Trevor Jones South African born Film Music Composer .

I am of the very opinionated opinion that Iron Man inspirer, Elon Musk, Bloemfontein born J R R Tolkien, writer of The Lord Of The Rings, and top Hollywood composer Trevor Jones are currently three of our top South African Born Heroes and are greatly influencing the world on a grand scale! I obviosuly also have to make honourable mentions of Charlise Theron, Jan Hendrik vd Westhuizen and neuroscientist Dr Caroline Leaf. ( Look at this very interesting video if your health interests you. #SouthAfricanSwag : )

Back to my hero of the day, please click on the video to watch and also scroll down to learn more about the inimitable, magnanimous and brilliant Trevor Jones who’s humble little life started in one of the most dangerous zones of the world at the time. #District6 #CapeTown. His sheer belief in himself and the music he would unlock and bestow on the world, changed his life, the life of film and the lives of everyone who has had the pleasure and honour of meeting him.

I have a new game and I love it! Whomever I come across anywhere and everywhere, I ask whether they know whom Trevor Jones is. To be truthful, if Maya’s Movie Magic didn’t introduce me I would be in the ignoramus box too! And I Love Trevor Jones’s compositions! Thank you Maya!!

Trevor Jones is a South African born film music composer and is world renowned. I feel it my duty to correct the fact that, outside of America, England and the well informed music society, he is not yet as known in South Africa as he is in the rest of the world.

To be rewritten with soul – but for now – Wikipedia information below.

Trevor Alfred Charles Jones (born 23 March 1949) is a South African orchestral film score composer. Although not especially well known outside the film world, he has composed for numerous films and his music has been critically acclaimed for both its depth and emotion.

Trevor Jones’ Career

At the age of six, Jones already had decided to become a film composer. In 1967 he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London with a scholarship and afterwards worked for five years for the BBC on reviews of radio and television music. In 1974 Jones attended the University of York from which he graduated with a master’s degree in Film and Media Music. At the National Film and Television School Jones studied for three years on general film-making and film and sound techniques. During this time he wrote the music for twenty-two student projects. In 1981 Jones wrote the score for the Academy Award-winning short movie The Dollar Bottom and for the short Black Angel.

Jones was soon after brought to the attention of John Boorman, who was in the midst of making his Arthurian epic, Excalibur (1981). Although mostly tracked with classical music by Richard Wagner and Carl Orff, Boorman also needed original dramatic cues (as well as period music) for certain scenes. Given Excalibur’s modest budget, a “name” composer was out of the question, so Boorman commissioned the up-and-coming young Jones.

Excalibur brought Jones to the attention of Jim Henson, who was making The Dark Crystal (1982), and looking for a composer who was young and eager to work in the experimental, free-wheeling way which Henson preferred. The resultant score is an expansive, multi-faceted work, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, augmented by inventive use of Fairlight and Synclavier synthesizers, as well as period instruments like crumhorn, recorder, and the unusual double-flageolet, which Jones came across by chance in a music store.

Jones followed Excalibur with scores for the horror films The Appointment (1981) and The Sender (1982), and the pirate adventure Nate and Hayes (1983). In 1985 Jones composed one of his best scores, for the acclaimed television production The Last Place on Earth.

Jones reunited with Henson for the 1986 fantasy musical Labyrinth. David Bowie wrote and performed the vocal tracks for this movie, including the hit “Underground”, while Jones provided the dramatic score.

Reflecting that his complex, symphonic score for The Dark Crystal garnered little notice, Jones began to re-think his entire approach to dramatic scoring. Around the mid-80s, Jones’ work became more electronic-based (much like fellow film composer Maurice Jarre), eschewing identifiable themes in favor of mood-enhancing synth chords and minimalist patterns. While he did write a somber, chamber orchestra score in 1988 for Dominick and Eugene (which featured classical guitarist John Williams), scores like Angel Heart (1987), Mississippi Burning (1988) and Sea of Love (1989) are more typical of Jones’ output during this period.

Jones’ return to large-orchestra scoring came with 1990s Arachnophobia, and he provided a light-hearted Georges Delerue-flavoured score for Blame it on the Bellboy in 1992.

Jones’ most popular success came later in 1992 with his score for The Last of the Mohicans, and his soaring, passionate music belies the difficulties which afflicted its creation. Director Michael Mann initially asked Jones to provide an electronic score for the film, but late in the game, it was decided an orchestral score would be more appropriate for this historic epic. Jones hurried to re-fashion the score for orchestra in the limited time left, while the constant re-cutting of the film meant music cues sometimes had to be rewritten several times to keep-up with the new timings. Finally, with the release date looming, composer Randy Edelman was called-in to score some minor scenes which Jones did not have time to do. Jones and Edelman received co-credit on the film (thus making this very popular and acclaimed score ineligible for Oscar consideration). Although all were displeased with the circumstances, Jones was not fired from the film despite reports to the contrary.

Jones became active in television in the 90s, with orchestral scores for several Hallmark productions, including Gulliver’s Travels, Merlin and Cleopatra. He also provided a fun, jazzy, 30s-style score for Richard III (1995), which features a swing-band setting of Christopher Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. In 1997 Jones worked for the first time with acclaimed director Ridley Scott, providing an electronic/orchestral/rock-flavoured soundtrack for G.I. Jane (1997).

A list of just some of the films Trevor Jones has scored

LABYRINTH
Tandem / Scott Free Productions
Director: Christopher Smith
Starring John Hurt, Tom Felton, Katie McGrath, Vanessa Kirby, Jessica Findlay-Brown
SOUNDTRACK available on itunes
A historical miniseries based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Kate Mosse. The series jumps between modern and medieval France and follows two women’s search for the holy grail.
Click here for more information on IMDB

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
20th Century Fox
Director / Producer: Michael Mann
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe
*MUSIC NOMINATED for BEST FILM SCORE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 1993
*MUSIC NOMINATED for BEST FILM SCORE BAFTA AWARDS 1993
SOUNDTRACK on Morgan Creek Records 2959 20015 2
SOUNDTRACK has exceeded 1,000,000 sales and has gone PLATINUM
British and French troops are at war in colonial America, with aid from various native American war parties. A romance begins between a British officer’s daughter and an independent man who was reared as a Mohawk…
Click here for more information on IMDB

NOTTING HILL
Working Title / Polygram
Director: Roger Michell
Producer: Duncan Kenworthy
Starring Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, Rhys Ifans
SOUNDTRACK on Island Records 546 207-2
*PLATINUM ALBUM
** WINNER of the BRIT AWARDS BEST SOUNDTRACK 1999
‘Can the most famous film star in the world fall for just an ordinary guy?’
Anna Scott, the most famous woman in the world, enters William Thacker’s Notting Hill bookshop and changes his life for ever. They fall in love. However, being with the world’s most wanted woman is not easy and the course of true love rarely runs smoothly…
Click here for more information on IMDB

THE DARK CRYSTAL
A Jim Henson Film
Directors: Jim Henson, Frank Oz
Producers: Jim Henson, Gary Kurtz
*WINNER of the BEST FILM AWARD at the L’ABOREAS FANTASY FILM FESTIVAL 1983
SOUNDTRACK on Warner Bros. 7599-23749-1
The time of the great conjunction of the three suns is near. The control of the evil Skekses will last forever if the crystal is not healed. Step forward the last of the Gelflings, Jen, to find the missing shard of the crystal. Can he heal the crystal and restore order to the planet? Fantasy animated film.
Click here for more information on IMDB

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER
Universal Pictures
Director: Jim Sheridan
Producer: Arthur Lappin
Starring Daniel Day -Lewis, Emma Thompson.
*WINNER of the GOLDEN BEAR AWARD at the BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL
*NOMINATED for 3 GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
*NOMINATED for 7 ACADEMY AWARDS
*NOMINATED for 2 BAFTA AWARDS
SOUNDTRACK on Island Records 8026 518 841-2
‘Falsely accused. Wrongly imprisoned. He fought for justice to clear his father’s name.’
Based on the true story of Gerry Conlon, a Belfast youth who was wrongly convicted of bombing two pubs outside of London. A story about the relationship between a father and his son who fought for justice to clear his father’s name.
Click here for more information on IMDB

CLIFFHANGER
Carolco Pictures
Director: Renny Harlin
Producer: Alan Marshall
Starring Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker
*NOMINATED for 3 ACADEMY AWARDS
SOUNDTRACK on Scotti Brothers 2392-75417-2
‘Hang on!’
Almost a year later after watching a friend fall to her death, Gabe is asked to go back to the same mountain range and rescue a group of ‘stranded’ people. These people are in fact looking for three boxes filled with $100,000,000 and they need a local expert to lead them to it…
Click here for more information on IMDB

MISSISSIPPI BURNING
The Mississippi Company for Orion Films
Director: Alan Parker
Producer: Robert Colesbury
Starring Gene Hackman,Willem Defoe, Frances McDormand
*MUSIC NOMINATED for the BEST FILM SCORE BAFTA 1990
*NOMINATED FOR 7 ACADEMY AWARDS
SOUNDTRACK on Antilles AN 8745
Two FBI agents from hugely different backgrounds are investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the ‘60’s. They seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small, racially segregated Southern town whilst learning to deal with each other’s wildly divergent outlooks.
Click here for more information on IMDB

SEA OF LOVE
Universal Pictures
Director: Hal Becker
Producer: Lou Stroller
SOUNDTRACK on Polygram Records 8421702
‘In search of a killer, he found someone who’s either the love of his life… or the end of it’
New York detective Frank Keller is unsettled, and has not come to terms with his wife leaving him for a collegue. He investigates a serial killer who finds victims through the lonely hearts columns, and finds he is falling in love with Helen, the main suspect in the case.
Click here for more information on IMDB

ANGEL HEART
An Alan Parker Film
Director: Alan Parker
Producer: Alan Marshall
Starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling
SOUNDTRACK on Antilles AN 8709
Harry Angel, a private investigator, is hired to find a man called Johnny Favorite. All the people he contacts are mysteriously killed. As the case develops, Harry is forced to deal with the devil himself…
Click here for more information on IMDB

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
Walden Media
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Dir. Frank Coraci
Starring Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Cecile De France, Jim Broadbent
SOUNDTRACK on Disney B0002 94QYK
An eccentric inventor, Phileas Fogg, makes a bet to circumnavigate the globe in no more than 80 days. Fogg embarks on his trip with sidekicks Passpartout (Jackie Chan) and femme-fatale Monique (Cecile De France). Numerous cameos on the way include Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Turkish prince, Luke and Owen Wilson as the Wright Bros., and Cathy Bates as Queen Victoria…
Click here for more information on IMDB

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN
League Productions for 20th Century Fox
Director: Stephen Norrington
Starring Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Stuart Townsend
SOUNDTRACK on Varese Sarabande 302 066 492 2
Allan Quatermain (Connery) is recalled from retirement in Kenya to lead a group of 19th Century ‘Superheroes’ to fight the worldwide threat of the evil ‘Fantom’. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen comprises seafarer/inventor Captain Nemo, vampiress Mina Harker , invisible man Rodney Skinner, the ageless Dorian Gray, Dr Jekyll/ Mr Hyde and American Secret Service agent Tom Sawyer…
Click here for more information on IMDB

THIRTEEN DAYS
New Line and Beacon
Director: Roger Donaldson
Producer: Armyan Bernstein
Starring Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood
SOUNDTRACK on New Line Records NLR-90052
MUSIC NOMINATED for IVOR NOVELLO AWARDS
Set during the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. An exploration into how President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and others handled a potentially explosive situation…
Click here for more information on IMDB

ARACHNOPHOBIA
Amblin Films for Hollywood Pictures
Director: Frank Marshall
Producers: Dick Vane and Kathleen Kennedy
Starring Jeff Daniels, John Goodman, Julian Sands
*MUSIC NOMINATED for the IVOR NOVELLO AWARD for BEST FILM THEME 1990
SOUNDTRACK on Hollywood Records 570 001 1
‘Eight legs, two fangs and an attitude.’
A black widow spider from the jungles of South America is accidentally transported to America where it mates with a local spider. The local residents soon start to disappear…
Click here for more information on IMDB

DESPERATE MEASURES
Sony Tri-Star
Director: Barbet Schroeder
Producer: Schroeder / Hoffman / Lee Rich
Starring Michael Keaton, Andy Garcia, Brian Cox, Marcia Gay Harden
SOUNDTRACK on Velvel Records 63467-79715-2
‘His son needs a DNA donor to live. The clock is ticking. The only match is a vicious killer. Now all Frank Conner has to do is catch him.’
He must find a way to stop them…

Click here for more information on IMDB

FROM HELL
20th Century Fox
Directors: Allen and Albert Hughes
Starring Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane.
SOUNDTRACK on Varese Sarabande
‘Only the legend will survive’
A portrayal of the infamous ‘Jack the Ripper’ who terrorized London’s East-End in the late 1880’s. The murders grab the attention of Inspector Frederick Abberline, a brilliant yet troubled man whose police work is often aided by his psychic abilities. Abberline becomes deeply involved with the case. It takes on personal meaning to him when he begins to fall in love with Mary Kelly, one of the prostitutes being hunted down by the Ripper. Will Abberline solve the case before Kelly becomes his next victim?
Click here for more information on IMDB

EXCALIBUR
Crystal Films Ltd.
Director / Producer: John Boorman
Starring Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi, Nicol Williamson, Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart
*WINNER of the ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD CANNES 1981

A re-telling of the tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Click here for more information on IMDB

DARK CITY
New Line
Director: Alex Proyas
Producer: Andrew Mason
Starring Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly
SOUNDTRACK on TVT Records 0 16581 81602 2
‘They built the city to see what makes us tick. Last night one of us went off.’
A man awakens alone In a strange hotel to find that he has lost his memory and is wanted for a series of brutal and bizarre murders. A woman who claims to be his wife is also after him. While trying to piece together his past, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of beings known as The Strangers who possess the ability to put people to sleep and alter the city and its inhabitants. He must find a way to stop them…
Click here for more information on IMDB

G.I JANE
Poleteam Ltd.
Director: Ridley Scott
Producers: Roger Birmbaum, Demi Moore, Suzanne Todd
Starring Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Bancroft
Distributors: Disney
SOUNDTRACK on Hollywood Records HR-62109-2
‘Failure is not an option’
A female Senator succeeds in enrolling a woman into Navy SEALS training. Everyone expects her to fail…
Click here for more information on IMDB

FREEJACK
Morgan Creek Productions
Director: Geoffrey Murphy
Producer: Stuart Oken
Starring Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins
SOUNDTRACK on Morgan Creek Records 2959-20008-2
‘Alex Furlong died today. Eighteen years from now, he’ll be running for his life.’
An auto racer is snatched by time travel, a split second before a fatal explosion, by a team who plan to sell his healthy body to an ailing rich man at McCandless Corporation, for a mind transfer. He escapes, but has no rights in his new life. He finds his fiancée Julie, now 18 years older and tries to revive the relationship.
Click here for more information on IMDB

KISS OF DEATH
20th Century Fox
Director: Barbet Schroeder
Starring David Caruso, Nicholas Cage, Helen Hunt, Samuel L. Jackson
SOUNDTRACK on Milan Records 73138 35715-2
Jimmy is an ex-con who’s trying to go straight, but can’t say no to one last job. When things go wrong, Jimmy is left to do the time, and his whole life is turned upside-down. When he gets out again, Jimmy goes undercover with the help of an angry detective to catch a psychotic mobster…
Click here for more information on IMDB

LABYRINTH
Henson Associates and Lucasfilms
Director: Jim Henson
Producer: Eric Ratray
Starring David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly
Executive Producer: George Lucas
SOUNDTRACK on EMI America
‘Where everything is possible and nothing is what it seems…’
A girl must solve a giant labyrinth before midnight to rescue her baby brother from the Goblin King.
Click here for more information on IMDB

BAD INFLUENCE
Epic Films
Director: Curtis Hanson
Producer: Steve Tisch
Starring Rob Lowe, James Spader
SOUNDTRACK on Island Records CD 9860
Michael is saved from a bar-fight from a mysterious drifter called Alex. But Alex is a dangerous sociopath, and Michael finds his life turned upside down…
Click here for more information on IMDB

HIDEAWAY
Tri-Star Columbia
Director: Brett Leonard
Starring Jeff Goldblum, Christine Lahti, Alicia Silverstone, Alfred Molina
SOUNDTRACK on TVT 016581 561 021
‘Hatch Harrison was pronounced dead on arrival. After two hours, the doctors brought him back. But he didn’t come back alone.’
Click here for more information on IMDB

CROSSROADS
Distribution: Paramount
Filmco Entertainment Inc.
Producer: Ann Carli
Director: Tamara Davis
Starring Britney Spears, Anson Mount, Zoe Saldana, Taryn Manning, Dan Aykroyd, Kim Cattrall.
Three childhood best friends, and a guy they just met, set off on a trip to LA, finding themselves and their friendship in the process.
Click here for more information on IMDB

RUNAWAY TRAIN
Cannon Films
Director: Andre Konchalowsky
Producer: Robert A Goldstone
Starring John Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebeccca De Mornay
*NOMINATED for 3 ACADEMY AWARDS 1986 SOUNDTRACK on Capitol Milan Records CD CH067
Two escaped convicts and a female railway worker are trapped on a train. There are no brakes and there is nobody driving…
Click here for more information on IMDB

BLAME IT ON THE BELLBOY
Bellboy Films Ltd. for Hollywood Pictures
Director: Mark Herman
Producers: Steve Abbott and Jenny Howarth
Starring Dudley Moore, Bryan Brown, Richard Griffiths
Three men from very different walks of life converge on the Hotel Gabriella in Venice. Linguistic mix-ups by the staff mean each of the trio get wrong instructions for the next day….
Click here for more information on IMDB

DOMINICK AND EUGENE aka NICKY AND GINO
Orion Pictures
Director: Bob Young
Producers: Marvin Minoff / Mike Farrell
Starring Ray Liotta, Tom Hulce, Jamie Lee Curtis
SOUNDTRACK on Varese Saraband 704.540
Dominick and Eugene are twins, but Dominick is a little bit slow due to an accident in his youth. They live together, with Dominick working as garbage man to put Eugene through medical school. Eugene must decide between his devotion to his brother, or his need to go away to complete his training.
Click here for more information on IMDB

CRISSCROSS
MGM / PATHE
Director: Chris Menges
Producers: Anthea Sylbert and Goldie Hawn
Starring Goldie Hawn, Arliss Howard, Steve Buscemi
SOUNDTRACK on Intrada Records MAF 7021D
Set in 1969, a twelve-year-old boy discovers that a restaurant owner is using a fishing boat to smuggle drugs in to shore. He steals some and sets about selling it so that his mother can quit her job as a stripper…
Click here for more information on IMDB

THE MIGHTY
Miramax
Director: Peter Chelsom
Producer: Simon Fields
Starring Harry Dean Stanton, Gena Rowlands, Sharon Stone, Kieran Culkin
SOUNDTRACK on ARC – 21 Records
*SONG NOMINATED for GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD 1998 – Best Original Song for a Film
‘The quest for friendship is the noblest cause of all.’
A story of 2 boys. Max is overweight, and suffers from a learning disability whilst Kevin has a rare disease that stops him leading a normal life. Kevin lives next door to Max and one day is assigned as a reading tutor to him. Together they travel to the land of knights and heroes in their books.
Click here for more information on IMDB
RICHARD III
Richard III Films Ltd Distributed by MGM/UA
Director: Richard Loncraine
Starring Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Robert Downey Jr., Kristin Scott Thomas
Winner of the Silver Bear Berlin Film Fesitval 1996
Winner of the Best Film Evening Standard Awards 1996
Nominated for Best Actor (Iain McKellan) Golden Globe Awards 1996
SOUNDTRACK on London Records 8287192
‘What Is Worth Dying For… Is Worth Killing For’
A classic Shakespearean play about a murderous, scheming king staged in an alternative, fascist England…
Click here for more information on IMDB

Trevor Jones South African Hollywood Music King.

Trevor Jones South African born Film Music Composer .

Trevor Jones’ Career

A list of just some of the films Trevor Jones has scored

AUTHOR

Nosy Rosy