NOTEBOOK

Former ASCAP Board Member and Film Composer David Raksin, 92

For more than 60 years, David Raksin shared his music with the world. For more than four decades he influenced and guided future generations of film composers and enriched the craft of film scoring immeasurably. His long and distinguished career ended on August 9 with his death at 92.

Raksin served as an ASCAP Board member from 1995 to 2003. In 1992, he was presented with the ASCAP Golden Soundtrack Award in recognition of a lifetime spent in creating memorable film and television music.

He began his career in films when he came to Hollywood to work with Charlie Chaplin on the classic score of Modern Times. He put himself through the University of Pennsylvania by playing in society orchestras and jazz bands. Upon graduation he went to New York where he became arranger for a notable radio orchestra. George Gershwin recommended the young man to the Harms/Chappell arranging team, where he orchestrated Broadway musicals.

Raksin went on to pursuit a widely diversified career. In 1935, at the age of 23, he went to Hollywood to join Chaplin. The following year he served as assistant to Leopold Stokowski, who premiered Raksin’s Montage with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Among his more than 100 film scores are The Bad and The Beautiful, Separate Tables, Forever Amber, Carrie, Force of Evil, Pat and Mike, and the classic score and theme for Laura (with a brilliant lyric by Johnny Mercer). He has also scored over 300 television shows. Stage works include musicals, several ballets and incidental music. At the request of the composer, Raksin made the original band instrumentation of Igor Stravinsky’s Circus Polka, choreographed (for elephants) by George Balanchine.

His concert works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago, London, San Francisco, BBC, CBC and the Boston Pops, among others. He was the first film composer invited to establish a collection of his manuscripts in the Music Division of the Library of Congress. Raksin was appointed by the Librarian of Congress to the National Film Preservation Board; he also served for eight terms as President of the Composers and Lyricists Guild. He taught Composition for Films since 1956 at USC, where he was an Adjunct Professor.

ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman, in remembering David Raksin, said, "He was a composer for all seasons, whose music was just as meaningful in a concert hall as on a film soundtrack."

Cole Porter was once asked what piece of music he most regretted having not composed. "Laura," he replied.

ASCAP Board Member and Prolific Film Composer, Elmer Bernstein, 82

ASCAP Board member Elmer Bernstein, who composed the music for such classic films as The Magnificent Seven, The Man With the Golden Arm and To Kill A Mockingbird, and whose prolific career spanned seven decades, earning him 14 Academy Award nominations, died on August 18th at the age of 82.

Bernstein was elected to ASCAP's Board of Directors in 2003. He was presented with the ASCAP Golden Soundtrack Award for lifetime achievement in film and television music in 1990, and in 2001, he received the prestigious ASCAP Founders Award.

Elmer Bernstein is a name in music that is synonymous with creativity, versatility and longevity. 2001 marked his 50th anniversary as a feature film composer. The only working composer to achieve such distinction, he practiced his craft in film, television, theatre, the concert hall and the academic world. He was nominated for 13 Academy Awards, and won the Oscar in 1967. He had further been honored with an Emmy, two Golden Globes, two Western Heritage Awards and two Tony nominations for his scores for How Now Dow Jones and Merlin for the Broadway stage. With music for more than 200 major motion pictures and television films (including To Kill A Mockingbird, The Magnificent Seven, Sweet Smell of Success, The Great Escape, Trading Places, The Age of Innocence and Bringing Out the Dead), Bernstein produced one of his most profound film compositions for The Man With The Golden Arm. He was also among the most recorded motion picture composers, with some of his earlier soundtracks including The Ten Commandments, Hawaii, and Walk On The Wild Side. In recent years, Mr. Bernstein’s distinguished scores also included My Left Foot, The Grifters, The Age of Innocence and Keeping the Faith. His most recent film score was for the critically acclaimed Far From Heaven, for which Bernstein was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He also won the Los Angeles and Seattle Film Critics award.

Bernstein was the recipient of lifetime achievement honors from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, ASCAP, and National Board of Review, among others. He was a past president of the Young Musicians Foundation, and recently served as president of The Film Music Museum. Bernstein’s associations include: former Vice President of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, founding life member of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, past president of The Composers and Lyricists Guild of America and The Performing Arts Council of the Los Angeles Music Center.

A virtuoso concert pianist, Bernstein performed extensively between 1939 and 1950. In addition to his work in motion pictures, television and stage, Bernstein composed numerous pieces for the concert hall, including “Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra” and "Ondine at the Cinema, Themes for Ondes Martenot and Orchestra."

ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman said, "Elmer Bernstein was the consummate composer, classically trained, capable of doing it all. He stood among a group of composers – the pantheon of film composers – with Alex North, Bernard Hermann, Miklos Rosza, Alfred Newman, Henry Mancini and other masters of the art. His scores for The Man With the Golden Arm and The Magnificent Seven are classics, and his To Kill A Mockingbird stands as one of the best main titles, visually and musically.

Elmer approached the scoring of a film as a dramatist, almost as an extension of the screenplay. His scores will serve as some of the greatest examples of the art of film composing. I’m grateful that after the heartbreaking loss of Michael Kamen, Jerry Goldsmith, Fred Karlin, David Raksin and now Elmer Bernstein, we have the next generation of film composers among us: James Newton Howard, Randy Newman, Howard Shore, Thomas Newman, among others.”

Funk Legend Rick James, 56

Rick James, the funk music star of the 70’s and 80’s who was recently presented with ASCAP’s Rhythm and Soul Heritage Award in Los Angeles, died on August 6th at the age of 56.

In his milestone career, James redefined the parameters of popular music with thunderous funk, irresistible hooks and infinite personality. He was born James Johnson Jr. in Buffalo, New York. He enlisted in the army at age 15, but spent a subsequent period AWOL in Canada. While in Canada, he was a charter member of The Mynah Birds, a Toronto band with Neil Young and Bruce Palmer, later founding members of Buffalo Springfield, and Goldie McJohn, of the rock band Steppenwolf. Signed to Motown, the band recorded, but never released a record. He was then rechristened Rick James, and he spent his post-Canada years commuting between London, where he fronted a blues band, and the U.S., where he penned songs as a Motown staff writer.

His Motown/Gordy debut, Come Get It, with two hit singles, “You and I” and “Mary Jane,” introduced James as a multi-faceted songwriter/artist/producer. With Bustin' Out Of L Seven, James embarked on his first U.S. tour with the Mary Jane girls, the female group he formed and produced. After Garden of Love, he returned with an explosive tour de force, Street Songs, a double-platinum opus that hovered in the Top 100 Album chart for 54 weeks and contained his career-defining smash, “Super Freak.”

Thanks to sampling, the tantalizing grooves of Rick James have been recast into hits by successive generations of creators. Mary J. Blige, Ashanti, LL Cool J, Will Smith, Salt-N-Pepa, Ja Rule, Jennifer Lopez and ODB have all ridden his grooves to the top of the charts. In fact, the biggest rap record of all time, Hammer's “U Can't Touch This,” is distilled from “Super Freak,” which earned James a Grammy Award.

On June 28th, ASCAP presented Rick James with the ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Heritage Award at the 17th Annual R&S Awards in Los Angeles. James considered the award a profound honor: “Because it's an award from my peers,” he said. In addition, James, who survived a devastating stroke, hip surgery and heart failure, affirmed that ASCAP's support, both financial and emotional, had been vital not only to his artistry, but also to his health. “I've never been involved with an organization who was so open to the needs of its members. This is the most important award I've ever received. I owe my life to ASCAP.”

– Dan Kimpel

Grants for Emerging Songwriters

The ASCAP Foundation and Heineken USA have teamed up to launch a new music grant program for emerging songwriters in key music cities around the country. The program will benefit emerging Latin music songwriters in the Los Angeles and Miami music communities, and emerging Pop/Rock music songwriters in the New York, Chicago and Boston communities. The songwriter (or songwriters) of the winning song applying from each of the cities will be selected to receive a $2,000 grant.

To apply for the Heineken USA/ASCAP Foundation Latin and Pop/Rock music grants, entrants must be members of ASCAP and 21 years of age or older. Application materials and eligibility information are available at http://www.ascapfoundation.org/. To ensure eligibility, entrants should review the program requirements before applying. All applications must be postmarked by October 13, 2004.