Mankind Pictures Blog

Bill Conti & The Karate Kid Films

Today I received in the mail a boxed-set of all four Karate Kid film scores by Bill Conti. Total geek-dom ran over me as I played the the score to the first, bringing back memories of crushes on Elisabeth Shue and getting in kick-fights with my brother. Of course, who didn't have a crush on Shue and go through a "karate kid" wannabe phase in their youth? I certainly did.

Anyway back to the music. Conti uses a pan flute on all four scores, backed by a terrific sounding studio orchestra, recorded by the great Dan Wallin. Just hearing the crispness of the brass on the main titles to the first film was quite a moment!

The box set is a lofty $50, but certainly is a great buy if you're a fan of Conti and the films. If you're not, then I doubt you read this far in the blog.

2007-04-11 02:09:38 GMT

Comments (1 total)

Author:Anonymous

Speaking of Bill Conti… I "accidentally" saw him in concert a couple of years ago. I was at the Phoenix Symphony to see “An Evening with "Doc" Severinsen”. When I arrived there was a “flyer” placed inside the program showing Bill Conti as conductor and doing famous movie themes. At first I thought it was an advertisement for an upcoming show. But the date showed it was happening right then! As it turned out, "Doc" Severinsen was very ill and asked Conti to do the show for him, last minute. At first I was disappointed as I didn’t know who Bill Conti was, but he soon turned that opinion around!! The show was fantastic! He explained much of his writing history in-between the orchestra playing movie themes. Interestingly he wrote many themes that were nominated for Academy Awards but it was his “Rocky Theme” song that finally won and helped to “put his kids through college”. He also was the musical director for Academy Award television shows for many years. His stories of his multitasking mastery were amazing to a fellow musician like me. Having to “be ready” with the proper theme music for the winner out of several options, dealing with technical difficulties, and directing the orchestra…truly mind blowing stuff! It’s great that you pay him respect here as he is a wonderful story teller and musician!! Thanks Matt!
--GoreMaster
<http://www.goremaster.com>

2007-05-04 22:46:11 GMT

Site Home


		What I'm watching/reading/listening to

		Bill Conti & The Karate Kid Films Today I received in the mail a boxed-set of all four Karate Kid film scores by Bill Conti. Total geek-dom ran over me as I played the the score to the first, bringing back memories of crushes on Elisabeth Shue and getting in kick-fights with my brother. Of course, who didn't have a crush on Shue and go through a "karate kid" wannabe phase in their youth? I certainly did. Anyway back to the music. Conti uses a pan flute on all four scores, backed by a terrific sounding studio orchestra, recorded by the great Dan Wallin. Just hearing the crispness of the brass on the main titles to the first film was quite a moment! The box set is a lofty $50, but certainly is a great buy if you're a fan of Conti and the films. If you're not, then I doubt you read this far in the blog. 2007-04-11 02:09:38 GMT Comments (1 total) Author:Anonymous Speaking of Bill Conti… I "accidentally" saw him in concert a couple of years ago. I was at the Phoenix Symphony to see “An Evening with "Doc" Severinsen”. When I arrived there was a “flyer” placed inside the program showing Bill Conti as conductor and doing famous movie themes. At first I thought it was an advertisement for an upcoming show. But the date showed it was happening right then! As it turned out, "Doc" Severinsen was very ill and asked Conti to do the show for him, last minute. At first I was disappointed as I didn’t know who Bill Conti was, but he soon turned that opinion around!! The show was fantastic! He explained much of his writing history in-between the orchestra playing movie themes. Interestingly he wrote many themes that were nominated for Academy Awards but it was his “Rocky Theme” song that finally won and helped to “put his kids through college”. He also was the musical director for Academy Award television shows for many years. His stories of his multitasking mastery were amazing to a fellow musician like me. Having to “be ready” with the proper theme music for the winner out of several options, dealing with technical difficulties, and directing the orchestra…truly mind blowing stuff! It’s great that you pay him respect here as he is a wonderful story teller and musician!! Thanks Matt! --GoreMaster <http://www.goremaster.com> 2007-05-04 22:46:11 GMT Compose a comment for this post. Comment: 0 characters left (limit 4,000 characters). No HTML permitted. Author (optional): Email address or URL (optional): Word verification: To validate this comment, showing us that you are human, and not a computer, please retype the following code in the field provided. (This helps prevent blog spam.) Site Home