Surfin' on the Net I've found out a very interesting long interview with Paul Buckmaster made by Christian Dueblin for Xecutives.Net - The Swiss management network in 2009.
Don't you think it's very indicative there aren't quotations on it about his past experiences with the Third Ear Band...?
"Paul Buckmaster has been active as a musician
since the early 60’s. His musical life began in London,
the city of his birth, with his taking up the cello at age four; he went on to
study in Italy at the
conservatory in Naples, and then back in London, at the Royal
Academy of Music. He won a Grammy Award (2002) and early on, as arranger, met
musicians like David Bowie, Elton John, Chi Coltrane and others, for whom his
work helped to launch their careers. In the interview with Christian Dueblin he
talks about his early years, his love for Italy, and how his music career
started. He talks about famous people in music history, such as Miles Davis,
Angelo Branduardi, and Eros Ramazzotti. In addition to his many other
achievements Paul Buckmaster became famous as the composer for the movie Twelve
Monkeys, a Terry Gilliam cult movie starring Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, and
Madeleine Stowe. Read below how a great musician discusses his work and allows
us a glimpse of music history and behind the scenes in the music business.
Christian Dueblin: Paul, very early you worked with some musicians and artists who have since become very famous, such as Elton John, David Bowie, Celine Dion, and others who were already world-famous, such as Eros Ramazzotti or Miles Davis. But before we talk about your relationship to these titans of music, I would like to ask where your musical interest and skills come from and what your early memories regarding music are.
Paul Buckmaster: I was born into an artistic
family; my mother, who was born and raised in Naples, was a concert pianist, and had
attended the Conservatorio there as a piano student. In Italy the conservatory system is different to
what we have in England and
in the U.S.
In those countries you enroll in music college or conservatory after you have
completed your regular high school studies, but in Italy the starting age can
be even as low as seven. (At age ten you usually have finished your primary
education). Then you can enroll as a student at the conservatory; regular high
school courses are given at the Conservatories and must also be attended.
At age four, I started attending a small
private school in London called the London Violoncello School, and continued
studying cello under several private teachers until I was ten, in 1957, when my
mother took me to Naples together with my sister and brother, where I was given
a one-month-long audition with the cello professor, Willy la Volpe, during which he
assessed me as eligible for a scholarship.
In Italy the conservatories are
public, and thanks to my professor’s help, I gained a state scholarship. My
tuition fees were covered by that scholarship; all travel expenses, room and
board, were paid for by my parents. Between 1958-1962, I returned to the Naples
Conservatory every year for eight months; the other four months of the year I
was obliged to attend my secondary school in London, to complete my regular high-school
studies and to obtain the standard General Certificate of Education. Upon
graduating secondary school (high school) I auditioned for, and obtained a
scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where I attended as a cello student,
graduating, with a Performer’s Diploma, in 1967.
Back then did you come into contact with film
scores or with musical arrangements? What got you interested in becoming an
arranger yourself?
During my years as a cello student, I did not
attend any composition classes, nor did I study orchestration. I had played in
student and semi-professional orchestras and chamber ensembles, but had no
conscious interest in being a composer or arranger; I had been following my
mother’s intention for me to become an international concert cellist. However,
rather than follow my mother’s direction, during my early teen years and
throughout my years at the Royal Academy of Music, I developed a passion for
16th and 17th century music, the so-called Baroque music — in other words,
early classical music, and played in a number of 15/20-piece semi-pro chamber
groups. My interest in that music was so great that, in August 1967, I
auditioned for a French chamber orchestra, but sadly was not successful in
becoming one of the two cellists in that group. My life would have taken a very
different direction had I become a member!
So, back in England, one month later, Vivian
Joseph, my cello professor at the RAM, phoned and asked me if I would like to
play cello as part of a small backing orchestra in a package tour with some pop
and rock bands. I said yes, and found myself touring England with Paul Jones, one of the
famous pop singers of that time, who, shortly before, in 1966, had “gone solo”
after having fronted Manfred Mann’s band. The show opened with the comedy trio
Scaffold, featuring Paul McCartney’s brother, Mike, followed by the Hollies,
with, as the solo act, the main attraction, Paul Jones.
(At that time, I did not know anything of, nor
had I yet developed any interest in arranging.) One of the violinists in the
orchestra was also a contractor, and after that tour he invited me to tour Germany with
the Bee Gees, which I did, and again found myself playing cello in a slightly
larger backing orchestra. That tour lasted the two months of January and
February, 1968. Getting to know the musicians in that band, led to me being
invited, by one of the trombonists, upon our return to London, to attend a
recording session, where I got to meet the producer, Gus Dudgeon, and the
arranger, Tony Visconti, who later was to produce and arrange many memorable
and brilliant recordings with David Bowie, T-Rex, and Marc Bolan, among others.
The artist on that date was Marsha Hunt, who at the time was performing nightly
at the London
production of Hair.
As you know, Gus was later to become Elton
John’s principal producer. During the session Gus asked me about my musical
interests, and as a result of that conversation, he invited me to his office. There
I met the man who later became my first manager, Tony Hall. Tony at this
meeting asked me if I had done any arranging, to which I replied that I had
not. He then asked me if I’d be interested in “having a go”, to which I
replied, Yes.
Did you have the skills from your conservatory
studies such as being able to write musical notation or did you teach yourself
the skills required of an arranger?
(Laughs) No, I did not have any arranging
skills. Of course, I could write notation, and had studied very basic harmony
but, as I said, had not received any tuition in composition or orchestration,
which, in the case of serious composers, are one and the same. Nor did I know
anything about arranging, although I knew the most basic rules of classical
harmony, so accepting Tony Hall’s offer to write some arrangements was
definitely a big challenge. For this “audition-test”, I was given three songs
to arrange, and as part of the materials needed, I was given the lead-sheets,
and a tape of demos or original versions (two of the songs had already been
released commercially, so these were to be “covers”).
When I got home, and sat down, the enormity of
what I had taken on hit me, as I quickly realized that it wasn’t going to be
all that easy. So I rushed out to the local public library and borrowed two
symphony scores, Beethoven and Haydn, took them home, looked at them and asked
myself just how the hell am I going to manage this. I borrowed those two scores
in order to see how they were laid out, but did not do a deep analysis. Also, I
was not properly equipped with score-paper, so had to write it all out on
parts-paper and draw my own bar-lines.
Not having developed any skills or techniques
also left me with no knowledge of short cuts, which would have helped, as I was
to be present at EMI Studios, Abbey
Road, at 9:30 AM for a 10:00 AM downbeat. Meeting
Tony Visconti a couple of weeks later and showing him what I had done, he
showed me where I could have saved some time and trouble.
So, as it was, I burned through the night, and
turned up on time for the recording session, which consisted of a basic rhythm
section, small string and wind sections. Everything went fine, and everyone was
very pleased.
I was thrown (or should I say, I threw myself)
in at the deep end, and had to sink or swim … and managed to swim (laughs).
I then went on to do more arranging work, and
had a couple of minor hits with the British band “Arrival”, and did some
enjoyable arranging on two albums by British folk artist Mike Chapman, which
received very favourable reviews.
Then, at a meeting with Gus Dudgeon and Tony
Hall at Gus’s office in June 1969 I was introduced to a young guy, David Jones,
better known as David Bowie. They played me a demo of "Space Oddity” and
asked me to do the arrangement for it.
The recording session took place a week or so
later, and the rest is history.
What can you tell us about David Jones alias
David Bowie back then in the Sixties? What are your memories of him 40 years
back?
David was not very famous at that time, but
was well known in the greater London area and
where he lived in South London. He was a
prominent figure in what were known as “Arts Labs” (Arts Laboratories), where
different artistic and experimental arts events took place. Arts Labs served
the local communities; smallish gatherings of people with similar cultural
interests, which included, but were not limited to painting, sculpture,
theatre, music and dance.
David and I got along very well, and liked
each other right from the beginning and had lots of good times.
Here’s something your readers might find
interesting: Space Oddity was a big hit in the U.K.,
and thrust David suddenly into the limelight, but it was not released in the US until after
the successful and safe return of the Apollo 11 Mission. Knowing that that Mission and the concomitant First Moon Landing were
occurring at the same time as the release of Space Oddity, in July 1969, RCA
did not release it in the US,
because, as you know, the text of the song is about a space disaster. It would
have been wildly inappropriate for listeners to hear that song, until the
Apollo 11 crew had safely returned to Earth. Thus, it took a little bit longer
until it also became a hit in the U.S.
How did it come about that you had the chance
to work with Elton John?
That is interesting: I had become very
attracted to jazz when I was nine and had avidly listened to all styles,
including the music of the post-war period, which as you know has several
identifying names: Bebop, “Modern” Jazz, “Cool”, etc. During this period, I
discovered the music of Miles Davis, and became a devoted fan. When we first
met, and during the first few months of getting acquainted, Tony Hall did not
know of my love for Jazz, and Miles Davis’s music, nor did I know of his close
friendship with Miles.
Now, Miles was due to play, in November 1969,
at the Hammersmith Odeon (London),
today called the Apollo. I had tried, in late summer, but was not able to
obtain any tickets; the concert was apparently sold out.
At that time I had been involved as arranger,
composer and conductor, on an instrumental album project for Parlophone (EMI)
called Sounds Nice, featuring pianist/organist Tim Mycroft. Gus was the
producer, with Tony Hall as the executive producer. The album consisted of
various major and minor hits done as instrumentals; and both Tim and myself
contributed some original pieces. One of my pieces, called Summer’s End, was
inspired by Miles Davis’s music, and when I told Tony Hall this, he said “I
didn’t know you were that interested in Miles — do you want to go to his Odeon
concert?” It was at that moment I discovered that Tony was a close friend of
Miles, who would visit him every time he came to London.
The day after the concert, Tony and his wife
Billie took me to meet Miles at the hotel; Tony was to pick up Miles and his
companion, Marguerite Eskridge, and take Miles to meet Ozzie Clark, a leading
fashion designer at that time. Later, Tony and Billie were our hosts at their
apartment, where he told Miles that I had been doing some interesting
experiments with musician friends, and asked Miles if he would like to hear
some of this music, to which he replied, go ahead, Tony!
The piece he heard, Joint Effort, was recorded
at a late-night session at Polydor Records’ studios on Oxford Street, London.
I was there as part of a quintet backing band for Blues singer Chris Farlowe. Chris
did not turn up for the recording, so finding ourselves with three hours’ free
studio time, I suggested we record some of our own music, and said that I had
some basic ideas for riffs and themes, so we played free over these themes and
motifs I gave to the musicians, and recorded a non-stop piece, based on the
general tonality of C. That is, the bass riff and the “drone” tonality was C;
this turned out to be a special feature of the whole piece: “C” was discovered,
during the unfolding of the improvisation, to be a very special and meaningful
tonal colour. We recorded 30 minutes of that stuff, and that was what I played
to Miles that afternoon at Tony’s place. He sat beside me and listened to the
whole piece, and at the end of it, he was silent for a few moments, then said,
in his husky voice: "Buckmaster, you’re a son-of-a-gun” (laughs).
He said that he had recently been doing
something like this; he was actually — without naming it — referring to Bitches
Brew, which was not released until March 1970.
When finally I heard Bitches Brew four months
later, I realized only then how amazing it was for Miles Davis to make a
comparison with that jam, but I knew why he had heard a certain correspondence:
it had to do with the way I had set the tonal center of C, and how that factor
assumed a particular emotional significance in the sense that can be aroused by
certain kinds of tonality — I was mind-blown! He had also developed the tonal
concept of C as the most important musical feature of the title track in the
most incredible compositional way, and with a far more complex and interesting
harmonic structure; one aspect being the use of the scale C-Eb-E natural-
G-Ab-B; and another, the following 2-measure chord cycle: Measure 1: C; (2
beats) B; (2 beats); Measure 2: E/G#(8th-note)-E (4th-note)-B (anticipated 8th
into beats 3 and 4). This, as everyone who is familiar with the piece, is the
continuously repeated motif, or riff (that great bass part is the motor),
throughout the piece, except for the extraordinary intro and interlude, which
is bookended as the finale.
I’d just like to add here, that I consider
Bitches Brew to be, so far, in the realm of music in general, one of the most
amazing albums ever recorded, and, for me, one of the greatest. It is music of
fierce beauty and intensity, and cannot be categorized. Miles himself, who was
unerring when it came to all things to do with music, directed the label, and
the sleeve-designers, to place, above the title, Directions in Music by Miles
Davis. All those who like to describe this unique work using meaningless
clichés such as “Jazz-Rock” or “Fusion” absolutely have no idea what they’re
talking about. One more thing: in the forty years since its recording, nothing
has been heard — at least, by me — that even remotely approaches its
astonishing brilliance.
That evening, after we had spent the afternoon
at Tony’s, Miles’ quintet was due to play at Ronnie Scott’s Club, and Tony,
Billy and I were guests at his table. During the dinner interval, Tony
introduced me to Steve Brown, who in turn introduced me to a quiet young man,
Elton John. Steve asked me if I would be interested in listening to some of his
demos, to which I replied, yes. That was the beginning of the musical
partnership which, as you know, was to result in many wonderful recordings.
By the way, that Miles Davis gig at Ronnie’s
was one of the first color video recordings, shot that night by the BBC. John
Altman, a British saxophone player, somehow obtained a copy of that gig — thank
God somebody made a copy, because the BBC, in order to save money, regularly
wiped the tapes and used them again.
Elton John was not famous back then. Where did
he play at that time and what finally launched his terrific career?
He was really mostly known, I think, in the London rhythm and blues
circles. There were a lot of people playing that style in pubs, just as the
Rolling Stones did. As a skilled piano player and also a blues organist, Elton
was playing in some bands at the time, such as that of blues musician and singer
Long John Baldry. There were lots of blues bands like this playing all over the
U.K., mostly in the London and South East area of England, playing local gigs in
pubs.
Elton had already made one pop album, Empty
Sky, released, I believe, in 1969, but it sold few copies. It became of greater
interest after the next album he recorded, which was the first I arranged and
directed.
The following day, demo tapes were messengered
over to me, to which I listened. I recall hearing the three songs on that tape:
Your Song, Take me to the Pilot, and Sixty Years On.
I immediately called Steve Brown and expressed
my enthusiasm, saying these were great songs. Steve Brown had already
approached the highly respected producer and arranger George Martin, and had
asked him if he would produce Elton’s next album, to which George replied that
he would, but only on the condition that he would also write all the
arrangements. Since Steve and Elton wanted a separate arranger, they decided
that a different solution was needed.
Both Steve and Elton had become aware of my
work over the previous year, so they called Tony Hall, who invited them to
Ronnie Scott’s that evening. Subsequently, they asked me which producer I would
prefer to work with. At that time I only had worked with two or three
producers, one of which was Gus Dudgeon. Since I loved working with him the
answer was easy, so having mentioned his name, they asked me to approach him. I
took a meeting with Gus during which I played the demo tape; he was reluctant
at first, but within minutes I was able to convince him of my enthusiasm and
conviction that because of the quality of the music, I knew how great it we
would make it sound. The rest is also history.
How was this process working with Elton John? Did
he have some very specific ideas or did you have total freedom?
Gus and I were given total freedom to do what
we wanted. Elton told us, “You do what you like; I trust you completely.” That
was fantastic, because it gave us, and me as arranger in particular, the
freedom to be creative, and to make our visions and ideas come true. Our
approach at that time was to work for the songs; the song came first above all
else; any consideration of the singer — apart from obviously working to make
the song sound as good as possible — was secondary. The principle was: The song
comes first! That was our approach to the art of recording music back then. We
treated each song as an individual personality and character.
You are half Italian, half English and you
became US
citizen in 2003. Your roots influenced your lifetime’s work obviously looking
at your career. You worked with superstars like Angelo Branduardi and recently
also with Eros Ramazzotti. It must make you very happy to go back to your roots
with something you really love doing: composing, arranging and producing. How
would you describe your feelings for Italy?
I am forever grateful for that influence and
my roots. Among my earliest memories is the music of the great composers my
mother played, and my childhood visits to our relatives in Italy. Among
the major musical influences of my early life were of the liturgical composers
of the High Renaissance, such as Palestrina, Victoria, Byrd, Orlandus Lassus,
and then, even more profoundly, J.S. Bach, (some Vivaldi and Handel), Haydn,
Mozart, the Prometheus Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Dvorak …
in short, all the Classicists. Later, I was to rediscover Purcell, and earlier
composers of viol-consort music, like Lully, and especially Marin Marais. Italy was central to all this in my life; for
instance, Bach was inspired by Vivaldi, and Handel resided for a long period in
Rome. That
influence is very strong, right through Beethoven and of course Mozart. The
melodic sensibility of those musicians and composers has in it a strong element
of the Italian, and all of those giants took that knowledge and elevated it to
an even higher level of brilliance. I personally very much adore Beethoven’s
music; he was the man who, like Prometheus, stole the musical fire from the
oligarchic Olympian gods, and brought it down to humanity. For me, he is a
little bit like Wilhelm Tell in Switzerland,
who brought the concept of the republic, and democracy or democratic thinking,
to the people - at least it is what Schiller wrote down (laughs).
 |
| Branduardi and Buckmaster (Roma 1973) |
Later still, in my late teens and early
twenties, I began to explore the moderns, and the “avant-garde” composers.
I produced and arranged Angelo Brandudardi’s first album in Italy; recorded for RCA Italiana in Rome, at their great
studio, which alas does not exist anymore — it was also the studio where Ennio
Morricone recorded all the music for Sergio Leone’s westerns. Working with
Angelo was great, and that first album launched his successful career.
I also worked with Toni Esposito, the funky
and very original Neapolitan percussionist, producing and arranging his first
record in 1974. In
the early eighties I worked on two albums with celebrated
singer/songwriter/pianist Riccardo Cocciante, and in 1986 I worked with Teresa
De Sio, on an album of Neapolitan songs of the early 20th century. Having total
creative freedom from both Teresa and her producer, Marialaura Giulietti, it
gave us a nice opportunity to completely rethink these songs. Also contributing
to the arrangements in a fundamental way, was pianist/keyboardist Ernesto
Vitolo. That was for me an incredibly enjoyable time in Italy!
This year in February I wrote the arrangements
for five songs on Eros Ramazzotti’s new album, Ali e Radici. The producer,
Claudio Guidetti, invited me to London to
conduct the recordings, with a London
orchestra, at Abbey Road Studios, in the big room, Studio ‘1’. That was my
first time back in the city of my birth, since 1998. As you know, Eros is among
the top three Italian male vocalst/songwriters, and is also very successful Spain and in Latin America.
At a certain moment in your life you came in
contact with the movie business and you composed the scores for several film
productions. The most famous, I would say, is your music for „Twelve Monkeys“,
a cult movie with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, directed by Terry Gilliam. Before
we speak about that movie, I would like to ask you when you first came in
contact with the movie music business.
The first film score I was asked to compose
was for the movie Friends, in 1971, for which Elton John was commissioned to
write two theme songs and three source songs. Let me explain: Your readers may
like to know that, in movies, “source” music is what comes out of a radio or
TV, or a cocktail bar, or in an elevator, or supermarket, or a marching band,
or street musician — that is, music as part of the ambiental scene. It is not
part of the dramatic underscore, although, it could be cleverly used as such,
by the director/writer. The three “source” songs by Elton were to be heard
coming from transistor radios, and of the main, thematic songs, one was
Friends, and the other, Michelle’s Song. There was a third song, called
Seasons, which was mainly a reworking of Friends. The director, John Glibert,
wanted the “Elton John sound”, which, at the time, meant that he wanted that
orchestral style, which led me getting the gig, arranging the songs and
composing the underscore.
With my not having had any preparation in
writing for film, Gus Dudgeon, who produced the soundtrack album and the songs,
took me to meet the famous film-composer John Barry, who explained one or two
things about scoring for movies, but what could I learn in a two-hour meeting? Again,
I was dropped in at the deep end, and just about managed to swim!
What was your next step then and what brought
you finally to Hollywood?
Elton’s second record, called Elton John, for
which I had composed the orchestral and rhythm-section arrangements, was a huge
success in America.
Initially, it did not do very well in England,
but as soon as it became a big hit in the U.S., it bounced back home and took
off there as well. This generated a lot of interest in Elton, and this success
then launched his stellar career. I subsequently worked on a number of albums
for Elton: Tumbleweed Connection (1970); Madman Across the Water (1971); Don’t
Shoot Me, I’m Only the Piano-Player (1972); Blue Moves (1975); A Single Man
(1978); Made in England (1994) and Songs From the West Coast (2002).
Then, in April 1972, I got a phone call from
Miles Davis who asked me to come to New York,
so I booked myself on a flight the very next day, and stayed in New York, first in a
Mid-Town hotel, then at Miles’ house. I worked with him for about the next
three months; we went in the studio with an extended ensemble, and recorded
several sessions of music, which later were released as the album On the
Corner, which was later to become, for a whole new generation, an important,
seminal record. None of us who worked on those recordings foresaw that! After
spending the rest of the summer in Los Angeles, I returned to London, where it
was Son of Dracula, starring Harry Nielsson, that was to be my next score work,
a strange, odd movie that was produced by Ringo Starr.
Could you tell me a little bit about how you
composed the scores and what the challenges are when you do a score for a
movie?
As far as I can recall, VHS machines did not
exist yet; certainly not at the time we did Friends. I also did not have any
kind moviola or means of viewing scenes at home, so I could only go to the
editing room of the movie production offices, to watch the sections of the
movie and take notes. The music editor also took notes during the spotting
sessions, which would then get typed up, with every detail of what was said by
the director, editor, music editor and myself, included. Of course this is all
standard operating procedure. Those ”spotting” sessions with the director, and
editors, to decide where music starts and where it ends are a very important
step towards the final score. I also took notes there, went home and wrote the
score “from head-to-paper”, with the spotting notes and a copy of the script on
the table next to the score-pad. I had no access to a piano when working on Son
of Dracula, and had to be sure of what I was writing!
I also wrote some themes for some successful
British TV shows; one was called Nature Watch, which was a long-running series
about various kinds of disciplines in zoology and botany. I think there were
about 36 episodes; the theme music was very distinctive, so when it came on at
one of the prime-time slots — around 7:30 PM — people knew that it was time for
Nature Watch when they heard that music in the living room or in the kitchen. I
also wrote and performed the music for several single TV documentaries.
Of course, I continued to work, as arranger/conductor,
on various recording projects, with such artists as Judy Tzuke, Stevie Nicks,
Carly Simon, Burton Cummings, Chi Coltrane, Eric Carmen, Leo Sayer, Rodney
Franklin, and so on. One of the more interesting projects was the large,
symphonic-style arrangements I was engaged to write, on The Grateful Dead’s
epic Terrapin Station.
You are also the composer and arranger of the
score of "Twelve Monkeys“, a famous movie with Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis.
How did you come to get that opportunity?
I was recommended for that work by Terry
Gilliam’s music consultant, Ray Cooper. He has been a friend – if a
“long-distance” one - for many years, having met while we were both students at
the RAM. Sometime during the 70s, Elton’s office called me and asked if I would
recommend an all-round percussionist – that is, one who could read, and play
not only all the “non-specific pitch” (non-tuned) percussion, but also all the
tuned instruments,: xylophone, marimba, vibraharp, glockenspiel, timpani, etc.
Well, I couldn’t think of anyone better than
Ray, so I gave them his name.
By this time, I had become a permanent
resident in the U.S., residing at Los Angeles, and had been working in a
music-production studio on Sunset Boulevard, run by my friend the record producer/music
supervisor, Steve Tyrell, who had invited me to come to L.A., and write the
music for a film he was the music-supervisor on, Midnight Crossing, starring
Daniel J. Travanti, Faye Dunanway, Kim Cattrall, and Ned Beatty (that movie was
pretty awful, but was a chance to develop my skills). I flew over from London
and at Steve’s invitation, stayed at his place while, together with Al Gorgoni,
who composed about half of the score, I wrote and performed the score, using
samples, synths, and working with MIDI-sequencing on my, by this time, third
Mac computer.
I remained in L.A., obtaining my permanent
residency (“Green Card” — which is actually pink), and working with Steve seven
days a week on such TV series as Frank’s Place, Snoops, the animation series
Peter Pan and the Pirates, Jake and the Fat Man, Matlock, and others, several
movies-of-the week (MOWs), such as The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, and
Captive. In 1992, Steve went back to record-production and I moved my gear into
an office next door, and was then commissioned to write the music for four
episodes of Eerie, Indiana, which was great fun.
I then moved out of those offices, and set up
studio in my apartment, continued writing arrangements for record dates.
The call from Ray Cooper to meet the producer
of Twelve Monkeys, Charles “Chuck” Roven came sometime early 1995; I took the
meeting, just up the road from me at Chuck’s offices.
Chuck Roven showed me some stills from the
production and some of Terry Gilliam’s production-sketches. I also read a brief
synopsis, and realized that the movie was based on Chris Marker’s extraordinary
1963 short, La Jetée. As
a fan of science fiction, I was very excited to discover this, as I was
familiar with the story, and told Chuck about how I felt when I first saw it,
in 1965.
Twelve Monkeys is basically the same story
with the time loop, but with a brilliantly conceived extended development. Chuck
also asked me if I was familiar with the music of Astor Piazzolla and I said,
“Yes. I love Piazzolla’s music and his compositions!”
So within a few weeks I was back in London where I spent late
summer, till November 1995, collaborating with Terry Gilliam and Ray Cooper on
that movie. We decided to use one piece of Astor Piazzolla’s in the movie,
taken from a suite, Punta del Este. As soon as you have a rough cut of the
movie you want to see it with music. It is very common for the director to find
music that already exists in order to get a feeling of how any given scene or
sequence plays. The director and the editor take music from different sources
and lay it in to picture to see how it goes together with the movie. It can be
any music from anywhere, and you soon find out if it works. This is called a
"temp” score, in other words, a temporary score.
It’s a great idea to mock-up a temp, and
everybody does it, but it is also tricky.
When the composer is called in one of the
things he asks the director is how married he is to the temp. If you come up
with something like the temp they would say: “But it’s like the temp!”; if you
do something different they might say: “But it’s not like the temp!” Sometimes
the director — or even the producers — can never be pleased; some of the
greatest film composers have had serious clashes with directors … you can
imagine that it does not always work to convince the director and film team. The
great Jerry Goldsmith got fired from the sound-stage in the middle of recording
a score with a large, 80-piece orchestra. I understand that John Williams, the
multi-Oscar-winning composer of movie scores like Close Encounters of the Third
Kind; the Indiana Jones series, the Star Wars saga, Schindler’s List, and many
other famous films, also got fired once. You have no right in the music
industry to call yourself a film composer until you got fired once (laughs). I
have had that dubious honour as well.
I suppose that the work together with directors can be very difficult, because they have their own specific view of things and a vision they would like to realize.
That is true! The director is the person who decides and rules. The producer might just love what you do, but finally it is the director who decides. If he does not like your music, you are off, so you had better follow and support the director’s vision. If you have a good relationship with him it can be great. I had a certain amount of freedom with Terry Gilliam, and when we listened to the temp with Astor Piazzolla’s music I said to him that I would not be able to compose anything better, and that this music was perfect for the film. It is like you asking an artist to do something like the Mona Lisa: that is generally not possible, so regarding Piazzolla’s music I could not come up with anything better. I said, “Terry, let's license it; I will rearrange it for the large orchestra we’ll have at our disposal, and make it sound fabulous.”
So, with his blessing, I went ahead and wrote a new arrangement — pretty much like the original, but expanded for the larger group, which turned out to be a 70-piece orchestra, and it sounded fantastic. The other piece of music which was temped in was the slow movement from a violin concerto by Jacques Loussier. I had a state-of-the-art home-studio set-up where I was living in London, and was able to try all kinds of different things. So I wrote something similar as wished for by Terry — we call this a “soundalike” — but soon realized there would be a problem with the copyright, as what I had written was fairly close to Loussier’s original, close enough that I knew there would be a problem. Jacques was contacted, we had a legal-musicologist expert take a listen, and indeed, this was confirmed. Jacques was not very happy with the situation; the musicologist determined that my reworking of it was sufficiently original that Jacques was agreeable to evenly splitting the writer’s share. That is another part of the story but it shows you what the problems and challenges can be when writing a score for a movie.
You were also involved in a James Bond score
project. How did that come about?
I had produced and arranged an album of
traditional Persian songs for an Iranian singer, Shusha, who lived in London. Very sadly, she
died last year from cancer. I had toured with her in Iran, as part of a five-piece band,
in 1978, only a few months before the revolution, which was very interesting. After
returning from that tour she asked me if I wanted to help her with an album. We
recorded about ten or eleven songs, and it turned out okay, and received some
very good reviews.
This recording was somewhat of an experiment
and, we both wanted to do another, having learned a lot from the first, but
unfortunately that was not to be.
I had also worked, in L.A., as arranger/conductor, with Carole
Bayer Sager on an album of her songs, and during that period, she had gotten
engaged to Marvin Hamlisch, the great classic Broadway composer. I got to meet
him, and a little while later, back in London,
he was there to compose and conduct the score for the James Bond movie The Spy
Who Loved Me.
I had dinner with him and Carole one evening,
and had occasion to give him a copy of From East to West, the album I had
recorded with Shusha.
A few days later he called and asked me to
compose two pieces in that style, which was a blend of Iranian, North African,
Egyptian, and Arabic styles, for a couple of night-club scenes in downtown
Cairo or wherever, some kind of belly-dancing type of source-music. He gave me
the tempi, and of course he attended the sessions, made sure he got exactly
what he wanted, fitted exactly to picture. He also asked me to compose a “Theme
for Anya” (Bond’s “love” interest), which not in the movie score, but Marvin
needed a piece to fill out the album, as there wasn’t enough music from the
film itself.
So, there are three pieces by me on the album;
two appear in the movie.
2002 you were awarded a Grammy. Did this
affect your career in any way?
It was very nice to receive such widely
accepted recognition, and it meant a lot to me. However, it did not change my
circumstances nearly as much as you might think. I received that recognition
for the string arrangement on the song Drops of Jupiter by the U.S. band
Train, and I’m very happy with how it sounds. It was a big hit in America, where it remained in the top twenty for
a year, and although it did not reach number one in the USA it was in
the top five for several weeks. We would say here in the USA “this song
has long legs” (laughs).
Dear Paul, thank you very much for your time
and for this conversation. I wish you all the best and I look forward to
listening to your next projects in the music movie business as a composer and
arranger!
 |
| (L-R)Pro Tools operator Aaron, Walter
Afanasieff, Paul Buckmaster, Chris Man and Jay Landers in the
control-room of studio ‘B’ at Capitol studios, Hollywood, January 2009 |
(c) 2009 by Christian Düblin
A PAUL BUCKMASTER DISCOGRAPHY
edited by Luca Ferrari
1969
David Bowie - "Space Oddity" (Philips Records) plays cello
Kevin Ayers - "Joy of the toy" (Harvest) plays cello
Bee Gees - "Odessa" (IBC Studios) plays cello
1970
Elton John - "Elton John" (DJM) plays cello
Shawn Phillips - "Contribution" (A&M) plays keyboards
Sounds Nice - "Love at first sight" (Parlophone) arranger/conductor
Mick Farren - "Mona (the carnivorous circus)" (Transatlantic) plays cello
Quatermass - "Quatermass" (Harvest) plays cello
Elton John - "Tumbleweed connection" (UNI) arranger
Michael Chapman - "Fully qualified survivor" (Harvest) strings arranger
1971
Elton John - "Madman across the water" (DJM) arranger & conductor
Mick Farren - "Mona (the carnivorous circus)" (Transatlantic) plays cello
Elton John - "Friends" (Paramount Records) arranger/composer
Rolling Stones - "Sticky Fingers" (Rolling Stones Records) plays strings
Rupert Hine - "Pick up a bone" (Archive) orchestra arranger
Shawn Phillips - "Second contribution" (A&M) plays keyboards
Claire Hammill - "One house left standing" (Island) plays cello/arranger
Leonard Cohen - "Songs of love and hate" (Columbia) arranger/conductor
Harry Nillson - "Nillsson Schmilsson" (RCA) plays strings
The Chitinous Ensemble - "Chitinous" (Deram) plays electric piano/cello, conductor
Chris Barber's Travelling Band - "Get Rolling!" (Intercord) plays cello
Elton John - "Madman across the water" (DJM) arranger & conductor
1972
Shawn Phillips - "Collaboration" (A&M) plays cello
Harry Nillson - "Son of Schmilsson" (RCA) arranger/conductor
Carly Simon - "No secrets" (Elektra) arranger/conductor
Third Ear Band - "Music from Macbeth" (Harvest) plays cello and electric bass
Miles Davis - "On the corner" (Columbia) arranger
Shawn Phillips - "Faces" (A&M) plays piano and
cello/ orchestral arrangements
The Rolling Stones - "Exile on Main Street" (COC) plays string
Chris Barber - "Drat that fratle rat!" (Black Lion) plays cello
Elton John - "Don't shoot me I'm only the piano player" (DJM) orchestra arranger
1973
Mott the Hoople - "Mott" (EMI) plays electric cello
Yvonne Elliman - "Food of love" (Purple Records) plays cello
Blood, Sweat & Tears - "No sweat" (CBS)
plays synthesizer/ARP synt
Caravan - "For girls who grow plump in the night" (Deram) plays electric cello
Shawn Phillips - "Bright white" (A&M Records) orchestration
Chi Coltrane - "Let it ride" (Columbia) strings and woodwind arranger/plays synth
1974
Angelo Branduardi - "Angelo Branduardi" (RCA) producer/arranger
Toni Esposito - "Toni Esposito (Numero Uno) plays synth, piano & electric piano
Harry Nillson - "Son of Dracula" (RCA) soundtrack conductor
Shawn Phillips - "Furthermore" (A&M) plays cello/keyboards
Carly Simon - "Hotcakes" (Elektra) conductor/arranger
Elton John - "Friends" (MCA) film soundtrack arranger & composer
1975
Thijs Van Leer - "Oh my love" (Philips) plays bass, cello, percussion, synth/producer, arranger & conductor
1976
Elton John - "Blue moves" (Rocket Records) conductor/arranger
William Lyall - "Solo Casting" (Vivid Sound) plays cello
Leo Sayer - "Endless Flight" (Warner Bros.) plays cello/synthesizer
Burton Cummings - "My own way to rock" (Portrait) strings arranger/conductor
Cado Belle - "Cado Belle" (Anchor) strings arranger
Neil Ardley - "Keleidoscope of rainbows" (1976)
producer/plays electric cello
Shawn Phillips - "Rumplestiltskin's resolve" (A&M Records) plays organ
Stomu Yamashta-Steve Winwood-Michael Shrieve - "Go" (Island) co-producer
1977
Grateful Dead - "Terrapin station" (Arista) orchestra arranger
Marvin Hamlisch - "The spy who love me" (United Artists) film soundtrack composer
Carole Bayer-Sager - "Carole Bayer-Sager" (1977) plays synthesizer
Real Thing - "4 from 8" (Pye Records) strings arranger
Jeane Manson - "Lovingly" (Versailles) orchestration
Family of Love - "The Bible" (Polydor) producer
Stomu Yamashta's Go - "Go Too" (Arista) arranger
Aleksander Mezek -"Kje so tiste stezice" (RTV Ljubljana) recorded by
1978
Elton John - "A single man" (MCA) plays cello
Shusha - "From East to West" (Tangent Records) producer, arranger & director
1980
Kitaro/London Symphony Orchestra - "Silk Road Suite" (1980) conductor
Rodney Franklin - "You'll never know" (Columbia) producer & strings arranger
Angelo Branduardi - "Gulliver, la luna e altri disegni" (Polydor) arranger
1981
Angelo Branduardi - "Branduardi" (1981)
strings arranger
1982
Marc & the Mambas - "Untitled" (Some Bizarre) strings arranger
Riccardo Cocciante - "Cocciante" (RCA) arranger
1983
Paz - "Look inside" (Paladin Records) producer
Steve Nicks - "The wild heart" (EMI) strings conductor
John Miles - "Play on" (EMI) arranger
Nick Heyward - "North of a miracle" (Arista) strings arranger
1984
Stomu Yamashta - "Sea and sky" (Kuckuck) arranger
Meat Loaf - "Modern girl" (Arista 1984) arranger
1985
Rodney Franklin - "Skydance" (Columbia) producer
Mina - "Finalmente ho conosciuto il conte Dracula" (PDU) arranger
Mick Jagger - "She's the boss" (Columbia) strings arranger & conductor
Riccarco Cocciante - "Il mare dei papaveri" (Virgin) arranger & producer
1986
Teresa de Sio - "Sindarella Suite" (Philips) orchestra arranger & conductor
1989
Then Jerico - "The big area" (London Records) strings arranger
Belinda Carlise - "Runaway horses" (Virgin) strings arranger & conductor
Aleksander Mezek -"Podarjeno Srcu" (ZKP) orchestra arranger & conductor
1991
Dillinger - "Horses & Hawgs" (1991) plays strings/keyboads and arranger
Paula Abdul - "Spellbound" (Virgin) strings arranger
Lloyd Cole - "Don't get weird on me baby" (Polydor) conductor/arranger
1992
Damn Yankees - "Don't tread" (Warner Bros.) strings arranger & conductor
10,000 Maniacs - "Our time in Eden" (Elektra) orchestra arranger & conductor
Lionel Richie - "Back to front" (Motown) string & horn orchestration
The Heights - "Music from the television show The Heights" (Capitol) orchestra arranger
Kim Wilde - "Love is" (MCA) strings arranger & conductor
Warrant - "Dog eat dog" (Columbia) orchestra arranger & conductor
1993
E (4) - "Broken toy shop" (Polydor) conductor & orchestration
Robin Zander - "Robin Zander" (Interscope Records) strings arranger & conductor
The Williams Brothers - "Harmony hotel" (Warner Bros.) strings arranger & conductor
1994
Milla Jovovich - "The divine comedy" (SBK 1994)
arranger
1995
AAVV - "12 Monkees" (RCA) film soundtrack composer/producer
Joshua Kadison - "Delilah Blue" (1995) arranger
Country Joe McDonald - "Viet Nam Experience" (1995) plays cello
Spiral Life - "Freaks of Go Go Spectators" (Polystar) arranger & conductor
The Jayhawks - "Tomorrow the green grass" (American Recordings) arranger
1996
Celine Dion - "Falling into you" (Columbia) strings arranger & conductor
Counting Crows - "Recovering the satellites" (Geffen) conductor
1997
Jamie Walters - "Ride" (1997) conductor
AAVV - "Most Wanted" (New Line) film soundtrack composer
AAVV - "Scream 2" (Capitol) film soundtrack/strings arranger & conductor
Few Notes Overboard - "Tout Tourne Court" (1997) conductor
1998
Des'ree - "Supernatural" (Sony) audio mixer
1999
Veronique Sanson - "D'un papillon a une etoile"(Warner Bros) strings arranger & director
Tal Bachman - "Tal Bachman" (Columbia) orchestra arranger & conductor
2000
No Doubt - "Return of Saturn" (Interscope Records) strings arranger
2001
Train - "Drops of Jupiter" (2001) arranger
2002
Something Corporate - "Leaving through the window" (2002) arranger/conductor
Faith Hill - "Cry" (Warner Bros.) strings arranger
Shawn Phillips - "No category" (2002) producer/arranger
2003
Wilshire - "New Universe" (Sony) strings arranger
Something Corporate -"North" (Geffen) plays cello & arranger
The Thorns - "The Thorns" (Columbia) strings arranger & conductor
Deep Purple - "Bananas" (2003)
strings arranger/plays cello
2005
The Darkness - "One way ticket to hell" (Rhino Records) orchestra arranger & conductor
Tears for Fears - "Everybody loves a happy ending" (Gut Records) orchestra arranger & conductor
Bon Jovi - "Have a nice day" (Island) strings arranger
Keith Urban - "Be here" (Capitol) strings arranger & conductor
backStreetboy - "Never gone" (Jive) strings arranger
Faith Hill - "Fireflies" (Warner Bros.) strings arranger & conductor
Carrie Underwood - "Some hearts" (Arista) strings arranger & conductor
Longview - "Mercury" (Columbia) strings arranger & conductor
2006
Skillet - "Comatose" (2006) plays strings
Steve Tyrell - "The Disney Standards" (Walt Disney Records) strings arranger
Jesse McCartney - "Right where you want me" (Hollywood Records) strings arranger
Ben Folds - "Supersunnyspeedgraphic" (Epic) strings arranger & conductor
New Found Glory - Coming home" (Geffen) arranger & conductor
2007
Mika - "Life in cartoon motion" (Universal) strings arranger
Katharine McPhee - "Katharine McPhee" (RCA) orchestra arranger & conductor
Michael Bublé - "Call me irresponsaible" (Reprise) strings arranger
The Bravery - "The sun and the moon" (Island) conductor
2008
Guns N' Roses - "Chinese democracy" (Geffen) orchestra conductor/orchestra arranger
Amanda Palmer - "Who killed Amanda Palmer"
(Roadrunner) strings arranger/conductor
2009
Eros Ramazzotti - "Ali e radici" (RCA) strings arranger
Jamie Cullum - "The pursuit" (Verve) strings arranger
Mika - "Boy who knew too much" (Universal) plays strings
2010
Ben Folds-Nick Hornby - "Lonely Avenue"
(Nonsuch 2010) arranger/conductor
no©2011 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)
