A hero to many classic film fans, composer and arranger John W. Morgan, has passed away.
In addition to playing a major role in orchestrating films such as STARSHIP TROOPERS II, TINY TOON ADVENTURES, and RAY HARRYHAUSEN: THE EARLY YEARS, Morgan played a key role in reconstructing some of Hollywood's most treasured film scores, including KING KONG (1933), THE WOLF MAN, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, Roy Webb scores for Val Lewton films, and many more. Many were in collaboration with William Stromberg and Anna Bonn.
David Schecter, a force behind the Monstrous Movie Music horror score compilations, said that while Morgan was not credited on the MMM work, he was an inspiration and mentor during the company's early years.
"I met John when I reviewed his and Bill's first Salter horror CD, I believe, for Marco Polo. We lived close to each other so we got together and hit it off immediately. When my then-wife Katy Mayne started reconstructing her first music for our inaugural CD, we asked John to come over and go over her work to give us his take on it, because we didn't want to disappoint the fans.
"Although Katy was a great composer and a conservatory grad, reconstructing film music -- where you don't get to orchestrate the music the way you want to -- but have to figure out what instruments played the music in the films in order to create the music heard on the soundtracks -- that's a completely different skill. And t his was Katy's first go at it.
"As John was the best in the business at the art of reconstructions, and since he knew "our" films well, we wanted to get his take on what we were doing. He looked at the manuscripts she had been working on and said, "She knows what she's doing. You have nothing to worry about." That really helped both me and Katy, as we were investing our life savings in the project. So from that point on, having had her work blessed by the Almighty Morgan, we knew we had nothing to worry about."
His offical bio:
JOHN MORGAN is a film composer based in Los Angeles, California. After receiving his Masters Degree in Music at San Diego State University, and studying composition with David Ward-Steinman, he stayed on at the University and taught orchestration, music theory and various film music courses.
In the late 70s, Morgan moved to the Los Angeles area and secured work orchestrating for such composers as Fred Steiner, Bruce Broughton and Alex North. In 1979, Morgan composed and orchestrated his first feature film score and in the ensuing years composed music for more than 30 feature films, as well as many television, radio and cable projects including Starship Troopers II, Trinity and Beyond, Ray Harryhausen-The Early Years, Cinerama Adventure, Demon in the Bottle, Tiny Toon Adventures, and others...many in collaboration with his music partner and life long friend, William Stromberg.
Morgan's love and passion for the great scores of Hollywood's golden age has led him to the arena of arranging and reconstructing many classic scores for new recordings. He has embarked on a long series of film music recordings for Marco Polo (Naxos), BMG Classics his own label with Anna Bonn and William Stromberg, Tribute Film Classics.
Among the scores he has reconstructed and orchestrated for new recordings are: Max Steiner's The Charge of the Light Brigade, King Kong; Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Captain Blood, Escape Me Never, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk; Roy Webb's scores for the Val Lewton films, Hans Salter and Frank Skinner's The Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein as well as scores by Hugo Friedhofer and Victor Young.
In addition to playing a major role in orchestrating films such as STARSHIP TROOPERS II, TINY TOON ADVENTURES, and RAY HARRYHAUSEN: THE EARLY YEARS, Morgan played a key role in reconstructing some of Hollywood's most treasured film scores, including KING KONG (1933), THE WOLF MAN, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, Roy Webb scores for Val Lewton films, and many more. Many were in collaboration with William Stromberg and Anna Bonn.
David Schecter, a force behind the Monstrous Movie Music horror score compilations, said that while Morgan was not credited on the MMM work, he was an inspiration and mentor during the company's early years.
"I met John when I reviewed his and Bill's first Salter horror CD, I believe, for Marco Polo. We lived close to each other so we got together and hit it off immediately. When my then-wife Katy Mayne started reconstructing her first music for our inaugural CD, we asked John to come over and go over her work to give us his take on it, because we didn't want to disappoint the fans.
"Although Katy was a great composer and a conservatory grad, reconstructing film music -- where you don't get to orchestrate the music the way you want to -- but have to figure out what instruments played the music in the films in order to create the music heard on the soundtracks -- that's a completely different skill. And t his was Katy's first go at it.
"As John was the best in the business at the art of reconstructions, and since he knew "our" films well, we wanted to get his take on what we were doing. He looked at the manuscripts she had been working on and said, "She knows what she's doing. You have nothing to worry about." That really helped both me and Katy, as we were investing our life savings in the project. So from that point on, having had her work blessed by the Almighty Morgan, we knew we had nothing to worry about."
His offical bio:
JOHN MORGAN is a film composer based in Los Angeles, California. After receiving his Masters Degree in Music at San Diego State University, and studying composition with David Ward-Steinman, he stayed on at the University and taught orchestration, music theory and various film music courses.
In the late 70s, Morgan moved to the Los Angeles area and secured work orchestrating for such composers as Fred Steiner, Bruce Broughton and Alex North. In 1979, Morgan composed and orchestrated his first feature film score and in the ensuing years composed music for more than 30 feature films, as well as many television, radio and cable projects including Starship Troopers II, Trinity and Beyond, Ray Harryhausen-The Early Years, Cinerama Adventure, Demon in the Bottle, Tiny Toon Adventures, and others...many in collaboration with his music partner and life long friend, William Stromberg.
Morgan's love and passion for the great scores of Hollywood's golden age has led him to the arena of arranging and reconstructing many classic scores for new recordings. He has embarked on a long series of film music recordings for Marco Polo (Naxos), BMG Classics his own label with Anna Bonn and William Stromberg, Tribute Film Classics.
Among the scores he has reconstructed and orchestrated for new recordings are: Max Steiner's The Charge of the Light Brigade, King Kong; Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Captain Blood, Escape Me Never, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk; Roy Webb's scores for the Val Lewton films, Hans Salter and Frank Skinner's The Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein as well as scores by Hugo Friedhofer and Victor Young.
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