The Italian-American composer Henry Mancini has made an impression on my musical sensibilities in my early-eared days. Ever since I was a little kid one of my favorite tunes was the groovy Pink Panther theme, with that silky sax by Plas Johnson. It was also hard to resist the theme to Peter Gunn (again, sax by Johnson). The soundtrack to Orson Welles' Touch of Evil is another good one, as well as Mancini's great tune "Baby Elephant Walk". Personally, I can do without Moon River and Days of Wine & Roses but you got to hand it to the man for his large success, the scoring career he carved out as well as his ability to write in any style.
Check out the iconic unbroken opening scene from the Welles classic, featuring Mancini's music: