Quincy Jones scored almost three dozen films, including “In the Heat of the Night,” “The Italian Job” and “The Color Purple.” The first of them came years after he wrote this number, but Mike Meyers turned it into a movie theme anyway.
Austin Powers wasn’t even a gleam in a satirist’s eye in 1962 – the first James Bond film had yet to be released – when Jones wrote this ditty (in 20 minutes, he said) as the lead track for “Big Band Bossa Nova,” his band’s 12th album. The LP, milking the Latin rhythm du jour, is undistinguished, but this tune was used as the theme music for a Canadian game show that Meyers watched as a kid, leading to its worldwide identification with the International Man of Mystery.
“Soul Bossa Nova” was released as a single but failed to chart. That’s Rahsaan Roland Kirk on flute; Q could always woo the big names.
The Melbourne Ska Orchestra, the 30-plus member Australian outfit, recorded a creditable cover a few years back that tones down the novelty touches but doesn’t swing as nimbly.
