A year after they produced the Ford at Fox box set, 20th Century Fox came out with Murnau, Borzage and Fox, an acclaimed set of films by influential filmmakers F.W. Murnau and Frank Borzage. The Lazybones score featured Bryan Pezzone (piano), Sheridon Stokes (flutes) and John Goux (guitars), and called for a more pastoral approach, though with plenty of drama, action and comedy. 2:35
An audio technology company said they needed a piece of music that would help demonstrate their proprietary, wireless, seven-channel surround-sound system. I composed this for six guitars (one in each speaker) and percussion. Fino Roverato, Grant Geissman, John Goux, Joe DiBlasi, Mitch Holder and Joe Jewell played on it. Legendary sound mixer Dan Wallin recorded it. The resulting seven-channel version sounded amazing. To recreate that listening experience, simply imagine this stereo mix with five more channels… Music-only; :55
Ad agency R&R Partners produced a series of animated TV spots for the National Mining Association, using this cute elliptical-headed miner as the main character. They wanted the music to be simple and a perfect match to this animated world. Easier said than done. I wrote the parts for solo clarinet and hired the inimitable woodwind master Dan Higgins, who added subtle nuances that brought it to life. :15
In The Extra, Joe, an earnest-but-dim-witted aspiring actor from Louisiana, takes up residence on a soundstage of the Paramount Pictures backlot. As I recorded this score, the various instruments that lay strewn about my studio included harmonicas, guitars, a banjo, a washboard, a spoon, a manila envelope and brushes, shakers, a small sauce pan and a 6-quart pot and matching lid. Music-only
“Joe Wakes Up” is the main title cue and scores Joe’s morning routine as he gets out of bed on a deserted soundstage and hurries to his gig as an extra. :42
This is the climax of the film, as Joe mistakenly puts on the lead actor’s suit and is chased in over-the-top-Hollywood style throughout the studio lot. 1:30
Adapted from an award-winning play, Dinner Party is a sparse, dark comedy that was great fun to score. I used a lot of repeated sequences in it, along with some delay effects on flute and pizzicato strings, with the goal of creating a surreal, claustrophobic feel. Music-only
This is the main title, which underscores a prison inmate being strapped into an electric chair. 1:42
This cue has a more minimalist feel to it, lighter and more orchestral than the main title, but builds to an undulating climax later in the scene. 4:12
This independent film chronicles a disturbed and gifted man’s struggle to convince the outside world that he can communicate with nature in remarkable ways. Abstract little movie, and one that offered me a wide-open canvas for music.
This montage captures the broad arc of the film (and the different moods and themes the music had to reflect) – from suspenseful to pastoral, and from psychologically torturous to quietly tragic. 1:43
Speaking of psychologically torturous, this cue accompanies the main character’s spiral into insanity. 3:23
Composed for the folks at abcmouse.com, this is the full score I wrote for their illustrated storybook version of Jack and the Beanstalk. Music-only
In the first cue, Jack and his mom must sell their beloved cow. Jack goes to the market and ends up exchanging the cow for magic beans. Mom’s none too happy. But then the beans grow into a giant beanstalk and Jack climbs up… 3:13
Here, Jack discovers a strange new world at the top of the beanstalk, including a nice giant woman. Her husband, also a giant, not so nice. Fee-fi-fo-fum, all that stuff, you remember. The giant comes in all cranky, eats dinner, orders his goose to lay him a golden egg, then nods off to sleep… 3:16
In the final act, Jack slips out with the goose while the giant sleeps, but the giant wakes up and chases them, all the way to the beanstalk. Jack and the goose make it down unscathed. Jack then brings the goose to his mom, they get rich off the golden eggs, and here endeth the story. 3:00