Article #89117

Celebrated saxophonist in demand for session work and film soundtracks who was famous for his stylistic and technical versatility

As a first-call session musician in the Hollywood studios, the saxophonist Plas Johnson needed to be able to cope with anything the occasion might require. One day in 1963, during a session to record Henry Mancini’s music for the detective comedy The Pink Panther, directed by Blake Edwards and starring David Niven and Peter Sellers, Johnson was asked to apply his distinctive tone on the tenor saxophone to a stealthy melody suggestive of some sort of nocturnal prowling. Released as a single after the film had become a hit, the tune reached the US Top 10.

“I had a specific saxophone player in mind,” Mancini wrote in his autobiography. “I nearly always pre-cast my players and write for them and around them, and Plas had the sound and the style I wanted.”