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Lalo Schifrin (born June 21, 1932)[allmusic Biography] is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the Mission: Impossible theme. He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations.
BiographySchifrin was born Boris Claudio Schifrin in Buenos Aires of Jewish heritage.
Although Schifrin studied sociology and law at the University of Buenos Aires, it was music that captured his attention.
After returning home to Argentina, Schifrin formed a jazz orchestra, a 16-piece band that became part of a popular weekly variety show on Buenos Aires TV
. Schifrin also began accepting other film, television and radio assignments. In 1956, Schifrin met Dizzy Gillespie and offered to write an extended work for Gillespie's big band. Schifrin completed the work, Gillespiana, in 1958.
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. In 1963, MGM, which had Schifrin under contract, offered the composer his first Hollywood film assignment with the African adventure, Rhino!.
One of Schifrin's most recognizable and enduring compositions is the theme music for the long-running TV series Mission: Impossible. It is a famously distinctive tune written in an uncommon 5/4 time signature.
In 1970, he composed the Paramount Television (which by then had taken over production of Mission: Impossible) logo jingle "Color I.D." It was an 8-note jingle featuring horns, woodwinds and timpani. This music would have a long run in Paramount's TV production logos through 1987.
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 National 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 ''Coogan's Bluff'' in 1968 was the beginning of a long association with Clint Eastwood. Schifrin's strong jazz blues riffs were evident in Dirty Harry and, although similar to Bullitt and ''Coogan's Bluff, the score for Dirty Harry stood out for the sheer fear it generated when released.Citation needed
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 too scared by the combination of sights and sounds. Warner Bros. executives told Friedkin to instruct Schifrin to tone it down with softer music, but Friedkin did not relay the message. Schifrin's final score was thrown out into the parking lot. Schifrin reported in an interview that working with Friedkin was the one of the most unpleasant experiences in his life.
In the 1998 film Tango, Schifrin returned to the tango music he had grown familiar with 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.
In 1997, Aleph Records was founded by the composer.
He also wrote the songs for 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, see 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.
AwardsTo date, Lalo Schifrin has won four Grammy Awards (with twenty-one nominations), one Cable ACE Award, and received six Oscar nominations, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
DiscographySolo albums- 1962: Piano Strings And Bossa Nova (MGM Records)
- 1963: Samba Para Dos (Verve Records) (with Bob Brookmeyer)
- 1964: New Fantasy (Verve Records)
- 1966: ''The Dissection And Reconstruction Of Music From The Past As Performed By The Inmates Of Lalo Schifrin's Demented Ensemble As A Tribute To The Memory Of The Marquis De Sade (Verve Records)
- 1968: ''There's A Whole Lalo Schifrin Goin' On (Dot Records)
- 1971: Rock Requiem (Verve Records)
- 1976: Black Widow (CTI Records)
- 1977: Towering Toccata (CTI Records)
- 1978: Gypsies (Tabu Records)
- 1982: Ins And Outs (Palo Alto Records)
As sideman- 1963: New Wave (Philips Records) - Dizzy Gillespie
Film scores- 1964: Rhino!
- 1965: The Cincinnati Kid
- 1965: The Liquidator
- 1965: Once a Thief
- 1966: ''Murderers' Row
- 1967: The Fox
- 1967: ''The President's Analyst
- 1967: Cool Hand Luke
- 1968: Bullitt
- 1968: The Brotherhood
- 1968: Hell in the Pacific
- 1968: ''Coogan's Bluff
- 1969: Che!
- 1970: ''Kelly's Heroes
- 1970: WUSA
- 1971: THX 1138
- 1971: The Beguiled
- 1971: Dirty Harry
- 1971: The Hellstrom Chronicle
- 1971: Pretty Maids All in a Row
- 1972: Prime Cut
- 1972: Joe Kidd
- 1972: Rage
- 1972: The Wrath of God
- 1973: Magnum Force
- 1973: Enter the Dragon
- 1973: Charley Varrick
- 1973: Hit!
- 1974: The Four Musketeers
- 1976: The Eagle Has Landed
- 1976: Voyage of the Damned
- 1977: Rollercoaster
- 1977: Telefon
- 1978: Return from Witch Mountain
- 1978: The Manitou
- 1979: The Amityville Horror
- 1979: Escape to Athena
- 1979: ''The Concorde ... Airport '79
- 1979: "Boulevard Nights, 1979
- 1979: Love and Bullets
- 1980: The Big Brawl
- 1980: When Time Ran Out
- 1980: The Competition
- 1980: Serial
- 1980: The Nude Bomb
- 1981: Caveman
- 1981: Loophole
- 1982: Amityville II: The Possession
- 1982: The Seduction
- 1983: Sudden Impact
- 1983: The Osterman Weekend
- 1983: Doctor Detroit
- 1983: The Sting II
- 1984: Tank
- 1985: Bad Medicine
- 1985: The Mean Season
- 1986: The Ladies Club
- 1986: Black Moon Rising
- 1987: The Fourth Protocol
- 1988: The Dead Pool
- 1989: Return From the River Kwai
- 1991: F/X2
- 1993: The Beverly Hillbillies
- 1996: Scorpion Sting
- 1997: Money Talks
- 1998: Tango
- 1998: Rush Hour
- 2001: Rush Hour 2
- 2003: Bringing Down the House
- 2004: The Bridge of San Luis Rey
- 2004: After the Sunset
- 2006: Abominable
- 2007: Rush Hour 3
Television themes and scores- 1964: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
- 1966: T.H.E. Cat
- 1966: Mission: Impossible
- 1967: Mannix
- 1969: Medical Center
- 1974: Planet of the Apes
- 1975: Starsky and Hutch
- 1976: Most Wanted
- 1982: Chicago Story
- 1984: Glitter
- 1987: ''Sparky's Magic Piano
Copyright Citations
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