Mark Isham

American musician and film composer (born 1951)

Mark Isham

Birth name| Mark Ware Isham
Born|  (1951-09-07) September 7, 1951 (age 73)
New York City, U.S.
Genres|

* Jazz
* electronic
* new age

Occupations|

* Musician
* composer

Instruments|

* Piano
* keyboards
* trumpet

Years active| 1976–present
Labels|

* ECM
* Windham Hill
* Columbia
* Virgin

Website| isham.com

Musical artist

Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic. He is also a prolific and acclaimed composer of film scores,[1][2] and has scored over 200 film and television productions since his debut in 1983.

Isham is a nine-time Grammy Award nominee, winning Best New Age Album for his 1990 self-titled album. He was nominated for an Academy Award for A River Runs Through It (1992), and a Golden Globe Award for Nell (1994). He has also been nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for EZ Streets.

External image

Portrait of Mark Isham[3].

## Early life

[edit]

Isham was born in New York City,[4] the son of Patricia (née Hammond), a violinist, and Howard Fuller Isham, a professor of humanities.[5] He studied trumpet from a very young age, and made his professional debut at the age of 12. When he was a teenager, Isham and his family moved to the San Francisco bay area, where he played with the Oakland East Bay Symphony.

## Career

[edit]

"Army Strong" (2006)

"Army Strong", composed by Isham in 2006.

* * *

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His discography is extensive and varied, including participation with artists including David Sylvian, Group 87, Art Lande, Pharoah Sanders, Van Morrison, David Torn, and sessions with people like Brian Wilson, Joni Mitchell, Terry Bozzio, Bill Bruford, XTC,[4] and Siouxsie Sioux.[6] His musical styles include crossover jazz, post-bop, ambient, progressive electronic, chamber jazz, and new age.[7]

### Film and television scores

[edit]

He is also a film composer, having worked on numerous films and television series, including The Hitcher, Reversal of Fortune, Point Break, A Midnight Clear, A River Runs Through It, Of Mice and Men, Warrior, Nell, Blade, Crash, The Black Dahlia, The Lucky One, October Sky, and Once Upon a Time.

Isham acted as well in Made in Heaven by Alan Rudolph (1987) and directed The Cowboy and the Ballerina in 1998.

## Personal life

[edit]

Isham is married to Donna Isham.[8] He is a Scientologist.[9][8]

## Discography

[edit]

### Studio albums and compilations

[edit]

* 1983 Vapor Drawings
* 1985 Film Music
* 1987 We Begin (with Art Lande)
* 1988 Castalia
* 1989 Tibet – a soundtrack
* 1990 Mark Isham
* 1991 Songs My Children Taught Me (music only, from the first four Rabbit Ears titles, see below)
* 1995 Blue Sun
* 1998 Mark Isham: A Windham Hill Retrospective
* 1999 Miles Remembered: The Silent Way Project
* 2009 Bittersweet with Kate Ceberano
* 2015 The Longest Ride (Original Score Album).

### Rabbit Ears Storybook Classics

[edit]

* 1987 The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Narrated by Jeremy Irons)
* 1988 The Emperor and the Nightingale (Narrated by Glenn Close)
* 1989 Thumbelina (Narrated by Kelly McGillis)
* 1990 The Emperor's New Clothes (Narrated by John Gielgud)
* 1992 The Boy Who Drew Cats (Narrated by William Hurt)
* 1994 The Firebird (Narrated by Susan Sarandon)

### Other

[edit]

* 2000 Hymn of Asia: L. Ron Hubbard (Instrument Orchestration and Choral Arrangements)
* 2006 Theme to the United States Army's Army Strong campaign[10]
* 2007 Human the Death Dance by Sage Francis (Production on "Good Fashion" and "Water Line")
* 2009 Dallas et Kate with Kate Ceberano

### As member

[edit]

With Group 87

* Group 87 (Columbia Records, 1980)
* A Career in Dada Processing (Capitol Records, 1984)

### As sideman

[edit]

With Art Lande

* Rubisa Patrol (ECM, 1976)
* Desert Marauders (ECM 1978)

With Pharoah Sanders

* Journey to the One (Theresa, 1980)

With Van Morrison

* Into the Music (Mercury, 1979)
* Common One (Mercury, 1980)
* Beautiful Vision (Mercury, 1982)
* Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (Mercury, 1983)
* Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast  (Mercury, 1984)

With David Sylvian

* Brilliant Trees (Virgin, 1984)
* Secrets of the Beehive (Virgin, 1987)

With David Torn

* Cloud About Mercury (ECM, 1987)

With Andy Summers

* Charming Snakes (Private Music, 1990)

|

## Contributions to soundtracks

[edit]

### Films

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Notes

|
|
|

1983  | Never Cry Wolf | Carroll Ballard |
1984  | Country | Richard Pearce | additional music (uncredited)
1984  | Mrs. Soffel | Gillian Armstrong |
1985  | Trouble in Mind | Alan Rudolph |
1986  | The Making of Liberty | Charles Guggenheim |
1986  | The Hitcher | Robert Harmon |
1987  | Made in Heaven | Alan Rudolph |
1988  | The Moderns | Alan Rudolph |
1988  | C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf | William Friedkin | "On the Threshold of Liberty" from Vapor Drawings
1988  | The Beast | Kevin Reynolds |
1990  | Everybody Wins | Karel Reisz |
1990  | Love at Large | Alan Rudolph |
1990  | Reversal of Fortune | Barbet Schroeder |
1991  | Mortal Thoughts | Alan Rudolph |
1991  | Crooked Hearts | Michael Bortman  |
1991  | Point Break | Kathryn Bigelow |
1991  | Little Man Tate | Jodie Foster |
1991  | Billy Bathgate | Robert Benton |
1992  | A Midnight Clear | Keith Gordon |
1992  | Sketch Artist | Phedon Papamichael |
1992  | Cool World | Ralph Bakshi |
1992  | A River Runs Through It | Robert Redford | Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Nominated for an Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Music.
Nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
1992  | The Public Eye | Howard Franklin |
1992  | Of Mice and Men | Gary Sinise |
1993  | Nowhere to Run | Robert Harmon |
1993  | Fire in the Sky | Robert Lieberman | Nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Music.
1993  | Made in America | Richard Benjamin |
1993  | Short Cuts | Robert Altman |
1993  | Romeo Is Bleeding | Peter Medak |
1994  | The Getaway | Roger Donaldson |
1994  | The Browning Version | Mike Figgis |
1994  | Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle | Alan Rudolph |
1994  | Quiz Show | Robert Redford |
1994  | Timecop | Peter Hyams |
1994  | Nell | Michael Apted | Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Score - Motion Picture.
1994  | Safe Passage | Robert Allan Ackerman |
1995  | Miami Rhapsody | David Frankel |
1995  | Waterworld | Kevin Reynolds | Rejected score
Replaced by James Newton Howard
1995  | Losing Isaiah | Stephen Gyllenhaal |
1995  | The Net | Irwin Winkler |
1995  | Home for the Holidays | Jodie Foster |
1996  | Last Dance | Bruce Beresford |
1996  | Gotti | Steve Shagan |
1996  | Fly Away Home | Carroll Ballard |
1996  | Night Falls on Manhattan | Sidney Lumet |
1997  | Afterglow | Alan Rudolph |
1997  | Kiss the Girls | Gary Fleder |
1997  | The Defenders: Payback | Andy Wolk |
1997  | The Education of Little Tree | Richard Friedenberg |
1998  | The Defenders: Choice of Evils | Andy Wolk |
1998  | The Gingerbread Man | Robert Altman |
1998  | Blade | Stephen Norrington |
1998  | The Defenders: Taking the First | Andy Wolk |
1998  | Free Money | Yves Simoneau |
1999  | At First Sight | Irwin Winkler |
1999  | Varsity Blues | Brian Robbins |
1999  | Breakfast of Champions | Alan Rudolph |
1999  | October Sky | Joe Johnston |
1999  | Body Shots | Michael Cristofer |
2000  | Rules of Engagement | William Friedkin |
2000  | Where the Money Is | Marek Kanievska |
2000  | Trixie | Alan Rudolph |
2000  | Men of Honor | George Tillman, Jr. |
2001  | Save the Last Dance | Thomas Carter |
2001  | Life as a House | Irwin Winkler |
2001  | Hardball | Brian Robbins |
2001  | Don't Say a Word | Gary Fleder |
2001  | The Majestic | Frank Darabont |
2002  | Impostor | Gary Fleder |
2002  | Moonlight Mile | Brad Silberling |
2003  | The Cooler | Wayne Kramer |
2004  | Spartan | David Mamet |
2004  | Miracle | Gavin O'Connor |
2004  | Highwaymen | Robert Harmon |
2004  | Twisted | Philip Kaufman |
2004  | Crash | Paul Haggis |
2005  | Racing Stripes | Frederik Du Chau |
2005  | Kicking & Screaming | Jesse Dylan |
2005  | In Her Shoes | Curtis Hanson |
2006  | Running Scared | Wayne Kramer |
2006  | Eight Below | Frank Marshall |
2006  | Invincible | Ericson Core |
2006  | Bobby | Emilio Estevez |
2006  | The Black Dahlia | Brian De Palma |
2007  | Freedom Writers | Richard LaGravenese |
2007  | In the Valley of Elah | Paul Haggis |
2007  | Lions for Lambs | Robert Redford |
2007  | Gracie | Davis Guggenheim |
2007  | Reservation Road | Terry George |
2007  | No Reservations | Scott Hicks |
2007  | Next | Lee Tamahori |
2007  | The Mist | Frank Darabont |
2008  | Pride and Glory | Gavin O'Connor |
2008  | The Express: The Ernie Davis Story | Gary Fleder |
2008  | The Secret Life of Bees | Gina Prince-Bythewood |
2009  | Crossing Over | Wayne Kramer |
2009  | Not Forgotten | Dror Soref |
2009  | Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans | Werner Herzog |
2009  | Fame | Kevin Tancharoen |
2010  | The Crazies | Breck Eisner |
2010  | The Conspirator | Robert Redford |
2011  | The Mechanic | Simon West |
2011  | Dolphin Tale | Charles Martin Smith |
2011  | Warrior | Gavin O'Connor |
2012  | The Factory | Morgan O'Neill |
2012  | The Lucky One | Scott Hicks | Won a BMI Award for Film Music.
2013  | The Conjuring | James Wan |
2013  | The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete | George Tillman, Jr. |
2013  | 42 | Brian Helgeland |
2013  | Homefront | Gary Fleder |
2014  | Beyond the Lights | Gina Prince-Bythewood | Nominated for a Black Reel Award for Outstanding Original Score.
2015  | The Longest Ride | George Tillman, Jr. |
2016  | A Family Man | Mark Williams |
2016  | Mr. Church | Bruce Beresford |
2016  | Mechanic: Resurrection | Dennis Gansel |
2016  | The Accountant | Gavin O'Connor |
2016  | Fallen | Scott Hicks |
2017  | Megan Leavey | Gabriela Cowperthwaite |
2017  | Dirty Dancing | Wayne Blair |
2018  | Duck Duck Goose | Chris Jenkins |
2019  | Bolden | Dan Pritzker |
2019  | A Dog's Journey | Gail Mancuso |
2019  | Togo | Ericson Core |
2020  | Bill & Ted Face the Music | Dean Parisot |
2020  | Honest Thief | Mark Williams |
2021  | Judas and the Black Messiah | Shaka King |
2021  | Needle in a Timestack | John Ridley |
2022  | Blacklight | Mark Williams |
2022  | The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent | Tom Gormican  |
2023  | Shooting Stars | Chris Robinson |
2025  | Soul on Fire | Sean McNamara |

### Television series

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Episode(s)  | Notes

|
|
|

1994  | Chicago Hope | "Pilot"  |
1996  | EZ Streets | 2  |
1997  | Michael Hayes | "Prequel"  |
1997  | Nothing Sacred |  | TV series theme
1998  | From the Earth to the Moon | 2  |
1999  | Family Law | 18  |
2007  | The Black Donnellys | 18  |
2008–2009  | Crash | 26  |
2011–2018  | Once Upon a Time | 147  |
2012  | Beauty and the Beast | "Pilot"  |
2013–2014  | Once Upon a Time in Wonderland | 7  |
2015  | Blood & Oil | 10  |
2015  | American Crime | 21  |
2017  | Black Mirror | "Arkangel"  |
2017  | Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams | "Autofac," "Safe and Sound"  |
2018–2019  | Marvel's Cloak & Dagger | 20  |
2019  | Godfather of Harlem | 10  |
2020  | Little Fires Everywhere | 8  |
2020  | Amazing Stories | "The Rift"  |
2021  | The Nevers |  |
2021  | Sex/Life | 8  |
2022  | The Cleaning Lady |
2023  | Justified: City Primeval |  |

### Documentaries and shorts

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Director  | Notes

|
|
|

1984  | The Times of Harvey Milk | Rob Epstein |
1985  | Portraits of Anorexia |  |
1985  | Rabbit Ears: The Steadfast Tin Soldier |  |
1990  | Tibet |  |
1993  | Hawaii: Born in Paradise | Robert Hillmann  |
1993  | Hidden Hawaii | Robert Hillmann  |
1998  | The Blood Tide |  |
1999  | Galapagos |  |
2001  | From the Ground Up | Laura Nix  |
2011  | "Morning"  | Dror Soref |
2017  | Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992 | John Ridley |

## Filmography

[edit]

As director

Year  | Title  | Director  | Notes

|
|
|

1998  | The Cowboy and the Ballerina | Mark Isham  | —

As screenwriter

Year  | Title  | Director  | Notes

|
|
|

1998  | The Cowboy and the Ballerina | Mark Isham  | —

As actor

Year  | Title  | Director  | Notes

|
|
|

1987  | Made in Heaven | Alan Rudolph | —

## See also

[edit]

* List of ambient music artists

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Huey, Steve. "Mark Isham Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
2. ^ "Movies". The New York Times. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
3. ^ Source : official bio.
4. ^ a b Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 649/50. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
5. ^ "Mark Isham Biography (1951-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
6. ^ Siouxsie on Hector Zazou's 'Songs from the Cold Seas' - CD Columbia, Columbia CD, 1995, "liner notes for Siouxsie's song "The Lighthouse", featuring Mark Isham on trumpet, recorded in Paris, in February 1994"
7. ^ Artist Biography by Steve Huey on Allmusic.com.
8. ^ a b Wright, Lawrence (February 14, 2011). "The Apostate: Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
9. ^ Richardson, John M. (September 11, 1993). "The Scientology Church of Hollywood". The Globe and Mail. Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc.
10. ^ Nickerson, Thomas (November 9, 2006). "The making of Army Strong". United States Army. Retrieved May 19, 2011.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* YouTube channel
* Artist Biography by Steve Huey at Allmusic.com
* Mark Isham at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Mark Isham

Studio albums|

* Vapor Drawings (1983)
* Film Music (1985)
* We Begin (with Art Lande, 1987)
* Castalia (1988)
* Mark Isham (1990)
* Bittersweet (with Kate Ceberano, 2009)

Soundtracks/
film scores|

* Blade (1998)
* Crash (2005)
* Freedom Writers (2007)
* Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
* Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

Awards for Mark Isham

* v
* t
* e

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music

1990s|

* Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Dennis McCarthy (1993)
* seaQuest DSV by John Debney (1994)
* Star Trek: Voyager by Jerry Goldsmith (1995)
* Murder One by Mike Post (1996)
* EZ Streets by Mark Isham (1997)
* Fame L.A. by Robbie Buchanan, Maribeth Derry, Richard Barton Lewis, and Tom Snow (1998)
* Trinity by Martin Davich (1999)

2000s|

* The West Wing by W. G. Snuffy Walden (2000)
* Gideon's Crossing by James Newton Howard (2001)
* Six Feet Under by Thomas Newman (2002)
* Monk by Jeff Beal (2003)
* Monk by Randy Newman (2004)
* Desperate Housewives by Danny Elfman (2005)
* Masters of Horror by Edward Shearmur (2006)
* The Tudors by Trevor Morris (2007)
* Pirate Master by Russ Landau (2008)
* Great Performances by John Williams (2009)

2010s|

* Nurse Jackie by Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin (2010)
* The Borgias by Trevor Morris (2011)
* Page Eight by Paul Englishby (2012)
* Da Vinci's Demons by Bear McCreary (2013)
* Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey by Alan Silvestri (2014)
* Transparent by Dustin O'Halloran (2015)
* Marvel's Jessica Jones by Sean Callery (2016)
* Stranger Things by Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon (2017)
* Godless by Carlos Rafael Rivera (2018)
* Succession by Nicholas Britell (2019)

2020s|

* Hollywood by Nathan Barr (2020)
* The Flight Attendant by Blake Neely (2021)
* The White Lotus by Cristobal Tapia de Veer (2022)
* Wednesday by Danny Elfman (2023)
* Palm Royale by Jeff Toyne (2024)

* v
* t
* e

International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for a Drama Film

* John Williams (1998)
* Howard Shore (2004)
* John Williams (2005)
* Mark Isham (2006)
* Dario Marianelli (2007)
* Alexandre Desplat (2008)
* Abel Korzeniowski (2009)
* Alexandre Desplat (2010)
* John Williams (2011)
* John Williams (2012)
* Abel Korzeniowski (2013)
* Marco Beltrami (2014)
* James Horner (2015)
* Abel Korzeniowski (2016)
* Jonny Greenwood (2017)
* Max Richter (2018)
* Alexandre Desplat (2019)
* Tarō Iwashiro (2020)
* Simon Franglen (2021)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Czech Republic
* Spain
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Poland
* Israel
* Catalonia

Artists|

* MusicBrainz
* Grammy Awards
* Emmy Awards
* FID

People|

* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* IdRef
* SNAC
* Yale LUX

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