COUNTERPOINT, the frank account of the varied and exciting life of Joe Harnell, pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, will be sure to appeal to anyone who's a fan of mid to late 20th century popular culture and it's major players, louis armstrong, marlene dietrich, etc.
While not always pretty (Harnell has no desire to gloss over the more unpleasent aspects of his life), it is an always honest and very revealing account of the artistic and personal development of a musician's musician. After reading this book, it is difficult not to be touched by Harnell's humanity whether or not one is aware of his work and contributions to popular and television music over the last five decades.

Joe Harnell is to the television medium what his friends John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith are to the cinematic medium. In fifty years, when the maturity of the academy has caught up to social reality and recognizes great artistic contributions to television as having as much significance as other media such as film, theater and the concert hall, you will be glad to have read Counterpoint, The Journey of a Music Man. It is an indispensible insight into the mental landscape of American television's greatest musical luminary.

Much television is indeed a wasteland, which is why much prejudice against the idiom is justified. However, in ANY artistic medium there is a bell-curve of the great, the mediocre and the abyssmal. Joe Harnell's scores are sheer brilliance, more than deserving of the three Emmy nominations garnered. Any short-sighted dismissals of the television idiom that would cause an overlooking of Joe Harnell's musical contributions would be a lamentable pity.

Counterpoint: The Journey of a Music Man is an intensely personal account of the sacrifices and struggles that contort a life so that it may remain consummately productive in music. Even if one cared nothing about music, it would be a compelling human narrative about the exorcism of personal demons and emergence from strife into a rare self-actualization. That alone is worth the price of admission.

Robert Gross is a graduate student in music for film, television and theater at the University of Bristol in England. He has written two analyses of Harnell's music from "The Incredible Hulk" and is currently writing a thesis on Harnell's score to the four-hour miniseries "V".

What a life! After reading his book, you realize the life Joe has lead behind his music. It was surprising and almost shocking how personal and revealing the writing is to the insides of his thoughts and feelings.
He shows how he is a true musician at heart no matter what professional situation he is presented. His solid background as a pianist and arranger laid the groundwork for his film scoring that did not come to mid-life and career and he almost didn't take the chance....still a 25 year fish out of water on the west coast! Thanks for a all the great music that became the soundtrack to my childhood Joe....
Also was surpised to find out about his Jewish background, he always seemed Italiano to me!
So the book leaves just one question- when is the TV movie version of Joe Harnell coming out?

MAKING IT novelist Ira Skutch takes us behind the screen to that exciting time when television became the most powerful influence in America. Entwined together in business, friendship and sex, three bright and aggressive people climb the heights of success in the heady days of the birth of network television. Along the way, they must deal with agents, clients, producers and characters who range from the warmest to the most reptilian. The reader gets an insight into the agonies caused by the McCarthy era. Ira Skutch started as an NBC page. His career grew as quickly as the network grew itself; and he went from stage manager to commercial producer/director and vice president of Goodson-Todman Productions, logging over 10,000 episodes of shows such as I've Got A Secret, Beat The Clock, Play Your Hunch, Match Game and Password.

Although this novel brilliantly illuminates early days of television, it's fascinating characters and plot are even more compelling. With rare narrative drive, the book sweeps the reader along, enmeshed in a unique love triangle, in the interplay of ambition, greed, fear, and the pursuit of power. As if those qualities were not enough, this novel has something to say, and its characters will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.

delbert mann is ridiculously cool. i love him. read this book, read it now. ily*