Lou Grant’s composer has died

Lou Grant’s composer has died

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norman lebrecht

July 26, 2018

Patrick Williams, composer for the newsroom soap Lou Grant and the The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died at 79.

If you were around newspapers in the late 1970s, this should ring some bells.

Comments

  • Doug says:
    July 26, 2018 at 4:20 pm

    Cheesy quasi-funk flavored pop. That has always inspired *real* journalism.

    Reply
  • Tommy says:
    July 26, 2018 at 4:39 pm

    You do Patrick Williams a great disservice here.
    Quite apart from his 200 movie credits (and his more famous TV music was probably for Streets of San Francisco, Columbo and The Bob Newhart Show), his arrangements for Sinatra were superb and he won two Grammys for his jazz work (and one for his concert work). He was also Oscar and Pulitzer Prize nominated. And he was a tireless supporter of young talent, teaching in many colleges over the years and was an important part of the Henry Mancini Institute, which gave young orchestra players valuable experience and grants for study.
    Williams was a much-loved member of the music community in LA and beyond and he will be much missed by us all.

    Reply
  • Rob says:
    July 26, 2018 at 5:11 pm

    He sent me a message only two weeks ago! Very talented composer and arranger. I love his score to “Make me a perfect murder”, an episode of Columbo.

    Very sad.

    Reply
  • barry guerrero says:
    July 26, 2018 at 7:23 pm

    We played a Pat Williams tune in the DeAnza College Jazz Band in 1975, “Mr. Smoke”. It was a good big-band number.

    Reply
  • Byron says:
    July 26, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    Williams, along with many of his contemporaries in television scoring such as Billy Goldenberg and Gil Melle, comprised an often brilliant but sadly neglected school of music. Jaded or elitist ears may dismiss it but it was and still is smart, impeccably crafted (not to mention infectious as hell) stuff.

    Reply

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