Over the last 35 years or so, John Scott has established himself as one
of the finest
composers working in films today. Although he is usually overlooked in favor of more familiar
composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and James Horner, John Scott
has created a body of work that stands up as some of the best music written for films.
(Patrick) John Scott was born in Bristol, England in
1930. John's musical abilities are not without precedence; his
father was a musician in the Bristol Police Band. Like many
children John was given music lessons -- first on the violin and
then, later, the clarinet.
When John was 14 he enrolled in the army as a Boy Musician in
order to carry on his musical studies. He continued his study of
the clarinet and also studied harp. Later on, John took up the
Saxophone and became proficient enough that when he eventually
left the military John was able to find steady work touring with
some of the top British bands of the era.
As time went on people began to notice that John Scott had a
certain ability as an arranger of music. John was hired by EMI
and began to arrange and conduct with some of EMI's top artists.
John worked with Beatles producer George Martin and has recorded
such artists as Tom Jones, Cilla Black, and The Hollies. However,
John also was a working, playing musician -- he played with The
Julian Bream Consort, Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar, Nelson
Riddle, John Dankworth and Cleo Lane.
In addition to this, in the 60's John was the leader of a
popular jazz quintet. It was in this time that John started to
play saxophone on some film scores. He played for Henry Mancini
and was principal sax on the Goldfinger soundtrack.
This exposure to film music wetted John's appetite for composing
music for films. His first score was in 1963 for the film A Study
in Terror. Since that "big break" John has gone on to
score many films over the years. His efforts have not gone
unnoticed: he is the recipient of 3 Emmy Awards.
John has not limited his compositions to the silver screen, he
has also composed many concert works including a symphony, a
ballet and 2 string quartets. He has also conducted other film
composers work for release on CD as well as having conducted most
of the major European Orchestras
John has also started his own record company, JOS
Records. JOS is unusual in that it is a label that is run by
a composer and that releases the composers own music. This is not
unprecedented in the history of musical recordings (e.g. Elmer
Bernstein's Film Music Club, and some Stanyan recordings by
Rod McKuen) but I cannot recall it being done on this type of scale
and for this length of time. JOS has released some 19 CDs since
1989! All film music fans should be thankful that these scores,
some of them quite obscure, have been released at all.