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THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN – Gil Mellé
MOVIE MUSIC UK CLASSICS
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Universal Studios executives saw opportunity to capitalize on the public fascination surrounding the best-selling 1969 techno-thriller novel The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, and purchased the film rights for $250,000. Renowned academy award winning director Robert Wise was brought in to both produce and direct the film and given a generous budget of $6.5 million. He hired trusted collaborator Nelson Gidding to adapt the novel for the screen and brought in a fine cast, which included; Arthur Hill as Dr. Jeremy Stone, James Olson as Dr. Mark Hall, David Wayne as Dr. Charles Dutton, Kate Reid as Dr. Ruth Leavitt. Paula Kelly as nurse Karen Anson, and George Mitchell as Mr. Peter Jackson. Read more…
Gil Mellé, 1931-2004
Composer, jazz musician, artist and electronic-music pioneer Gil Mellé died at his home in Malibu, California, on October 28, 2004, at the age of 72, following a heart attack.
One of the most unconventional figures in American film and television music, Mellé wrote scores for more than 125 productions, but remains best remembered for Robert Wise’s The Andromeda Strain and his groundbreaking use of electronic instruments.
Gilbert John Mellé was born in New York City on December 31, 1931. A gifted visual artist as well as a musician, he began playing saxophone as a teenager and was performing in Greenwich Village jazz clubs before he was 16. At 19 he signed with Blue Note Records, becoming the label’s first white musician, and recorded a series of albums including Patterns in Jazz and 5 Impressions of Color. He also designed album artwork for musicians including Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins.
Mellé’s interests increasingly turned toward technology and electronic music. After moving to Los Angeles during the 1960s, he built his own synthesizers and other electronic devices and formed the Electronauts, an all-electronic jazz ensemble which performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival. His 1967 album Tome VI explored electronic jazz at a time when synthesizers were still a novelty.
His defining film assignment was The Andromeda Strain (1971), Wise’s adaptation of Michael Crichton’s science-fiction novel. Mellé created an almost entirely electronic sound world of pulses, oscillations, distorted tones and mechanical textures that perfectly complemented the film’s clinical laboratories and technological paranoia. He even recorded sounds at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory while researching the score. The result was one of the pioneering electronic scores for a major Hollywood film and earned Mellé a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score. Read more…
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