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Occasionally, I like to feature those among us who are huge fans of film music that have a great knowledge and appreciation of the craft. This episode is an example. Tony Weeks is, in my opinion, an expert in film music though he has no official "title" as such. A Nurse by trade, he has spent his entire life collecting, admiring and listening to great film scores. His selections will bear that out. Enjoy some great cues as well as a wonderful life story in this episode. 

Our guest, Steve Rubin is a Producer, writer and author. His accomplishments are many but I know him as the author of an outstanding book, The James Bond Film Encyclopedia. The book has just been updated and is a must have for Bond fans and film fans. Other works include the Twilight Zone Encyclopedia. He is a lover of film, especially those made in the 50's thru 70's. You'll hear great cues from the early masters of film scores and fascinating discussion on the history of cinema.

Our guest, Eimear Noone is an award winning composer for film and video games. She is viewed as one of the world's premier composers for video games for such games as World of Warcraft. For films, she has worked with Directors such as Gus Van Sant and Joe Dante. Her talents include being an in demand conductor as evidenced by becoming the first female conductor to perform at the 2020 Academy Awards. She has some great choices of favorite scores and we hear some of her work as well for her latest film Two by Two Overboard.

In a career that spanned over 4 decades, Sir Sean Connery established himself as an actor with incredible range. While he will always be known as "James Bond", his credits over his career showed an actor capable of so much more. In addition to the Bond films, his other films included such diverse topics as The Hill, The Wind and the Lion, The Man who would be King, Robin and Marion, Outland, The Untouchables (won Oscar for best Supporting Actor), The Hunt for Red October, The Rock and so many more. In honor of his life, we play cues from his films that feature composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, Maurice Jarre, Ennio Morricone and John Barry. Join us for a trip down memory lane as we celebrate the career of Sir Sean Connery.

We have a returning guest for a good reason. Warren Ringham's Q the Music band has done a unprecedented series of videos that are concerts of music from the James Bond films. There ability to precisely recreate the cues from the scores of the films are....unbelievable. You must hear to believe. Hear some behind the scenes notes on the project as well as some terrific cues from the films. This is a must hear episode of What's the Score!

Jeff Beal is one of the most prolific and successful composers in Hollywood today. With over 100 credits to his name, for documentaries, feature films and TV, his versatility is amazing. If you want to know just how good he is....count the 18 Emmy nominations and 5 Emmy awards...yes he's that good. We explore writing for film, TV and docs and the different challenges that are faced. We talk a lot about storytelling. And we even learn some deeply personal things about this amazing man. Please DOWNLOAD and enjoy hearing from Jeff Beal and his music.

Lee Holdridge is our guest for our next episode. He has written for short films, theater and opera before becoming prolific in composing for scores and arranging for solo artists. He scores include Mr. Mom, Splash, The Beastmaster,  and TV shows such as Into Thin Air, East of Eden and Moonlighting ( he wrote the popular theme tune for this). Our discussion was wide ranging and fascinating as we discussed his work with Neil Diamond, John Denver as well as the scores he wrote. The stories were free flowing and lead to a great conversation coupled with some of his terrific compositions. Please Download and listen at your convenience. 

From season 1, an episode with my choices of music from Barry, Newman, Mancini, and more. Plus OI talk with the director of the documentary "Score". This film is required viewing for all film music fans!

Lee Chambers is a professor of film in Canada but has also managed to be involved in over 2000  short films. He's been a juror for numerous film festivals around the world. He's also managed to win several awards for his writing and directing. His first feature he directed is out now on Amazon called "The Pineville Heist".

PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN AT YOUR LEISURE.  If film composers can have groupies, then our guest on this episode would fit the bill. It's my name for him and I use it affectionately. From the earliest uears of the career of John Barry, our guest Ian McDonald followed his every move practically so he could know what the next great score would be. As a result, he has amazing knowledge of the composer coupled with terrific stories of his adventures as a groupie. His choices for cues to play are sure to delight Barry fans and film music fans in general. NOTE: WE HAD TROUBLE GETTING A CLEAR CONNECTION TO OUR GUEST BUT HAVE TRIED TO CORRECT IT BEST WE CAN. WE APLOLGIZE FOR ANY INCONVIENENCE. 

PLEASE DOWNLOAD and listen at your convenience. A celebration of the life and career of one of cinema's music giants, Ennio Morricone, who died this July. Several of our past guests join us to share their thoughts on the maestro as well as some terrific music. Despite Frank's horrible attempt at Italian, you're sure to enjoy this tribute to one of the great composers of all time.

PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN AT YOUR LEISURE Our guest on the next episode of What's the Score is filmmaker Jonathan Isaac Jackson. A rising talent, who is based in New Orleans, Jonathan has made dozens of short films, some of which are award winning, which have been screened at film festivals around the world. One such example is his film, Conversation with the Devil, which happens to co star...yours truly! His selections of scores is diverse and sure to please with composers such as Henry Mancini, Stevie Wonder and Johann Johanssen. Check it out! 

PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN AT YOUR LEISURE. Yes, believe or not, my guest on this episode is John Williams….it is...but not the one you're thinking of. He has enjoyed a successful career as a portrait photographer where he did headshots for actors in L.A., and currently sells high end real estate in southern California. His journey to our program is because he has become a popular podcaster on film music...namely music from James Bond films. But this episode will feature all kinds of terrific scores from various genres. Learn about John's journey and hear some great cues that were new to me in some cases!

PLEASE DOWNLOADAND LISTEN AT YOUR LEISURE. Do you like horror films and film music? This episode is for you! I've always wanted to talk to a Director/Composer team to see how the collaboration works. First, there was Hitchcock and Herrmann, then Bryan Forbes and John Barry, then Spielberg and Williams....and now there is Doleac and Hyde! Joining us this episode is a successful independent filmmaker, Miles Doleac and his composer partner Cilfton Hyde. Both have been on the program before, but not together. The focus is on Miles' films, in particular his newest film The Dinner Party, released June 9. Learn how the relationship between Director and Composer works...and hear some terrific music along the way!

PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN AT YOUR LEISURE With no guest this week, I wondered...what could I do for the podcast...then it hit me. Why not play some unique and unusual "covers" of James Bond music. Even if you're not a huge fan of Bond music, I think you can still enjoy this. some unique recording from the 60's and 70s. This weekend, listen to the good, the bad and the ugly of oo7 music. I call it Bond and Below.

PLEASE DOWNLOAD and listen at your leisure. Canadian Saul Pincus joins us to discuss filmmaking, roles of Directors/Editors around music and of course, some of his favorite scores. He is an accomplished director and editor having worked on numerous projects. He also collaborated with Directing legend Sidney J Furie on several projects. We have a wide ranging discussion on many aspects of filmmaking in addition to some great music from the golden age to present day. He's also produced several documentaries for Film Score Monthly so you know he knows his stuff! 

PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN AT YOUR LEISURE Craig Safan has just about checked all the boxes when it comes to music. Early in his career he was a prolific songwriter but soon discovered a talent for composing for films/TV. He is perhaps best known for his scores to films such as The last Starfighter and Remo Williams. His TV credits are just as impressive as he provided music for shows like Amazing Stories, Tales from the Crypt and 11 seasons of Cheers.  Craig has picked favorites of his own composition and will demonstrate his skill of versatility with a wide variety of music. Great music with interesting conversation. A great match!

We talk to a co presenter of the podcast James Bond Radio. His selections, however are mostly from other genres and include works from composers Budd, Williams, Horner, Morricone and the band Queen, to name a few. A far reaching conversation on jewelry, living overseas and of course fabulous film music!

PLEASE DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN AT YOUR CONVIENENCE. In these troubled times, its good to have distractions so... great film music and conversation are just what the doctor ordered. To celebrate our 1 year anniversary of What's the Score, we have assembled some highlights from past shows, both stories and music. I couldn't included everyone I wanted and I remain grateful for all my guests. This program features individuals like Composer George Clinton (our first guest, composer for Austin Powers films and more), Producer Robert Townson (responsible for releasing hundreds of film scores on CD), Producer Lukas Kendall (founder of Film Score Monthly, Composer John Altman (composer, musician and co-writer of "The Bright Side of Life") and finally my 1981 interview with Composer John Barry. We play some of the more interesting stories as well as representative music. Please join us for an interesting and entertaining one hour retrospective. All the episodes with each of these guests is available, in its entirety, in our archives. 

On this episode of What's the Score, we welcome Ajay Chowdhury. Ajay was born in London and read Law at university there and in The Netherlands. For over two decades, Ajay has consulted on various motion picture, music, publishing, television and theatrical projects. Ajay has been involved with British and European feature film production in various capacities. He was the associate producer on two feature films, ‘Lost Dogs’ (2005) and ‘Flirting With Flamenco’ (2006). Ajay has been an Advisory Board member on Tongues On Fire Film Festival. In 2015, he co-wrote the internationally bestselling, ground-breaking Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films with Matthew Field, published by The History Press. The book was updated in paperback to cover The Road To Bond 25 and published in August 2018 which features extensive coverage on the soundtracks and songs of the 007 movies. Find out why Ajay rates Eric Serra, listen to lost Bond songs from Casino Royale 1967 and OHMSS as well as rule-breaking, musical tribute to George Lazenby.   Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films: https://amzn.to/2JSQsGy and https://amzn.to/2Ip8ld1 WTS Ajay Chowdhury Author picture © Richard Clarke, 2015. All Rights Reserved.