"Park Avenue Beat" (also known as the "''Perry Mason'' Theme") was the theme music for the 1957–1966 CBS television drama '' Perry Mason''. It is one of the best-known works by composer

Fred Steiner Frederick Steiner (February 24, 1923 – June 23, 2011) was an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, film historian and arranger for television, radio and film. Steiner wrote the theme music for ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' an ...

. CBS executives had wanted the theme music to convey the suavity, sophistication, and toughness that they felt were the fundamental aspects of Perry Mason's character, as well as his dealing with criminals and crime. According to Steiner:

Historically, you associate jazz with the seamy side of life. n 1957
rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
was the big thing. That rhythm just seemed like what I was looking for: a contemporary beat for that side of him, and yet the symphonic sound to represent him as the kind of guy who goes to the opera. It sounds easy now, but I must have gone through four or five different versions.

The theme was reused in the NBC series of '' Perry Mason'' television films starring the surviving original cast members. In 2001, "Park Avenue Beat" topped a

Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper brand ...

top 10 list of television themes.

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References

{{Perry Mason , state=autocollapse 1957 songs Television drama theme songs Perry Mason