Homage to Dirty Harry and the seventies
Working with members of the Jools Holland Brass I produced a series of pastiches of music inspired by cult films and TV series from the seventies including The Omen, Starsky and Hutch and Dirty Harry.
Long before Life on Mars became a huge TV hit, I had been mining the seventies back catalogue for material, thanks to a commission from library music production company Gung Ho (www.gunghomusic.com) (my previous releases through them included an album called Scratch da Funk).
Gung Ho commissioned me to produce tracks for use by TV/Media companies in the style of cult TV series & films from the 70’s such as Starsky & Hutch, The Omen, and Dirty Harry.
The project entailed two types of work: some pop/funk and some choral work.
The pop funk element was handled by a very capable six-piece brass section, that included members of the Jools Holland Band led by Jon Scott (www.joolsband.com/jon-scott.htm), while the choral work was performed in the style of The Omen by the Oriana singers.
The pop punk work blended cutting edge technology to produce crisp backbeats and underscore, thanks to our world-class horn section players. My brief was to work with them and to replicate the famous ‘tower of power’ sound, that was heard on many 70’s cult classics. Recording sessions took place over two days at a local studio.
The choral work ‘De Profundis’ – (Into the deep) was inspired by Jerry Goldsmith’s score to The Omen.