Stephen James Taylor
Encyclopedia
Stephen James Taylor is a Los Angeles based composer best known for his film and TV scores with 4 Emmy nominations ('93 and '97), 2 Annie
nominations ('99 and '00) and a DVD-X Award on "Best Original Score (for a DVD Premiere Movie) to date ('05). His style is a blend of pop, classical, jazz, world music and experimental surround sound genres.
(Warner Brothers Pictures) 1998, Gregory Nava
), Timon & Pumbaa (TV series)
(1995-8), Mickey Mouse Works
(1998–2000), THE FINAL INSULT (1997 Charles Burnett
), POWERS OF TIME (1996 Eames Demetrios), A QUESTION OF FAITH (2000 Tim Disney), The Glass Shield
(1995-Charles Burnett
) Black Panther (TV series)
(2010 Reginald Hudlin
, Marvel), THE EAMES ALUMINUM CHAIR, and A GATHERING OF ELEPHANTS (Eames Demetrios 2007, 2008).
including the award winning, To Sleep With Anger
(Sony Pictures), The Glass Shield
, Selma, Lord, Selma
, Oprah Winfrey
's, The Wedding (TV miniseries)
, and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation
for which he won best score at the Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival
. For director, Robert Townsend (actor), he has scored several projects including Holiday Heart
for Showtime, and the recent feature film about the life of Sonny Liston, Phantom Punch (film)
, starring Ving Rhames. Other credits include the HBO movie, BOYCOTT, directed by Clark Johnson
, the Disney animated theatrical release, Teacher's Pet (film)
, as well as a number of television, cable and direct to video movies.
and Pete Carpenter
writing and orchestrating for such shows as Greatest American Hero, The A-Team
, Magnum, P.I.
and Hunter. He co-wrote the theme to ABC’s Gideon Oliver
in 1988 and in 1993 he was hired by David Chase
(who later went on to create and produce The Sopranos) to write the music for the 2nd season of NBC's I'll Fly Away (TV series)
resulting in Taylor's 2nd Emmy nomination. Another historically significant network show was Under One Roof (1995 TV series) for which he wrote the main title song and underscore for the first few episodes. This CBS show was the last primetime black family show on a major, non-cable network.
(museum) in Atlanta as well as do some surround sound design for one of the permanent installations there.
in the late 80's and several series for Disney TV animation in the 90's such as Jungle Cubs
and Raw Toonage
, up through the present with the recent release of the Black Panther (TV series)
for Marvel. He was hired in 1991 to write a new theme for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (TV series)
for which he also provided the score for 2 seasons. He composed the underscore and main title song for all 3 years of Mickey Mouse Works
(later incorporated into the newer show, House of Mouse) with a 12 piece band that included homemade instruments and fretless guitar
Levy, Adam. [filmmusicmag.com “Stephen James Taylor; Taylor Making a New Musical Vocabulary”], ‘’Film Music Magazine, Vol.1 No.5, Nov-Dec 1998, [Film Music Network].. This show represented the first time the core Disney characters (Mickey et al.) had been animated for television in 50 years.
, Dr. Albert Harris (composer)
, and microtonality with Erv Wilson
. In recent years he has been expanding his music composition skills into the visual arena via a multimedia programming language known as Max/MSP. As a "music oriented content provider", he has redefined himself as a 21st century composer/artist.
Annie
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
nominations ('99 and '00) and a DVD-X Award on "Best Original Score (for a DVD Premiere Movie) to date ('05). His style is a blend of pop, classical, jazz, world music and experimental surround sound genres.
Unusual notes
One of the ways he achieves his sound is by working with a larger palette of notes than those allowed on conventional instruments. He introduced microtonality to the vocabulary of film music with his ground breaking score to THE GIVING (1992, Eames Demetrios) composed solely using a scale with 58 tones per octave, unequal. Other Taylor scores incorporating microtonal cues include: Why Do Fools Fall in Love (film)Why Do Fools Fall in Love (film)
Why Do Fools Fall in Love is an American romantic drama, directed by Gregory Nava and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is a biographical film of the brief but intense life of R&B/Rock & Roll singer Frankie Lymon, lead singer of the pioneering rock and roll group Frankie Lymon & the...
(Warner Brothers Pictures) 1998, Gregory Nava
Gregory Nava
Gregory Nava is a film director, producer and screenplay writer, of Mexican and Basque heritage.-Education:...
), Timon & Pumbaa (TV series)
Timon & Pumbaa (TV series)
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa is an American animated television series made by the Walt Disney Company. It centers on Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog from the Disney film franchise The Lion King, without most of the other characters in the franchise...
(1995-8), Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....
(1998–2000), THE FINAL INSULT (1997 Charles Burnett
Charles Burnett
Charles Burnett may refer to:*Charles Burnett , American film director*Charles Burnett , Scottish Officer of Arms*Charles Burnett , Royal Air Force officer and Australian Chief of the Air Staff...
), POWERS OF TIME (1996 Eames Demetrios), A QUESTION OF FAITH (2000 Tim Disney), The Glass Shield
The Glass Shield
The Glass Shield is a 1995 crime drama film starring Ice Cube, Michael Boatman and Lori Petty, directed by Charles Burnett.-Plot:Deputy John Johnson is a rookie in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the first black deputy at the station to which he is assigned...
(1995-Charles Burnett
Charles Burnett
Charles Burnett may refer to:*Charles Burnett , American film director*Charles Burnett , Scottish Officer of Arms*Charles Burnett , Royal Air Force officer and Australian Chief of the Air Staff...
) Black Panther (TV series)
Black Panther (TV series)
Black Panther is an American cartoon series by Marvel Animation in partnership with BET, based on the popular Marvel Comics superhero of the same name...
(2010 Reginald Hudlin
Reginald Hudlin
Reginald Alan Hudlin is an American writer and film director.-Biography:Hudlin is the son of Helen , a teacher, and Warrington W. Hudlin, Sr., an insurance executive and teacher...
, Marvel), THE EAMES ALUMINUM CHAIR, and A GATHERING OF ELEPHANTS (Eames Demetrios 2007, 2008).
Filmography
Taylor has written the scores to most of the feature films of Charles BurnettCharles Burnett
Charles Burnett may refer to:*Charles Burnett , American film director*Charles Burnett , Scottish Officer of Arms*Charles Burnett , Royal Air Force officer and Australian Chief of the Air Staff...
including the award winning, To Sleep With Anger
To Sleep With Anger
To Sleep with Anger is a 1990 drama film directed and written by Charles Burnett.-Plot:Harry Mention , an enigmatic drifter from the South, comes to visit an old acquaintance named Gideon , who now lives in South-Central Los Angeles...
(Sony Pictures), The Glass Shield
The Glass Shield
The Glass Shield is a 1995 crime drama film starring Ice Cube, Michael Boatman and Lori Petty, directed by Charles Burnett.-Plot:Deputy John Johnson is a rookie in the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the first black deputy at the station to which he is assigned...
, Selma, Lord, Selma
Selma, Lord, Selma
Selma, Lord, Selma is a 1999 American film based on true events that happened in March of 1965, known as Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. The film tells the story through the eyes of an 11-year-old African American girl named Sheyann Webb . It premiered as a television movie on ABC on January 17,...
, Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
's, The Wedding (TV miniseries)
The Wedding (TV miniseries)
The Wedding is a 1998 television miniseries directed by Charles Burnett. Based on a novel by Dorothy West, it stars Halle Berry, Eric Thal, and Lynn Whitfield, and was produced by Harpo Productions...
, and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation
Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation
Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation is a 2007 epic film on the Namibian independence struggle against South African occupation as seen through the life of Sam Nujoma, the leader of the South-West Africa People's Organisation and the first president of the Republic of Namibia...
for which he won best score at the Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival
Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival
held a three-day one-off film festival from February 16-18, 2003 entitled Kuala Lumpur World Film Festival 2003 with the theme “Peace, Harmony, Non-Violence and Non-Discrimination”. It was organized in conjunction with the Non-Aligned Movement Conference which was hosted by Malaysia during the...
. For director, Robert Townsend (actor), he has scored several projects including Holiday Heart
Holiday Heart
castHoliday Heart is a 2000 TV movie starring Ving Rhames, Alfre Woodard, and Mykelti Williamson. It was directed by Robert Townsend, aired on the cable TV channel Showtime, and was distributed on DVD by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was based on a play by Cheryl L...
for Showtime, and the recent feature film about the life of Sonny Liston, Phantom Punch (film)
Phantom Punch (film)
Phantom Punch is a 2009 film directed by Robert Townsend. The film is a biopic of Sonny Liston, with Ving Rhames in the lead role. The film also stars Stacey Dash, Nicholas Turturro, Alan van Sprang, David Proval, and Bridgette Wilson....
, starring Ving Rhames. Other credits include the HBO movie, BOYCOTT, directed by Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson
Clark Johnson , sometimes credited as Clark 'Slappy' Jackson, Clarque Johnson, and J. Clark Johnson, is an American actor and director who has worked in both television and film.-Early years:...
, the Disney animated theatrical release, Teacher's Pet (film)
Teacher's Pet (film)
Teacher's Pet is a 2004 animated musical film based on the television series of the same name; the film ends the central storyline of the series. The film was produced by DisneyToon Studios, and released to movie theaters in the United States in 2004...
, as well as a number of television, cable and direct to video movies.
Television
His prime time music career began in 1981 when he joined the composing team of Mike PostMike Post
Mike Post is an American multi-Grammy and Emmy Award winning composer best known for scoring some of the most popular TV theme songs in the United States, for primetime series such as Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Rockford Files, LA Law, Quantum Leap, Magnum, P.I., Hill Street Blues, among numerous...
and Pete Carpenter
Pete Carpenter
Peter Clarence "Pete" Carpenter , was an American jazz trombonist, musical arranger, and a veteran of television theme song scoring....
writing and orchestrating for such shows as Greatest American Hero, The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
, Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
and Hunter. He co-wrote the theme to ABC’s Gideon Oliver
Gideon Oliver
Gideon Oliver is a prime time television series that ran on the ABC television network between February 1989 and May 1989 as part of the ABC Mystery Movie rotation, along with B.L. Stryker, Kojak and Columbo. On the air for only five episodes, the series starred Emmy- and Academy Award-winning...
in 1988 and in 1993 he was hired by David Chase
David Chase
David Chase is an American writer, director, and producer of television series. Chase has worked in television for more than 30 years; he has produced and written for shows as The Rockford Files, I'll Fly Away, and Northern Exposure. He has created two original series; the first, Almost Grown,...
(who later went on to create and produce The Sopranos) to write the music for the 2nd season of NBC's I'll Fly Away (TV series)
I'll Fly Away (TV series)
I'll Fly Away is a television series set during the late 1950s and early 1960s, in an unspecified Southern U.S. state. It aired on NBC from 1991 to 1993 and starred Regina Taylor as Lilly Harper, a black housekeeper for district attorney Forrest Bedford and his family...
resulting in Taylor's 2nd Emmy nomination. Another historically significant network show was Under One Roof (1995 TV series) for which he wrote the main title song and underscore for the first few episodes. This CBS show was the last primetime black family show on a major, non-cable network.
Commissions
In 1996 he was commissioned to write and conduct an orchestral suite, with Mark Watters, for the Atlanta Symphony to perform at the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics for which he received a BMI Olympic Tribute Award. In 2007, he was also hired to create world music for the lobby of the World of Coca-ColaWorld of Coca-Cola
The World of Coca-Cola is a permanent exhibition featuring the history of The Coca-Cola Company and its well-known advertising as well as a host of entertainment areas and attractions...
(museum) in Atlanta as well as do some surround sound design for one of the permanent installations there.
Animation
Taylor’s experience in writing music for animation began with Hanna Barbera and Ruby-Spears in 1980, runs through Spielberg's Tiny Toon AdventuresTiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
in the late 80's and several series for Disney TV animation in the 90's such as Jungle Cubs
Jungle Cubs
Jungle Cubs is an animated series produced by Disney for ABC in 1996. It was based on their 1967 feature film The Jungle Book, but set in the youth of the animal characters. The show was a hit, running for two seasons in syndication before moving its re-runs to the Disney Channel...
and Raw Toonage
Raw Toonage
Disney's Raw Toonage is a half hour Disney animated cartoon series that aired on the CBS network in the fall of 1992.-History and production:...
, up through the present with the recent release of the Black Panther (TV series)
Black Panther (TV series)
Black Panther is an American cartoon series by Marvel Animation in partnership with BET, based on the popular Marvel Comics superhero of the same name...
for Marvel. He was hired in 1991 to write a new theme for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (TV series)
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (TV series)
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a half-hour American animated television series based on the successful toyline from Hasbro and the comic book series from Marvel Comics. The cartoon had its beginnings with two five-part mini-series, then became a regular series that ran in syndication from 1985...
for which he also provided the score for 2 seasons. He composed the underscore and main title song for all 3 years of Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....
(later incorporated into the newer show, House of Mouse) with a 12 piece band that included homemade instruments and fretless guitar
Levy, Adam. [filmmusicmag.com “Stephen James Taylor; Taylor Making a New Musical Vocabulary”], ‘’Film Music Magazine, Vol.1 No.5, Nov-Dec 1998, [Film Music Network].. This show represented the first time the core Disney characters (Mickey et al.) had been animated for television in 50 years.
Study
He received a bachelors degree in music composition from Stanford University, after which he continued his studies in classical composition and conducting privately with Henri LazarofHenri Lazarof
Henri Lazarof is a Bulgarian composer.Born in Sofia, Bulgaria his formal musical training began in Israel under Paul Ben-Haim. After a short stint in Rome, Lazarof settled in the United States, studying with Harold Shapero and Arthur Berger at Brandeis University...
, Dr. Albert Harris (composer)
Albert Harris (composer)
Albert Harris worked most of his life in Hollywood as an orchestrator, arranger and composer for several of the big Film Studios and for such pop icons as Barbra Streisand, Roberta Flack and Cher.He studied piano from age 6 and was also a self-taught guitarist; his knowledge of this instrument...
, and microtonality with Erv Wilson
Erv Wilson
Ervin Wilson is a Mexican/American music theorist. Despite his avoidance of academia, Wilson has been influential on those interested in microtonal music and just intonation, especially in the areas of scale, keyboard, and notation design...
. In recent years he has been expanding his music composition skills into the visual arena via a multimedia programming language known as Max/MSP. As a "music oriented content provider", he has redefined himself as a 21st century composer/artist.