My Pink Panther Version: What I Kept (and Changed)
- Luis David Bonilla
- Jun 26
- 2 min read
When I started arranging Pink Panther, the first thing that comes to mind with such a recognizable theme is preserving its most fundamental elements: the melody — by virtue of it being an instrumental piece — and the hard swing feel it carries. Those were my two non-negotiable parameters.
The second parameter was the project itself: a gypsy jazz ensemble, which meant preserving the 4/4 feel and the swing element, while working within a specific instrumentation — clarinet, violin, acoustic gypsy jazz guitar, electric guitar, upright bass, and drums. A far cry from the original, which is a full big band orchestra with strings.
So the challenge became building everything around the melody and adding lines and counterpoints that don't get in the way, but elevate it. This is an arranging criterion I hold firmly: if a melody is memorable enough, there's nothing left to improve — you just have to do it justice.
That meant making the rhythm section feel complete with only the acoustic guitar playing la pompe — the French term for that strumming technique — while layering a modern electric guitar with hybrid picking, textures, volume swells, and different voicings. In the solo section, I wrote backgrounds for the violin and electric guitar — a technique used to create interest underneath solos — along with counterlines, voicings, and chord-solo ideas in the B section, all designed to elevate the melody.
This was recorded in late 2018, and these are decisions I can still listen to today, eight years later, and stand behind completely. The arrangement is complex and technically demanding — deliberately so, because I approached it as if this limited instrumentation had been the original. Not limited because it's lacking anything, but because the original is already a big band.
👉 Watch the full arrangement here ⬇️⬇️⬇️
The overall result was great. The solos came out strong, and I'm still happy with how everything fits together as a whole. Working on my first album project was both challenging and incredibly rewarding. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed bringing it to life.
L. D. Bonilla
The Band Coach Method
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