Max Harris (composer)
Encyclopedia
Max Harris was a British film and television composer and arranger. He played the piano and piano accordion.
Born into a Jewish family, his father was a tailor from Poland, and his mother had emigrated from Latvia. Harris was raised in London. He originally embarked on a career in dance bands and as a jazz musician, before his war service, becoming a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps
. Post-war, Harris worked aboard the Mauretania
on six cruises, and in groups led by clarinettist Carl Barriteau
and drummer Jack Parnell
. An arranger for visiting Americans such as Frank Sinatra
, he wrote jingles for commercials in the later 1950s. His theme music for the Anthony Newley
series The Strange World of Gurney Slade
(1960) reached the charts, and still resurfaces in fresh contexts.
Harris contributed the themes for several series featuring Ronnie Barker
, such as Porridge
, and worked on the Dennis Potter
serial The Singing Detective
(1986), which included arranging and performing its accordion-based main theme. He was also music director on several jazz albums issued during the 1970s which partnered violinists Stephane Grappelli
and Yehudi Menuhin
.
Born into a Jewish family, his father was a tailor from Poland, and his mother had emigrated from Latvia. Harris was raised in London. He originally embarked on a career in dance bands and as a jazz musician, before his war service, becoming a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps
Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Service Corps was a corps of the British Army. It was responsible for land, coastal and lake transport; air despatch; supply of food, water, fuel, and general domestic stores such as clothing, furniture and stationery ; administration of...
. Post-war, Harris worked aboard the Mauretania
RMS Mauretania (1938)
RMS Mauretania was launched on 28 July 1938 at the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead, England and was completed in May 1939. A successor to RMS Mauretania , the second Mauretania was the first ship built for the newly formed Cunard White Star company following the merger in April 1934 of the Cunard...
on six cruises, and in groups led by clarinettist Carl Barriteau
Carl Barriteau
Carl Alrich Stanley Barriteau was a jazz clarinetist.Barriteau was raised in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He played tenor horn in Trinidad from 1926 to 1932, then played clarinet in a local police band from 1933 to 1936. At the same time, he also played in Port of Spain with the Jazz Hounds and the...
and drummer Jack Parnell
Jack Parnell
John Russell Parnell was an English bandleader and musician.-Biography:Parnell was born into a theatrical family in London....
. An arranger for visiting Americans such as Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, he wrote jingles for commercials in the later 1950s. His theme music for the Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley
Anthony George Newley was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock and roll and stage and screen acting.-Early life:...
series The Strange World of Gurney Slade
The Strange World of Gurney Slade
The Strange World of Gurney Slade is a British six-part television series made by ATV which was transmitted by the ITV network between 22 October and 26 November 1960. A surreal series devised by Anthony Newley, who also starred, it was written by Dick Hills and Sid Green...
(1960) reached the charts, and still resurfaces in fresh contexts.
Harris contributed the themes for several series featuring Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...
, such as Porridge
Porridge (TV series)
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...
, and worked on the Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
serial The Singing Detective
The Singing Detective
The Singing Detective is a BBC television miniseries written by Dennis Potter, which stars Michael Gambon, and was directed by Jon Amiel. The six episodes were "Skin", "Heat", "Lovely Days", "Clues", "Pitter Patter" and "Who Done It"....
(1986), which included arranging and performing its accordion-based main theme. He was also music director on several jazz albums issued during the 1970s which partnered violinists Stephane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
and Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
.