Les Baxter – The Pit And The Pendulum (1961)

Composer: Les Baxter

Tracklist

1. Main Titles 04:46
2. Francis Inquires 01:32
3. Elizabeth's Tomb 02:46
4. Nicholas' Trauma 06:22
5. Music In The Night 03:09
6. Incipient Madness 02:41
7. Castle Medina 00:58
8. Nightmare 00:40
9. Dark Corridors 01:26
10. Dead End 02:09
11. Nicholas' Guilt 01:45
12. Late Wife 00:24
13. Suspicions 03:03
14. True, True! 05:19
15. Voices And Spiderwebs 05:10
16. Don Medina's Return 02:18
17. The Pit And The Pendulum 06:29
18. End Titles 02:12

The Pit And The Pendulum is a 1961 horror film directed by Roger Corman,

starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, John Kerr, and Luana Anders.

The screenplay by Richard Matheson was loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story of the same name.
The film was the second title in the popular series of Poe adaptations released by American International Pictures,

the first having been Corman's House Of Usher released the previous year.
Like House, the film features widescreen cinematography by Floyd Crosby,

sets designed by art director Daniel Haller, and a film score composed by Les Baxter.

A critical and box-office hit, Pit's success convinced AIP and Corman to continue adapting Poe stories 

for another six films, five of them starring Vincent Price.

The series ended in 1965 with the release of The Tomb Of Ligeia.
Film critics have noted the film's strong influence on numerous subsequent Italian thrillers,

from Mario Bava's The Whip And The Body (1963) to Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975).
Stephen King has described one of Pit's major shock sequences

as being among the most important moments in post-1960 horror film.
Leslie Thompson "Les" Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was a best-selling American musician and composer.

After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands,

he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as Exotica and scored over 100 motion pictures.
Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles at Pepperdine College.
From 1943 on he played tenor and baritone saxophone for the Freddie Slack big band.
Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer.
In 1950 Baxter started arranging and conducting for Capitol Records 

 and conducted the orchestra in two early Nat King Cole hits, "Mona Lisa" and "Too Young".

He also recorded Yma Sumac's first album: "Voice Of The Xtabay",

which can be considered one of the first recordings of Exotica.
In 1951 he made the original recording of "Quiet Village" which years later became a hit for Martin Denny.

In 1953 he scored his first movie, the sailing travelogue Tanga Tika.
With his own orchestra, he released a number of hits including "Ruby" (1953), "Unchained Melody" (1955),

"The Poor People Of Paris" (1956) and "Sinner Man" (1956).
"Unchained Melody" was the first million seller for Baxter and was awarded a gold disc.
"The Poor People Of Paris" also sold over one million copies.
He also achieved success with concept albums of his own orchestral suites: Le Sacre Du Sauvage, Festival Of The Gnomes,

Ports Of Pleasure, and Brazil Now, the first three for Capitol and the fourth on Gene Norman's Crescendo label.

The list of musicians on these recordings includes Plas Johnson and Clare Fischer.
Baxter also wrote the "Whistle" theme from the TV show Lassie.
In the 1960s, he formed the Balladeers, a conservative folk group in suits that at one time featured a young David Crosby.

Later he used some of the same singers from that group for a studio project called The Forum.

He worked in radio as musical director of The Halls Of Ivy and the Bob Hope and Abbott And Costello shows.
Like his counterparts Henry Mancini and Lalo Schifrin, Baxter worked in films in the 1960s and 1970s. 

He worked on movie scores for B-movie studio American International Pictures 

where he composed scores for Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films and other horror and beach party films

including House Of Usher, The Pit And The Pendulum, The Raven, Muscle Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo.

He also composed a new score for the theatrical release of the 1970 horror film Cry Of The Banshee 

after AIP rejected Wilfred Josephs's original one.

Howard W. Koch recalled that Baxter composed, orchestrated and recorded

the entire score of The Yellow Tomahawk (1954) in a total of three hours for $5,000.
When soundtrack work fell off in the 1980s, he scored music for theme parks such as SeaWorld.

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