Monday, January 31, 2011

John Barry 1933-2011



John Barry, one of the most distinctive film composers of all time, has died.

Barry could often, for me, be a "hit or miss" kind of composer, but when he hit -- which in my experience was more often than not -- oh man, did he hit. He's probably best known for his work on the James Bond series, but Barry had a very long career of composing. He had a seemingly inexhaustible ability to come up with lush, gorgeous melodies, and he had an approach to film scoring that was all his own (and which, sadly, fell out of favor in the 1990s).

I could probably come up with dozens of examples of Barry's music, but I don't have time this morning (I'm writing this before work, because I don't want to go all day without acknowledging his passing), so here are just a few.











Farewell, Mr. Barry.

3 comments:

Kaye Waller said...

Wow. He looked pretty good for 978 years old!

Seriously, I love John Barry's scores. He and his music will be missed.

Matthew Jones said...

RIP. PS: Love the new masthead!

Jason said...

Damn. Lousy news to start the week. Barry was one of my favorites. "Journey to Ft. Sedgewick" from the Dances with Wolves soundtrack is possibly one of my favorite pieces of music ever. It stirs up so much inside me: memories, longing for something undefined, youthful restlessness, peaceful reflection, nobility, the physical sensation of gazing upon beauty...