Dirty Harry soundtrack - Schifrin on Rhodes (End Titles piece)

The "End Titles" piece from the
Dirty Harry soundtrack (1971)
by the incredible Lalo Schifrin
played on a sweet Rhodes by Dan

Lalo Schifrin is an awesome composer born in Argentina in 1932, studied with Messiaen in France and played and wrote for Dizzy Gillespie. He has a massive number of film soundtracks, numerous orchestral works and solo albums to his credit, he's diverse and prolific and truly one of the great composers!

This piece plays at the end of the film as Callahan reflects and contemplates his future. In the Schifrin original the piece also has a saw lead (synth) playing a sort of counterpoint to the Rhodes part. Elements of this piece are in the "Dawn Discovery" cue when the dead girl's body is found earlier in the film and also forms part of the "Finale" in Magnum Force. In Sudden Impact it forms the basis of "San Francisco After Dark" and "This side of Forever" (a vocal version/extension) and finally in the fifth sequel "The Dead Pool" the closing/end credits have a trumpet/saxophone instrumental jazz version of the piece (with some variation).

A Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical musical instrument, a brand of electric piano first introduced in 1965. Its creator was Harold Rhodes (true!). It is not a synthesizer as the sound-producing mechanism is derived from the concept of an asymmetrical tuning fork - with a stiff wire (called a "tine") struck by a felt-tipped hammer acting as one side of the tuning fork, and a counterbalancing resonating tone bar above the tine acting as the other side. The vibrations are then picked up by an electromagnetic pickup (one for each tine), and amplified. The pickups' output is fed to an amplifier which can be adjusted for volume and tube clipping if desired.

The Rhodes has a bell-like character like a glockenspiel but with added "electric warmth". A shimmering pan-oscilation (labelled vibrato on Rhodes pianos) is a built-in effect option and can be heard in "Riders on the Storm" by The Doors as well as numerous Funk, RnB and popular music. Alicia Keys uses one in her "A Woman's Worth" song and Herbie Hancock played one at "We Are One - The Obama Inaugural Celebration".

All comments welcome

Lalo Schifrin Dirty Harry Soundtrack End Titles closing credits end scene film score 88 key Rhodes piano music ost theme cover (FYI John Milius was an uncredited screenwriter for Dirty Harry)

If you havent got the soundtrack already you gotta get it... its been described as "urgent symphonic jazz-funk" and it really runs the gamut of styles and moods, but whatever you call it, its freakin' awesome!

Also do you like the suit? I tried to match the one from the film.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Lalo
• Schifrin
• Dirty
• Harry
• soundtrack
• End
• Titles
• ost
• theme
• closing
• credits
• music
• sweet
• Rhodes
• piano
• cover
• suitcase
• sad
• dan
• plays
• melancholy
• reflective
• scene
• fender
• Eastwood
• film
• score
• danofsydney
• interpretation

[IIIJFRIII]

Please tell me Mr. danofsydney, how long have you been playing? Im 22, I wish I could play an instrement like you. Have you been playing your whole life? Real nice again man.

[danofsydney]

Thanks very much JFR, I learnt guitar first (many years ago) and thought i could parlay the theory and finger skills aquired on guitar onto piano, so I started playing piano in September 2007.

[Dsalazar917K]

This is Amazing! Great Job!

[danofsydney]

Thanks a lot Dsalazar

[airwolfman]

Well played :). I know we see you playing the notes but is a piano sheet somewhere... "available"?

*giggles*

[danofsydney]

Thanks @airwolfman, but no sheet exists, except maybe in Lalo's archive, so I transcribed it by ear.

[clintbronson5]

Makes me want to throw my K-Mart badge in the fish pond we have outside our store :)

[youandyamum]

I listened to this. Got in my car. Drove to Hen & Chicken Bay. Stood on a jetty. Threw my toy badge into the water...

[dsen1889]

Excellent! A beautiful piece very nicely done sir.

[enigma800]

The Rhodes electric piano is so dreamy sounding. Love it!

[Northwro]

Are you sure you not really Lalo Schifrin? This is amazing. Great work!!!!

[MISTERFRANK]

very good

[depailler80]

fantastic, bravissimo!

[dsen1889]

Excellent. 

[myblueroad]

The sound of the seventies :)