Gil Mellé
Gilbert John Mellé (December 31, 1931 – October 28, 2004) was an American jazz musician, film score composer, and artist.
Also recorded as Gilbert John Mellé
Gil Mellé

Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England · Lieutenant Colombo's Peugeot 403 Cabriolet at Universal Studios, Los Angeles · CC BY 2.0
- Name
- Gil Mellé
- Birth Name
- Gilbert John Mellé
- Born
- 31 December 1931
- Birthplace
- New York City, U.S.
- Died
- 28 October 2004
- Place of death
- Malibu, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- Musician, composer, artist, sound engineer
- Full name
- Gilbert John Mellé.
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- film score
- Languages
- English
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Documentary connections
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
museum · 6cde5a82-1473-41df-bee5-27e80e223420 · wikidata · Q1382704 · wikipedia · Gil Mellé
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Gil Mellé • Birth Name — Gilbert John Mellé • Born — 31 December 1931 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 28 October 2004 • Place of death — Malibu, California, U.S. • Instrument — Synthesizer; tenor, baritone, and soprano saxophones • Genre — Jazz, electronic, experimental, third stream • Occupation — Musician, composer, artist, sound engineer • Years Active — 1953-2004 • Associated Acts — Zoot Sims George Wallington Max Roach Tal Farlow Oscar Pettiford Ed Thigpen Kenny Dorham
Life and career
Life and career
In the 1950s, Mellé created the cover art for albums by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Sonny Rollins. Mellé led a number of sessions recorded for the Blue Note and Prestige labels between 1952 and 1957. He also appeared at the first Newport Jazz Festival, leading a band that also contained Joe Cinderella, Vinnie Burke, and Ed Thigpen. As a film and TV composer, Mellé was one of the first to use self-built electronic instruments, played either alone or alongside an orchestra. Mellé died in Malibu, California on October 28, 2004.
As composer and arranger
As composer and arranger
• Gil Mellé Quintet/Sextet (New Faces - New Sounds) (Blue Note, 1953) • Gil Mellé Quintet with Urbie Green and Tal Farlow - Volume 2 (Blue Note, 1953) • Gil Mellé Quartet featuring Lou Mecca - Volume 3 (Blue Note, 1954) • Gil Mellé Quintet with Don Butterfield - 5 Impressions of Color (Blue Note, 1955) • Patterns in Jazz (Blue Note, 1956) • Primitive Modern (Prestige, 1956) • Gil's Guests (Prestige, 1956) • Quadrama (Prestige, 1957) • Tome VI (Verve, 1967) • Waterbirds (Nocturne, 1970) • The Andromeda Strain (Kapp, 1971) • Mindscape (Blue Note, 1989) • The Organization (Intrada, 2010). World premiere release of the original soundtrack of the 1971 film. Produced by Douglass Fake. Liner notes by James Phillips. Art Direction by Joe Sikoyak. • Borderline (Intrada, 2012). World premiere release of the original score to the 1980 film. Produced by Douglass Fake. Liner Notes by James Phillips. Art Direction by Joe Sikoyak.
Television series
Television series
• Ironside (1968) - 1 episode • Then Came Bronson (1969–70) - 2 episodes • Night Gallery (1969–73) - Theme music • The Psychiatrist (1970–71) - Theme music • Columbo (1971–72) - 4 episodes • Tenafly (1973) - 4 episodes • Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974–75) - Theme music • World War III (1982) - Miniseries • Fatal Vision (1984) - Miniseries • Veronica Clare (1991) - 9 episodes
Identity
Identity
Gil Mellé is recorded as composer, saxophonist, sculptor, musician and audio engineer. Recorded at birth as Gilbert John Mellé.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
2004
Gil Mellé died at Los Angeles.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
US.
Country
Jersey City.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
Film scores
Film scores
• The Andromeda Strain (1971) • The Organization (1971) • The Manipulator (1971) • You'll Like My Mother (1972) • Bone (1972) • The Ultimate Warrior (1975) • Embryo (1976) • Starship Invasions (1977) • The Sentinel (1977) • Blood Beach (1980) • Borderline (1980) • The Last Chase (1981) • Hot Target (1985)
Television films
Television films
• Lieutenant Schuster's Wife (1972) • That Certain Summer (1972) • The Victim (1972) • The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972) • The Astronaut (1972) • Future Shock (1972) • A Cold Night's Death (1973) • The Six Million Dollar Man (1973) • Partners in Crime (1973) • Savage (1973) • The President's Plane Is Missing (1973) • Trapped (1973) • The Six Million Dollar Man: The Solid Gold Kidnapping (1973) • Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) • Legend in Granite (1973) • The Questor Tapes (1974) • Killdozer! (1974) • Hitchhike (1974) • The Last Angry Man (1974) • The Savage Is Loose (1974) • The Missing Are Deadly (1975) • A Cry for Help (1975) • The Imposter (1975) • Crime Club (1975) • Death Scream (1975) • The Art of Crime (1975) • Dynasty (1976) • Perilous Voyage (1976) • Gold of the Amazon Women (1979) • A Vacation in Hell (1979) • Attica (1980) • The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (1980) • Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case (1980) • The Intruder Within (1981) • Through Naked Eyes (1983) • Jealousy (1984) • Best Kept Secrets (1984) • Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac (1984) • Sweet Revenge (1984) • Starcrossed (1985) • When Dreams Come True (1985) • Killer in the Mirror (1986) • The Deliberate Stranger (1986) • Circle of Violence: A Family Drama (1986) • Stillwatch (1987) • The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story (1988) • From the Dead of Night (1989) • The Case Of The Hillside Stranglers (1989) • So Proudly We Hail (1990) • Good Cops, Bad Cops (1990) • Fire: Trapped on the 37th Floor (1991) • Night Owl (1993)
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- MusicBrainz artist record for Gil Mellé
Scholarly · MetaBrainz Foundation
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1382704: Gil Mellé
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
authority file
- VIAF cluster 71592904 for Gil Mellé, aggregating national library name authorities.
General reference · OCLC
reference work
- “Gil Mellé”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Awards and nominations
• 1972 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score: The Andromeda Strain (nominated)
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Gil Mellé, revision 1366307602 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Gil Melle: 1931-2004. www.jazzhouse.org.
- 2.Gil Melle Biography & History AllMusic. AllMusic.
- 3.Kennedy, Gary W. Melle [Mellé], Gil(bert John). 2003. 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J639200.
- 4.Gil Mellé: Instrumental Inventions - JazzTimes. JazzTimes.
- 5.- Discogs
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
MusicBrainz artist record for Gil MelléMetaBrainz Foundation
Institutional witnessInstitutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1382704: Gil MelléWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessauthority file
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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