Biography

John Frizzell has composed music for Film and Television across a wide range of genres in his career. Recently his dark mysterious score for two seasons of Kevin Williamson's CBS All Access series Tell Me A Story, is a sharp contrast to his comedic score for FOX television's Duncanville starring Amy Poehler, and his co-composed score to Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour Bus on which he collaborated with the legendary George Clinton. As a Producer and Composer, he recently completed work on Alex Winter's documentary Zappa which explores the complex life and music of Frank Zappa.

Over the years, he has created scores as varied as the dark and violent Alien Resurrection, the quirky off-beat music for the cult classics Office Space and Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, the epic sound of Gods and Generals, and the dark and disturbing score for the FOX series The Following. In addition, he has composed the gentle melodies of the intimate period drama The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio and created the plaintive jazz score behind James Franco's Golden Globe winning performance in James Dean. In recent years Frizzell, a mandolin and guitar player, has worked with BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) to promote and support Bluegrass Music on the west coast.

Born in New York City, Frizzell began his music career early, singing in the chorus of the Paris Opera Company and the Metropolitan Opera Company. As a teenager he played guitar in rock bands, and later became focused on jazz, a passion that led him to pursue a formal musical education at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music as well as the Manhattan School of Music. It was during his college years that Frizzell met his mentor, guitar legend Joe Pass, and through Pass, Frizzell discovered his calling as a composer.

After college Frizzell worked for acclaimed producer/vibraphonist Michael Mainieri, who owned the first digital music workstation, a Synclavier. Frizzell became a master synthesist, a skill that led him to work with Academy Award winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, for whom Frizzell provided orchestrations to Oliver Stone's landmark mini-series Wild Palms. When he relocated to Los Angeles, Frizzell was introduced to James Newton Howard, who mentored him and composed the themes for Frizzell's first two feature films, The Rich Man's Wife and Dante's Peak.

Known to experiment with evolving music technology in his Film/TV scores, Frizzell has utilized experimental devices and software to create a fluid, collaborative and creative process, while still incorporating more traditional orchestral writing. Whether he is recording dry ice being rubbed on the inside of a piano or capturing the nuances of great violinists like Mark O'Conner or Sara Watkins, Frizzell strives to create a score intimately tied to picture and enhance the story.

A proponent for film music and film music issues, Frizzell has served on the Executive Board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, lectured to graduate students at USC Thornton School of Music and the Sundance Film Music Lab. He has also served as the Honorary President of the International Film Music Conference in Ubeda, Spain.
- IMDb mini biography by: John Frizzell