He was 88. Rick Stitzel - Hal Leonard Corporation Every aspiring jazz player is familiar with this haunting ballad that achieved notoriety as the theme song for television's Mike Hammer series. Earle Hagen, a former big-band trombonist, also wrote the jazz standard "Harlem Nocturne." The song Harlem Nocturne was written by Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers and was first recorded and released by Ray Noble and His Orchestra featuring Jack Dumont, Alto Sax in 1940. It was first taken up as the theme tune for the Randy Brooks Orchestra in 1941. While an arranger with the Ray Noble Orchestra in 1939, Earle Hagen composed the unforgettably sultry “Harlem Nocturne” which has lived on and on through various guises and performers. It was covered by Paul Phillips & His Band, Booker Ervin, The Royal City Saxophone Quartet, Hozan Yamamoto and other artists. “It has a nostalgic, film noir quality about it,” notes Keach, who befriended Hagen and even played “Harlem Nocturne” at the piano when the composer was honored at a TV Academy event in 2007. Eight of the nine tracks are his own compositions, the exception being Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers’ Harlem Nocturne. 78_harlem-nocturne_johnny-otis-his-drums--his-orchestra-earle-hagen-teddy-buckner-b_gbia0001594b Location USA Run time 00:03:14 Scanner Internet Archive Python library 1.4.0 Scanningcenter George Blood, L.P. Size 10.0 Source 78 Year 1945 Among Scanlon’s collaborators here are pianists Tom Ranier and Ed Czach who are always supportive, Ranier soloing on I Hear Something and Harlem Nocturne, Czach soloing on My Right Foot and Scandalized. The man who wrote TV theme songs for The Andy Griffith Show, I Spy and The Mod Squad has died. Harlem Nocturne Words & Music by Earle Hagen & Sid Robin*, 1939 Recorded by Mel Torme, 1963 Em E9 Em B+ Em G Em G Em Am A noc - turne for the blues, played on a bro - ken heart string; Am A9 Am Am+7 C7 C B7 Cdim Em It's wail - ing out the news my ba - by is gone from me. Harlem Nocturne Harlem Nocturne Earle Hagen/arr.