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Robert Drasnin (November 17, 1927 – May 13, 2015) was an American composer and clarinet player. Robert Drasnin spent the vast majority of his career in music composing for films and television shows. He composed or supervised scores for well over 100 films and TV shows.
In 1959 Robert Drasnin received his M.A. in music from UCLA in Los Angeles. That same year, while working at Tops Records, Drasnin was approached by David Pell, the head of the label, to create an Exotica album. Pell wanted a record that would cash in on the popularity of the Exotica genre made popular by Martin Denny and ...read more
Robert Drasnin (November 17, 1927 – May 13, 2015) was an American composer and clarinet player. Robert Drasnin spent the vast majority of his career in music composing for films and television shows. He composed or supervised scores for well over 100 films and TV shows.
In 1959 Robert Drasnin received his M.A. in music from UCLA in Los Angeles. That same year, while working at Tops Records, Drasnin was approached by David Pell, the head of the label, to create an Exotica album. Pell wanted a record that would cash in on the popularity of the Exotica genre made popular by Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman. Drasnin created 12 original compositions and would spend the later part of 1959 recording the record. Among the musical personnel was a young pianist by the name of John Williams who would later go on to score such notable films as Star Wars and Jaws. The LP was released on Tops/Mayfair records in both mono and stereo versions. The cover artwork for the LP featured a photo of a woman in a leopard print bikini dancing as two loin cloth-clad men play bongos in a dark jungle-like setting, bathed in red light. The original cover art was not used in the two different compact disc reissues of the album.
In 2005 Robert Drasnin was personally invited by Tiki Road Trip author James Teitelbaum to perform at The Hukilau, a 3-day Tiki culture festival in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. A 12-piece orchestra was assembled by Teitelbaum under Drasnin's guidance for the performance. The show consisted of selections from his 1959 album Voodoo as well as new Exotica-styled music that he composed after Voodoo. These new pieces would form the basis of the Voodoo II album, released in 2007.
In 2007 Robert Drasnin recorded and released Voodoo II, a follow-up album to his 1959 recording Voodoo. The initial recording was made in February, 2007, at Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The orchestra was recorded live to multi-track digital hard disk using Digital Performer recording software and Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) digital interfaces. The CD was produced by Skip Heller and released on Dionysus records in June 2007. Immediately following the release of Voodoo II, Robert Drasnin again performed at the Hukilau event with an orchestra similar to the 2005 lineup. The 2007 performance comprised compositions from both the Voodoo and Voodoo II releases.
He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2008. « hide |
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