Lalo Schifrin

Last updated
Lalo Schifrin
Lalo schifrin (cropped) (2).jpg
Schifrin in 2006
Background information
Birth nameBoris Claudio Schifrin
Born (1932-06-21) June 21, 1932 (age 92)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • composer
  • arranger
  • conductor
Instruments
  • Piano
  • keyboards
Years active1950–present
Labels

Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) [1] is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical elements alongside traditional orchestrations. He is a five-time Grammy Award winner; he has been nominated for six Academy Awards and four Emmy Awards.

Contents

Schifrin's best known compositions include the themes from Mission: Impossible and Mannix , as well as the scores to Cool Hand Luke (1967), Bullitt (1968), THX 1138 (1971), Enter the Dragon (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979), and the Rush Hour trilogy (1998–2007). Schifrin is also noted for his collaborations with Clint Eastwood from the late 1960s to the 1980s, particularly the Dirty Harry series of films. He composed the Paramount Pictures fanfare used from 1976 to 2004.

In 2019, he received an honorary Oscar "in recognition of his unique musical style, compositional integrity and influential contributions to the art of film scoring."

Early life

Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires to a Jewish family. [2] His father, Luis Schifrin, led the second violin section of the orchestra at the Teatro Colón for three decades. [1] At the age of six, Schifrin began a six-year course of study on piano with Enrique Barenboim, the father of pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. Lalo Schifrin shares a familial link to American alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin. Schifrin began studying piano with the Greek-Russian expatriate Andreas Karalis, former head of the Kyiv Conservatory, and harmony with Argentine composer Juan Carlos Paz. During this time Schifrin also became interested in jazz.

Although Schifrin studied sociology and law at the University of Buenos Aires, it was music that captured his attention. [1] At age 20, he successfully applied for a scholarship to the Conservatoire de Paris. At night, he played jazz in the Paris clubs. In 1955, Schifrin played piano with Argentine bandoneon giant Ástor Piazzolla and represented his country at the International Jazz Festival in Paris.

As jazz composer

After returning home to Argentina in his twenties, Schifrin formed a jazz orchestra, a 16-piece band that became part of a popular weekly variety show on Buenos Aires TV. He also began accepting other film, television and radio assignments. In 1956, he met Dizzy Gillespie and offered to write an extended work for Gillespie's big band. Schifrin completed the work, Gillespiana , in 1958, [1] which was recorded in 1960. Later in 1958, Schifrin began working as an arranger for Xavier Cugat's popular Latin dance orchestra.

While in New York in 1960, Schifrin again met Gillespie, who had by this time disbanded his big band for financial reasons. Gillespie invited Schifrin to fill the vacant piano chair in his quintet. Schifrin immediately accepted and moved to New York City. Schifrin wrote a second extended composition for Gillespie, The New Continent, which was recorded in 1962.

On 26 May 1963, he recorded an album, Buenos Aires Blues, with Duke Ellington’s alto saxophonist, Johnny Hodges. Schifrin wrote two compositions for the album; Dreary Blues and the title track B. A. Blues. In the same year Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which had Schifrin under contract, offered the composer his first Hollywood film assignment with the African adventure Rhino! [1] Schifrin moved to Los Angeles and became a U.S. resident in 1963. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1969. [3]

Film scores

One of Schifrin's most recognizable and enduring compositions is the theme music for the long-running TV series Mission: Impossible. It is a distinctive tune written in the uncommon 5/4 time signature. Not only does the 5/4 time signature make the composition unique, the meter (dash dash, dot dot) is Morse Code for the letters M and I. Similarly Schifrin's theme for the hugely successful Mannix private eye TV show was composed a year later in a 6/8 time; Schifrin composed several other jazzy and bluesy numbers over the years as additional incidental music for the show.

Schifrin's "Tar Sequence" from his Cool Hand Luke score (also written in 5/4) was the longtime theme for the Eyewitness News broadcasts on New York station WABC-TV and other ABC affiliates, as well as Nine News in Australia. CBS Television used part of the theme of his St. Ives soundtrack for its golf broadcasts in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Schifrin's score for the 1968 film Coogan's Bluff was the beginning of a long association with Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel. Schifrin's strong jazz-blues riffs were evident in Dirty Harry . The well received, jazzy Bullitt score for this Peter Yates directed film was recorded in December of the same year. In 1973 he wrote the score for "Enter the Dragon" with funky wah-pedal sound. [4]

Schifrin's working score for 1973's The Exorcist was rejected by the film's director, William Friedkin. Schifrin had written six minutes of difficult and heavy music for the initial film trailer, but audiences were reportedly frightened by the combination of sights and sounds. As reported by Schifrin in an interview, Warner Bros. executives told Friedkin to instruct Schifrin to tone it down with softer music, but Friedkin did not relay the message. Schifrin also said that working on the film was one of the most unpleasant experiences in his life. [5] He later reused the compositions in other scores.

In 1976 he released a single called "Jaws", a version of the John Williams theme from the Universal Pictures film Jaws , on CTI (Creed Taylor Incorporated) records. The single spent nine weeks in the UK chart, peaking at number 14. He also composed the 1976 fanfare for Paramount Pictures, which was used mainly for their home video label and was adapted for the television division 11 years later until it was renamed to CBS Paramount Television (now CBS Studios) in 2006.

In 1981, he wrote the music for the 1981 American slapstick comedy film Caveman .

In the 1990s, he wrote many of the arrangements for The Three Tenors concerts.

In the 1998 film Tango , Schifrin returned to tango music, with which he had grown familiar while working as Astor Piazzolla's pianist in the mid-1950s. He brought traditional tango songs to the film, as well as introducing compositions of his own, in which tango is fused with jazz elements. [6]

In 1997, the composer founded Aleph Records. [7]

He also wrote the main theme for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow .

Schifrin made a cameo appearance in Red Dragon (2002) as an orchestra conductor.

He is also widely sampled in hip-hop and trip-hop songs, such as Heltah Skeltah's "Prowl" or Portishead's "Sour Times". Both songs sample Schifrin's "Danube Incident", one of many themes he composed for specific episodes of the Mission: Impossible TV series.

In 2003, Schifrin was commissioned to compose a classical work entitled Symphonic Impressions of Oman by Sultan Qaboos bin Said. [8] The Sultan himself was particularly enthusiastic about the pipe organ and an avid classical music fan. [9]

On April 23, 2007, Lalo Schifrin presented a concert of film music for the Festival du Film Jules Verne Aventures (Festival Jules Verne), at Le Grand Rex theatre in Paris, France – Europe's biggest movie theater. This was recorded by festival leaders for a 73-and-a-half-minute CD named Lalo Schifrin: Le Concert à Paris.

In 2010, a fictionalised account of Lalo Schifrin's creation of the "Theme from Mission: Impossible" tune was featured in a Lipton TV commercial aired in a number of countries around the world. [10]

Seattle-based alternative hip hop group Blue Scholars recorded a track titled "Lalo Schifrin" on their third album Cinemetropolis (2011).

Symphony Collaboration: Lalo Schifrin and Rod Schejtman

Recognizing Rod Schejtman’s extraordinary talent after his victory in the World Cup of Classical Music, [11] Lalo Schifrin invited Schejtman in 2024 to join forces to compose a masterwork dedicated to their country. [12] The result is a monumental 35-minute symphony for a full orchestra of nearly 100 musicians. A tribute to their homeland, Argentina, the symphony draws inspiration from the nation’s history over the past 40 years, delivering a profound message of hope for the future. [13] Written in three movements, this work blends cinematic and classical elements, a hallmark of the unique partnership between Schifrin and Schejtman. Together, they seamlessly fuse the sweeping grandeur of cinematic music with the depth and tradition of symphonic composition, creating a collaboration unlike anything in Schifrin’s storied career. [14] [15] [16] [17]

This symphony is set to tour the world's most prestigious concert halls, beginning with its world premiere at the historic Teatro Colón on April 5, 2025, marking the theater’s 100-year anniversary. The President of Argentina, Javier Milei, will be invited as the guest of honor at this landmark event, which represents a milestone in the cultural history of Argentina and the world. The concert promises to be a defining moment in the arts, with a symphony poised to shape the "classical music of the future," seamlessly blending timeless traditions with a forward-looking perspective. [18] [19]

Adding to its prestige, the premiere will also feature a symphonic rendition of Mission: Impossible , ahead of the release of the new Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning film starring Tom Cruise, set to premiere on May 23, 2025 (USA). The program will include other celebrated film scores by Schifrin, ensuring the event captivates global audiences and secures its place as one of the most anticipated cultural highlights of the year. [20] [21]


Awards

Lalo Schifrin has won five Grammy Awards (four Grammy Awards and one Latin Grammy), with twenty-two nominations, one CableACE Award, and received six Academy Award and four Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2016, it was announced that his Mission: Impossible theme was to be inducted into the Grammy Award Hall of Fame. [22]

The Argentine composer received an honorary Oscar in November 2018, in recognition of his successful career, the Hollywood Academy announced in a press release. [23]

Discography and film scores

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astor Piazzolla</span> Argentine composer, bandoneon player and arranger (1921–1992)

Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles. In 1992, American music critic Stephen Holden described Piazzolla as "the world's foremost composer of Tango music".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Argentina</span>

The music of Argentina includes a variety of traditional, classical, and popular genres. According to the Harvard Dictionary of Music, Argentina also has "one of the richest art music traditions and perhaps the most active contemporary musical life."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires</span> Public secondary school in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires is a public high school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires. In the tradition of the European gymnasium it provides a free education that includes classical languages such as Latin and Greek. The school is one of the most prestigious in Latin America. Its alumni include many personalities, including two Nobel laureates and four Presidents of Argentina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valeria Lynch</span> Musical artist

María Cristina Lancelotti, better known by her stage name Valeria Lynch, is an Argentine singer and actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tita Merello</span> Argentine actress and singer (1904–2002)

Laura Ana "Tita" Merello was an Argentine film actress, tango dancer and singer of the Golden Age of Argentine Cinema (1940–1960). In her six decades in Argentine entertainment, at the time of her death, she had filmed over thirty movies, premiered twenty plays, had nine television appearances, completed three radio series and had had countless appearances in print media. She was one of the singers who emerged in the 1920s along with Azucena Maizani, Libertad Lamarque, Ada Falcón, and Rosita Quiroga, who created the female voices of tango. She was primarily remembered for the songs "Se dice de mí" and "La milonga y yo".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Franzetti</span> Argentine-American composer (born 1948)

Carlos Alberto Franzetti is an Argentine-American composer and arranger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernando Otero</span> Musical artist

Fernando Otero is a Grammy-award-winning Argentine pianist, vocalist, and composer.

Founded in 2002 by its artistic director Ignacio Varchausky, TangoVia Buenos Aires is a non-profit organization for progressive arts - focused on preservation but dedicated to creation - that brings together artists, researchers, producers and cultural institutions for the preservation, development, and promotion of the art of tango in Buenos Aires and around the world. Since TangoVia Buenos Aires understands tango as a constantly evolving living art form, it promotes all of its formats as contemporary and alive.

Theme from <i>Mission: Impossible</i> American television theme music

"Theme from Mission: Impossible" is the theme tune of the American espionage TV series Mission: Impossible (1966–1973). The theme was written and composed by Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin and has since gone on to appear in several other works of the Mission: Impossible franchise, including the 1988 TV series, the film series, and the video game series.

<i>Theres a Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin On</i> 1968 studio album by Lalo Schifrin

There's a Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On is an album by Argentine composer, pianist and conductor Lalo Schifrin recorded in 1968 and released on the Dot label.

<i>Music from Mission: Impossible</i> 1967 soundtrack album by Lalo Schifrin

Music from Mission: Impossible is an album featuring music composed and conducted by Lalo Schifrin recorded in 1967 and released on the Dot label. The music on this album is re-recorded and extended scores were originally commissioned for the TV series Mission: Impossible.

Horacio Malvicino was an Argentine jazz and tango electric guitarist and composer who played for many years with the tango musician Ástor Piazzolla in several of his ensembles.

<i>Metamorphosis: Jazz Meets the Symphony</i> 1998 studio album by Lalo Schifrin

Metamorphosis: Jazz Meets the Symphony #4 is an album by Argentine composer, pianist and conductor Lalo Schifrin with bassist Ray Brown, drummer Jeff Hamilton, trumpeter James Morrison, percussionist Francisco Aguabella and the London Symphony Orchestra recorded in 1998 and released on Schifrin's Aleph label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Pablo Jofre</span>

Juan Pablo Jofre is a Grammy nominated Argentinian musician, composer, and arranger. He plays the bandoneon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broad Front UNEN</span> Former political coalition in Argentina

Broad Front UNEN was a center-left political coalition in Argentina. It arose through an alliance between Radical Civic Union, Civic Coalition ARI, Proyecto Sur, Freemen of the South Movement, Socialist Party, Authentic Socialist Party, and GEN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cátulo Castillo</span> Argentine poet and composer

Ovidio Cátulo González Castillo was an Argentine poet and tango music composer. He was the author of many famous works, such as Organito de la tarde, El aguacero, Tinta roja and Caserón de tejas, María and La última curda, and El último café. The tango La calesita, which he composed with Mariano Mores, inspired the film of the same name directed in 1962 by Hugo del Carril.

Gerardo Gandini was a pianist, composer, and music director, who became one of the most relevant figures of Argentine New Music of the second half of the 20th century. He studied composition with Goffredo Petrassi and Alberto Ginastera, and piano with Roberto Caamaño, Pía Sebastiani, and Yvonne Loriod. He was Astor Piazzolla's pianist in the Sexteto Nuevo Tango formed in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lalo Schifrin discography</span>

This is the discography of Argentine-American jazz musician Lalo Schifrin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Doura</span> Argentine classical composer

Daniel Doura is an Argentine composer of classical music. Considered one of the Argentine composers who currently have international exposure, Doura is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Columbia, and among his teachers were John Cage, Mario Davidovsky, Chou Wen-chung, Alberto Ginastera, Luciano Berio, Tōru Takemitsu, Milton Babbitt and John Adams, among others. He received the Best Composition award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1985 and was a finalist for the Best Composition award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAA&S).

<i>Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol</i> (soundtrack) 2011 film score by Michael Giacchino

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is the score album to the 2011 film Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. The fourth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series, starring Tom Cruise, and the sequel to Mission: Impossible III (2006), the film is directed by Brad Bird and featured musical score composed by Michael Giacchino, who scored for Mission: Impossible III (2006), and also for Bird's previous animated films, The Incredibles (2004) and Ratatouille (2007). Varèse Sarabande released the soundtrack on December 13, 2011.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Huey, Steve (1932-06-21). "Allmusic biography". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
  2. ↑ Brook, Vincent (2006). You should see yourself: Jewish identity in postmodern American culture . Rutgers University Press. p.  96. ISBN   0-8135-3845-9.
  3. ↑ "Lalo Schifrin Swings". LA Weekly. 22 May 2003. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  4. ↑ Payne, D. Lalo Schifrin discography Retrieved 23 March 2022
  5. ↑ "Schifrin interview with Miguel Ángel Ordóñez & Pablo Nieto for Score Magacine (translated from the original Spanish)". Scoremagacine.com. 2005-05-20. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
  6. ↑ "Sony Pictures. Tango: The Production. Production notes". Sonypictures.com. Archived from the original on 2002-06-08. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
  7. ↑ "Aleph Records discography". Dougpayne.com. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
  8. ↑ Archived 17 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ "Carlo Curly & Mathis Music". Archived from the original on 16 December 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ↑ "Lipton Yellow Label Tea: Mission Impossible?". Popsop. Archived from the original on 2012-06-01. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
  11. ↑ Buenos Aires Times (October 2024). "Composer Rod Schejtman takes Argentina to finals of World Cup of Classical Music". Buenos Aires Times. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  12. ↑ Perfil (September 16, 2024). "Lalo Schifrin y Rod Schejtman se unen para crear una sinfonía inspirada en la historia Argentina". Perfil. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  13. ↑ Visávis (September 16, 2024). "Lalo Schifrin y Rod Schejtman se unen para crear una sinfonía inspirada en la historia Argentina". Visávis. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  14. ↑ "Masterworks". Rod Schejtman Official Website. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  15. ↑ Lincoln School. "Schejtman & Schiffrin: Argentine Composers Honoring History". Lincoln School. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  16. ↑ Perfil (September 16, 2024). "Lalo Schifrin y Rod Schejtman se unen para crear una sinfonía inspirada en la historia Argentina". Perfil. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  17. ↑ Visávis (September 16, 2024). "Lalo Schifrin y Rod Schejtman se unen para crear una sinfonía inspirada en la historia Argentina". Visávis. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  18. ↑ Perfil (September 16, 2024). "Lalo Schifrin y Rod Schejtman se unen para crear una sinfonía inspirada en la historia Argentina". Perfil. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  19. ↑ Visávis (September 16, 2024). "Lalo Schifrin y Rod Schejtman se unen para crear una sinfonía inspirada en la historia Argentina". Visávis. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  20. ↑ Perfil (September 16, 2024). "Lalo Schifrin y Rod Schejtman se unen para crear una sinfonía inspirada en la historia Argentina". Perfil. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  21. ↑ Visávis (September 16, 2024). "Lalo Schifrin y Rod Schejtman se unen para crear una sinfonía inspirada en la historia Argentina". Visávis. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  22. ↑ "Grammy news release". GRAMMYs. 30 April 2017.
  23. ↑ "THE ACADEMY TO HONOR KATHLEEN KENNEDY, MARVIN LEVY, FRANK MARSHALL, LALO SCHIFRIN AND CICELY TYSON AT 2018 GOVERNORS AWARDS". Oscars.org. September 4, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.