"T Is For Themes" - The Composers

'T' Is For Themes - Index

These people had been through the musical “mill”, studying music academically and having thorough knowledge of the essentials such as harmony, counterpoint, orchestration and arranging. They are all gifted instrumentalists, many of them making a lucrative income as in-demand session musicians playing and arranging/composing for many famous names in the world of music. Most of them also played with some of the leading big bands, groups and orchestras of the time and made notable contributions to the recorded music libraries in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

The excellent musical pedigree they share comes to the fore in the memorable and classy themes and incidental music they created for the shows later mentioned. The themes perform exactly the function they were intended to - as soon as you hear the opening bars of any of them, images of the relevant series and its characters are brought instantly and vividly to mind, for this reason, many of them have passed into the public consciousness.

Who, for example, doesn’t envisage a Ford Cortina smashing through a plate glass window upon hearing the first rousing notes of the theme to the “Professionals” ? To their credit, these themes are highly enjoyable as pieces of music in their own right, even if you haven’t seen the programmes they are associated with. A testament to their composer’s consummate skill.

Another of their talents was the way in which they effectively heightened the drama and tension in the programmes, brilliantly underlining what was happening on screen at any given time, able to write easily and effectively for any mood that might be called for. Undoubtedly, these shows would not have had the impact on the viewer they did, minus their music.

This took place in a time when television companies were prepared to include in their budgets money to pay for an orchestra (complimented by a large rhythm section in the case of the shows mentioned), so composers had at their disposal a wide and varied musical palate to unleash their ideas on. It would seem like something of an insult to expect these gifted musicians to work with anything less.

Being common as it was for television scores to incorporate a large orchestra or group, before the advent of MIDI sequencing, digital synthesizers and samplers, this has led inevitably to the trend of one person or only a few people required to create music. In purely financial terms, it makes no sense nowadays for a company to pay a large group or orchestra to record a score when it can be produced relatively cheaply by a few people, using entirely digital methods. For lovers of lushly orchestrated, funky 1970’s TV themes (and music of this kind in general), this era is by and large, gone.

Laurie Johnson
This renowned and quintessentially English composer was born on February 9th, 1927, in Hampstead, London. He studied at the Royal College Of Music under English classical composer Vaughn Williams and later taught there. At 19, while still studying, he began in earnest to compose and arrange for such Big Band luminaries as Ted Heath, Jack Parnell, Ambrose and Geraldo. His versatility is such that he has written music ranging from symphonies and tone-poems for orchestra, through to music for military bands, big bands and stage musicals.

He started writing for film and television in 1955 and has scored over 100 film and TV soundtracks. Other famous TV themes he has written include - “The Avengers”, “This Is Your Life”, “Jason King”, “Top Secret” and “Whicker's World”, as well as contributing to the KPM and Bruton music libraries in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He co-owns the company that made “The Professionals” and “The New Avengers” series with Brian Clemens. Laurie founded the London Big Band in 1994, for which he currently composes/conducts and arranges.

Brian Dee
Jazz pianist Brian Dee was born in London on March 3rd, 1936. He first came to prominence on the jazz scene in 1959, and in the early 1960’s won a Melody Maker award for best jazz pianist. Towards the end of the 1960’s he started doing session work in the areas of Film and TV. During the later 1970’s he wrote much music for the Bruton library label with co-composer Irving Martin, writing on his own for Syd Dale’s Amphonic library label and Johnny Scott's Peer International label, amongst others. In the 1970’s he recorded many Hammond albums of themes and pop hits for labels such as Hallmark and Polydor. His current activities include playing piano in Laurie Johnson’s London Big Band.

Harry South
The late Harry South was a pianist and in the 1960's and 1970's led the Harry South Big Band, the Harry South Stereo Brass and the Harry South Orchestra. With these groups he recorded in a variety of styles, including Jazz, Jazz-Rock and Easy-Listening. In the 1960's, South's groups supported acts and people such as Georgie Fame, Tubby Hayes and Cream. South was also active arranging and conducting for many Pop/Rock acts, working behind the scenes as arranger and conductor for films and television. Other TV themes he has written include "The Chinese Detective".

Denis King
Born in Essex on July 25th, 1939, King studied at the Guildhall school of music. His musical career started when he was young, gaining modest fame playing with his two elder brothers in the "King Brothers" in the 1950's and 1960's. In the mid-1960's their appeal began to wane and they split up. King used this to launch his new career as a composer for film and television. He is most famous for his theme to the TV series "Black Beauty", otherwise known as "Galloping Home". Other TV themes to come from his pen include "The Fosters", "Hannay", "Lovejoy" and "Dick Turpin". As well as scoring "Sweeney!", he also wrote the music for the film "Holiday On The Buses", a spin-off from the "On The Buses" TV series.
He has had success as a composer in the theatre, writing and arranging for various stage musicals. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's King released LP's on various labels, featuring either a small group or orchestra, often covering film and television themes.

Tony Hatch
One of Britain's most well known writers of TV themes, with such famous themes as "Emmerdale Farm", "Crossroads", "The Champions", "Sportsnight", "Man Alive" and "Neighbours" to his credit. As a boy he was head chorister at All Souls, Langham Palace, London. His first job was as a tea boy in a small music publishing company which helped him start his career. After a stint playing in the Coldstream Guards, he joined PYE in the 1960's working as a producer, composing and arranging for acts like The Searchers and Petula Clark among many others. He discovered the pianist Roy Budd and signed him to PYE in the 1960's.
During this period he married singer Jackie Trent and as a song-writing team they had hits themselves as well as writing hits for others. He is well remembered as a panelist on the 1970's TV talent show "Opportunity Knocks". He has written music for other films as well as writing production music for the Amphonic library label. He also released LP's under his own name on PYE in the 1960's and 1970's. He now lives in Australia where he has his own music production company and occasionally appears as guest conductor for the major Australian symphony orchestras.

Alan Parker

Alan is one of the leading guitarists in Britain, studying composition and orchestration at London’s Academy Of Music. During the 1960’s - 1980’s he contributed profusely to the recorded music libraries, including the KPM, De Wolfe, Bosworth, Amphonic and Themes labels. He was a founder member of the successful late 1960’s / early 1970’s pop bands “Blue Mink” and “The Congregation”, having chart-hits with both groups, as well as composing a lot of their material.

Other TV series Alan has worked on include “Van Der Valk”, “Minder” and more recently the BBC TV serial “Rhodes”. He has also scored film soundtracks including the music for “Jaws 3”.

As an arranger Alan has worked for people such as Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, Neil Diamond and John Denver among many others. Alan continues to be active in the studios, currently writing music for a variety of TV and film productions.

Barry Gray

Born in Lancashire in 1925, Barry learned music theory at the Royal Manchester College Of Music, receiving extra tuition in harmony and counterpoint at Blackburn Cathedral. He further studied composition with eminent Hungarian composer Matyas Seiber. After a six year stint in the RAF he got work as a freelance writer for films (scores include "Fahrenheit 451"and one of the "Dr Who" films) based at Anvil studios in Denham. In 1956 he became the musical director for Gerry Anderson's fledgling company, AP films. He subsequently wrote all the themes and the majority of the incidental music for all the Anderson shows up to "Space:1999" series 1.

Alongside his activities in the areas of film and television he also worked as an arranger, accompanying singers such as Eartha Kitt, Hoagy Carmichael and Dame Vera Lynn. Barry died on April 26, 1984.

Derek Wadsworth

Born in 1939 in West Yorkshire, Derek Wadsworth started playing trombone in his local brass band aged 10. Later he joined the Brighouse And Rastrick brass band. Unable to afford a conventional musical education he learnt the basics of arranging and composition through a correspondence course. He was tutored in the art of conducting by the Brighouse And Rastrick bands leader. In the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's he did a lot of work as an in-demand arranger, musical director, conductor and session musician, particularly in the field of Rock music.

From 1964 - 1970 he was Dusty Springfield's musical arranger as well as playing, composing and arranging for many including Shirley Bassey, Nina Simone, Judy Garland, Georgie Fame, Alan Price, Barbara Thompson, Michael Gibbs and Manfredd Mann. He was also musical director for the London stage production of the musical "Hair" from 1968 - 1973. Derek is still active in the fields of arranging and composing, currently scoring TV commercials and arranging for Alan Price on his latest album. He is also playing trombone in British drummer Tony Kinsey's jazz group.