Mark Isham: Scoring Life, Film, and Everything In Between

About this episode

Mark Isham discusses his journey as a composer and the challenges of scoring films.

This week on Unglossy, the fellas sit down with Mark Isham — Grammy-nominated composer and trumpeter behind some of Hollywood's most iconic scores, including Crash, A River Runs Through It, Point Break, and 42. Mark traces the journey from San Francisco's jazz scene to landing a $35 million Disney film with no formal training and 90 bucks in the bank — and how a home-duplicated cassette changed everything. He breaks down what it's really like to score films for Jodie Foster, Robert Redford, and Kathryn Bigelow, the night he rewrote the entire Point Break score, and why silencing self-doubt has been as important as any musical skill. Plus: where film scoring is heading, a new series about the Irish gangs of Brooklyn, and a new album in the works Unglossy is hosted by Bun B, Jeffrey Sledge, and Tom Frank. The show is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios. For early access, live recordings and more, join us on Merrick Studios+

People in this episode

Hosts: Bun B, Tom Frank, Jeffrey Sledge

Guest: Mark Isham

Topics covered

• film scoring
• music composition
• Hollywood
• personal journey
• self-doubt
• jazz

Keywords

• Mark Isham
• film scoring
• music
• Hollywood
• self-doubt
• jazz
• Point Break
• Crash
• A River Runs Through It
• 42

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Crash, A River Runs Through It, Point Break, 42

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