Music for a Private Eye is an LP of twelve musical themes from popular television programs of the late 1950s performed by bandleader Ralph Marterie, billed as "Ralph Marterie and his Marlboro men." It capitalized on the growing popularity of television theme songs, focusing on crime and mystery programs.
Mercury Records' West Coast artist and repertoire director Pete Rugolo collaborated with engineer Bill Putnam to produce Music for a Private Eye, the first Mercury recording at Putnam's United Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Ralph Marterie led the orchestra in arrangements by Rugolo and veteran jazz musician and music arranger Skip Martin.
In its June 1960, issue, Hifi/Stereo Review complimented the band's "clean, crisp, frequently hard-swinging interpretations of some of the more staple thematic fare of TV's back alley dramas." The interest level of the album was rated "Approaching saturation point."
Noting that Marterie was known for his big-band dance albums, reviewer Greg Adams concluded that Music for a Private Eye "is a very well-recorded stereo album that makes one wish that Marterie had strayed from his dance band format more often and recorded other thematic albums.
In 1963, four years after its initial release, Music for a Private Eye was reissued on Mercury's budget Wing label.
In 2016, Blue Moon Jazz released a CD that combined Music for a Private Eye with Ralph Marterie's 1959 release, Big Band Man.
Trumpets
Trombones
Bass Trombone
Alto Saxes
Tenor Saxes
Baritone Sax
Piano
Guitar
Bass
Drums
Percussion