John Altman (composer)

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John Altman
Altman smiling to the camera
Altman on set of the short film Pass:on, 2009
Background information
Born (1949-12-05) 5 December 1949 (age 74)
London, England
Occupation(s)
  • Film composer
  • music arranger
  • orchestrator
  • conductor
Years active1955–present 1973–1999, 2005–present

John Altman (born 5 December 1949) is an English film composer, music arranger, orchestrator and conductor.

Music career

Altman was introduced to the music of the 1930s and 1940s at an early age by his uncles, bandleaders Woolf and

Bert Ambrose Orchestra, played in Louis Armstrong's British All Stars, and led Britain's best known Dixieland Band. John Altman's cousin, Simon Phillips, was for many years the drummer of the world-famous rock band Toto and now leads the Grammy nominated Protocol
.

Altman's only formal musical training was piano lessons as a child.

The Secret Policeman's Other Ball – an ensemble that included Sting, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins, Bob Geldof, Donovan and Midge Ure
.

Altman is a highly accomplished

Alex Acuna, and Tom Ranier. Altman performed at the Vladivostok Summer Festival, the San Jose winter jazz series, the LA Jazz Festival, the Hollywood and Highland Summer Jazz Series in Los Angeles and the London Jazz Festival both with the big band, which garnered a standing ovation and rave reviews, and the Caribbean Jazz Cruise. He is also a Patron of the National Jazz Archive and was honoured by the Archive in July 2010. He recently recorded the big band for an album to be released in the New Year of 2022. Altman also undertook a well received big band tour of Australia, and a quintet tour of California. His latest jazz project is a quartet, Pearls of Wisdom, with Police guitarist Andy Summers
which debuted in 2014.

Altman is a frequent guest conductor for the

Bela Fleck, and the other a jazz track featuring Evan Rachel Wood with Patrice Rushen and Tom Scott. He was flattered to have been recommended for this prestigious gig by Sir George Martin. He also arranged the horn section for Mark Ronson's song "Johanna" featured in the movie Mortdecai performed by Miles Kane and several songs for the Michael Caine Gala at the Royal Albert Hall for Joss Stone, Quincy Jones, and the London Symphony Orchestra

He contributed songs for a stage musical devised by Terence Frisby from his best selling book Kisses on a Postcard. He was also co-founder – and co-host for seven years – of the "10 Room" Monday night jam session in London which won Club Night of the Year awards – and featured guests such as:Pharrell Williams Lionel Richie, Macy Gray, Will Smith, Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys, Najee, Wyclef Jean, Shaquille O'Neal, the Roots, The Neptunes, Mario, Roy Ayers, Omar, Chaka Khan, Chris Tucker and the Backstreet Boys, as well as helping to launch the careers of John Legend, Katie Melua, Gabriella Cilmi, and Amy Winehouse, who was a regular 10 Room habitué and performer. Two new venues in London have continued to host the weekly sessions with guests over the years including Prince and the New Power Generation and Jessie J, and others are to be added worldwide. One of the backing vocalists was Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo. In August 2018 he guested with the New Power Generation and Beverley Knight at their London tribute to Prince.

Film score composing

He has had a parallel successful career as a composer/arranger/producer for films and television, winning most of the prestigious film composer awards -an EMMY and an ASCAP Film Award for

Monaco Film Festival, and in 2012 with an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Sussex where he was the first ever Creative Arts Fellow in the Department of Humanities, a position he held through 2010. In 2018 he was awarded a star on the Palace Pier in the Brighton Music Walk of Fame. His autobiography Hidden Man - My Many Musical Lives was published in February 2022 by Equinox Books

His credits as a film score composer include

The MatchMaker, Legionnaire, Hope Springs, Aakasha Gopuram, Bhaji on the Beach, Bad Behaviour, Fidel, King of Texas, Beautiful Joe, On Thin Ice and The Lost Empire. He also scored the tank chase sequence in the James Bond film GoldenEye (voted number 2 in the all time James Bond favourite moments list by the viewers of Channel 4), and arranged and produced the Academy Award-nominated period music for James Cameron's film Titanic. In 2020 he arranged and conducted some of the Hans Zimmer score for the latest James Bond movie No Time to Die
'’.

Altman's screen career began as the musical arranger/director for the 1978 film

ASCAP Film Award; the music for the CBS movie Suburban Madness with Sela Ward, and the controversial Emmy nominated miniseries, The Reagans starring Judy Davis and James Brolin. In the UK he scored Mr Harvey Lights a Candle for BBC Films, and the BAFTA nominated The Queen's Sister for Channel 4
.

He has also become a guest presenter on the BBC Television Culture Show and Channel 4's The Music of James Bond, and was seen extensively in the BBC4 documentary How Pop Songs Work, as well as frequent radio appearances as guest presenter of various jazz shows. A recent TV project was as musical director for the BBC TV 'celebration' of the centenary of Titanic. He has also written the sleeve notes for the album he produced of unreleased material for a double and quadruple CD special edition box set of music from the James Cameron movie Titanic, issued at the time of the release of Titanic 3D, in April 2012. In July 2015 he was commissioned to compose a new score for the Gala screening of the restored silent classic Shooting Stars which premiered in the 2015 London Film Festival. In 2018 he re-arranged Quincy Jones iconic score for the 1969 movie The Italian Job for live projection with orchestra. He has recently begun hosting a series of live conversations in London with friends and colleagues. Thus far his guests have included Sanjeev Bhaskar, Michael Palin, and Goldie with Rob Brydon, Jim Carter, Imelda Staunton, Lenny Henry, Adrian Dunbar, and Bradley Walsh kicking off 2019's guest list.In 2023 he arranged all (and composed some of)the period music for the movie Shoshana directed by Michael Winterbottom

Commercial music composing

Altman is the most prolific writer of music for

Dancing With The Stars
.

Personal life

John is a father and lives with wife on the Essex fringe of London.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Woolf Phillips". 8 August 2003.
  2. ^ "John Altman - Interview".
  3. ^ Steuer, Christine. "John Altman biography".
  4. ^ "John Altman Biography".
  5. ^ Nick Dalton, The maestro of movie music..., Sunday Express, London, 23 January 2002, page 33.

External links

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