Great Composer: Angelo Badalamenti

Angelo Badalamenti (born March 22, 1937) is an American composer, best known for his work scoring films for director David Lynch, notably Blue Velvet, the Twin Peaks saga (1990–1992) and Mulholland Drive. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award  at the World Soundtrack Awards in 2008.

 

Scoring

Badalamenti scored films such as Gordon’s War, and Law and Disorder, but his big break came when he was brought in to be Isabella Rossellini’s singing coach for the song "Blue Velvet" in David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet.  Inspired by This Mortal Coil’s  recent cover of the Tim Buckley song Song of the Siren, Lynch had wanted Rossellini to sing her own version, but was unable to secure the rights. In its place, Badalamenti and Lynch collaborated to write "Mysteries of Love", using lyrics Lynch wrote and Badalamenti's music. Lynch asked Badalamenti to appear in the film as the piano player in the club where Rossellini's character performs. This film was the first of many projects they worked on together.

After scoring a variety of mainstream films, including A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, he scored Lynch's cult television show, Twin Peaks which featured the vocals of Julee Cruise. Many of the songs from the series were released on Cruise's album Floating into the Night. From the soundtrack of the television series, he was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for the "Twin Peaks Theme".

Other Lynch projects he worked on include the movies Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive (where he has a small role as a gangster with a finicky taste for espresso), as well as the television shows On the Air and Hotel Room.

He also conducted a performance during the opening ceremony of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Badalamenti

Afterword by the Blog Author

Badalamenti also wrote the theme song for the television interview program Inside the Actor’s Studio, which he re-performed and released as a nine-minute single a few years ago.  His soundtrack for the eerie, edgy movie Wild at Heart was, in the blog author’s opinion, critical to making his career.  As an example, Cool Cat Walk from that soundtrack is a jazzy masterpiece worthy of John Barry or Henry Mancini.

There is an excellent, masterful summary of Badalamenti’s career and technique in the Joseph Lanza book Elevator Music that is worth reading and pondering.  Following John Barry’s death a few years ago, the blog author considers Angelo Badalamenti the best living composer in the world.