1950s and 1960s
Outside of his work with the new Basie band, Hefti also led a big band of his own during the fifties. In 1951, one of these bands featured his wife Frances on vocals. They recorded and toured off and on with this and other incarnations of this band throughout the 1950s. Although his own band did not attain the same level of success as the famous bands he arranged for, he did receive a Grammy nomination for his own album Jazz Pops (1962), which included recordings of "Li'l Darlin," "Cute," and "Coral Reef". It was his last work in the Jazz idiom.
Later in the 1950s he finally abandoned trumpet playing altogether to concentrate on scoring and conducting. He had steady work conducting big bands, backing singers in the studio during recording sessions, and appearing on the television shows of Arthur Godfrey, Kate Smith and others.
He moved back to his beloved California in the early 1960s. During this time he began working for the Hollywood film industry, and he enjoyed tremendous popular success writing music for film and television. He wrote much background and theme music for motion pictures, including the films Sex and the Single Girl, How to Murder Your Wife (1965), Synanon, Boeing Boeing (1965), Lord Love a Duck (1966), Duel at Diablo (1966), The Odd Couple (1968), Barefoot in the Park (1967) and Harlow (1965), for which he received two Grammy nominations for the song "Girl Talk". While most of his compositions during this period were geared to the demands of the medium and the directors, there were many moments when he was able to infuse his work with echoes of his jazz heritage.
In 1961 Hefti joined with Frank Sinatra on his Sinatra and Swingin' Brass album where Hefti was credited as arranger and conductor of the album's 12 cuts.
He also wrote background and theme music for television shows, including Batman and The Odd Couple. He received three Grammy nominations for his television work and received one award for his Batman television score. His Batman title theme, a simple cyclic twelve-bar blues-based theme, became a Top 10 single for The Marketts and later for Hefti himself. His theme for The Odd Couple movie was reprised as part of his score for the television series of the early 1970s. He received two Grammy nominations for his work on The Odd Couple television series.
Throughout these years and into the 1970s, Hefti periodically formed big bands either for club, concert or record dates.
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