in the room for several minutes before people were like: Herbie is already here!” Rich laughed.  “He's another person with a level of humility. He just walks in the room with great musicians and he's there to do a job – not there to get to be the star of the show.”  But, as fate would have it, Herbie made a great impression on Williams as he got to work on his keytar, an electronic keyboard worn like a guitar.

“Keytars are what we call ‘direct’ since they're electronically connected [instead of miked for recording]. They're non-acoustic instruments.” Rich explains. As such, Herbie Hancock was wearing headphones while improvising and recording his Peter Gunn keytar solo. Since the keytar is plugged in directly for a recording, people around Hancock, as he plays the keytar, don’t hear his notes…but they do hear other things. “Herbie Hancock is the type of person who sings with his solos. So, in the room, you hear keys clacking and Herbie Hancock singing out loud…” Rich recounts with a smirk, “…And you have a bunch of people walking around talking and milling around which is odd for a recording but he's seriously into this playing this incredible solo with headphones on, and John Williams comes from behind him and it took him a second to figure out what was going on because Herbie Hancock was so animated.  The look on [Williams’] face is classic.”

Williams and Fields (left, both in black)
eavesdrop on singing/jamming/keytar-playing Herbie Hancock. 

Of course, Williams figured out what was going on and smiled. Rich put it best: “They have massive respect for each other.”

Between Williams and Hancock’s recording, Quincy Jones at the podium, and news crews flying around to capture interviews during the 3-hour 100th Sessions recording, the Peter Gunn session was more like a party than a formal recording session. “The only thing missing was alcohol and disco balls,” Rich laughed. But you’d never know it from the recording, just listen:

Being part of this party atmosphere in the Warner Brothers scoring stage, is it any wonder that Rich’s favorite Mancini movie is The Party (1968) – #7 in our Top 100 Henry Mancini Films? 

Rich agrees with our blog’s assessment of The Party with “…some of the humor…a bit off by modern standards.” Despite that fact, the film is funny to Rich since The Party “pokes a lot of fun at Hollywood people who I deal with on a regular basis and I find that really hilarious…my wife and I watch that movie probably once a year.”

Rich’s favorite Henry Mancini tune? Pink Panther and mostly because of the cartoon. “And now, I can't get that song out of my head,” Rich admits. “Now that I brought it up, that song will be in my head for about 3 days. It's so incredible. It's the most memorable thing.”

Rich Wheeler shakes hands with conductor and legendary composer/record producer
Quincy Jones.

And, likewise, my time with Rich on Zoom was memorable: just two guys talking Mancini from our respective man caves – his garage and my little basement home office. Thanks to Rich for taking the time to give us a behind-the-scenes look at the historic 100th Sessions recording of Peter Gunn – my favorite Mancini song.