* Not me, I just listen and enjoy.
I have my favourites like Louis Armstrong (I met him when I was a kid), Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Richard Prowse (we had a memorable personal performance from him years ago), Terence Blanchard, Dizzie Gillespie plus others including Mark Isham.
Who? You might ask when I mention Mark Isham but most likely, of all the small selection of greats I referenced above it's likely that Mark Isham's playing is what you've heard and enjoyed the most without knowing:
- Who was playing?
- What instrument was played?
- What 'band' it was?
- And, afterwards, what was the context?
I'm not being unfair here but Mark Isham has, for such a huge talent, kept in the shadows.
Some of the films you might have seen where he composed the music and performed some of it (there are many more) are: The Hitcher, Point Break, A River Runs Through It, Of Mice and Men, Warrior, Nell, Blade, Crash, The Black Dahlia, The Lucky One, October Sky, and Once Upon a Time.
I 'discovered' him through Wyndham Hill Music in the 1990s and recognised his playing style from films I'd seen.
The guy is prolific with an easy-on-the-ear style that just slips through like a nice Central Otago pinot noir .... sorry about that but it's what I'm drinking and has inspired this post.
What of course really inspired the post was when trawling through YouTube on the TV this evening (The Old Girl is away) I found this:
