Music Dialogue

In this episode, composer and jingle writer Leslie Pearl tells the story of how she created the Folgers jingle, “The Best Part of Waking Up”. She’s written and composed songs for billboard chart recording artists as well as jingles for companies like Pepsi, Ford, Gillette and Heineken just to name a few.

In this episode, composer John Murphy recounts how an evening at a pub with a friend turned into his first job as composer on a film which led him into a career working with directors like Danny Boyle, Guy Ritchie and Michael Mann. He also tells the story behind his iconic pieces of film music from 28 Days Later and Sunshine (In The House In a Heartbeat & Adagio In D Minor) that has gone on to be licensed countless times for movies, trailers and advertisements.

In this episode, Emmy-nominated composer Bruce Miller tells the story behind composing the Frasier theme, Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs. He also talks about his extensive work as an arranger and composing the music for shows like Wings, Becker and The Odd Couple on CBS.

In this episode, Emmy Award-winning composers Wendy & Lisa tell the story about how they landed their first film as composers on the 1995 movie Dangerous Minds. They also talk about their work on Heroes, Nurse Jackie and the new series Firefly Lane on Netflix.

In this episode, I speak with composer Ed Alton. Ed tells the story of how a phone call from a friend turned into his first job as composer on a series for ABC that ran for 5 seasons. Ed also recounts his experience writing the theme for the hit Nickelodeon show Salute Your Shorts and his time on the TBS show My Boys.

In this episode, I speak with composer Danny Lux. Danny talks about how he got his start working with composer Mike Post on shows like Law and Order and Doogie Howser. Danny has gone on to score over 2000 episodes of television working on shows like Ally McBeal, Grey’s Anatomy and many others.

In this episode, Sound Designer & Re-Recording Mixer Leslie Shatz tells the story about how his first job in the film industry at the American Film Institute propelled him into a career that spans multiple decades and hundreds of film credits. In the 1970’s Leslie was hired as the Dialogue Supervisor on Apocalypse Now. He recounts how he met Francis Ford Coppola and how he was moved into a creative Sound Designer role on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Leslie also talks about how editing sound in the analog realm during the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s was much different than it is today with modern systems like Pro Tools.

In this episode, Talent Agent, Artist Manager and Executive Producer Christine Russell tells the story of how she turned getting dropped from her record label into an opportunity that would propel her career into managing one of the greatest songwriters of all time, running one of the top composer talent agencies and becoming an Executive Producer on a multiple Tony-winning Broadway show.

In this episode, I speak with composer John Swihart about how he developed his career as a composer and hear the stories behind the score for Napoleon Dynamite, How I Met Your Mother and his time as a musician in the Blue Man Group.

In this episode, I speak with Lionsgate Executive Vice President and Head of TV Music Russell Ziecker on his career and the stories behind the themes for Mad Men, Weeds, Nurse Jackie & more.