Robert Drasnin (November 17, 1927 – May 13, 2015) was an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

player. Robert Drasnin was born on November 17, 1927, in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...

. At an early age Drasnin was interested in the

Clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

so he took lessons but when his family moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

he wasn't able to start until 1938. He attended Franklin Avenue Grammar School in

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

Hollywood and then Thomas Starr King Junior High and eventually

Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School is the oldest Public education#United States, public high school in the Southern California, Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are royal blue and white and the teams are ...

in which he joined the

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in New York City, ...

. Drasnin joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

after graduation and served during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Dionysus Records announced that Robert Drasnin died on May 13, 2015.

Career

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 1955 Drasnin scored the film ''

Teenage Devil Dolls ''Teenage Devil Dolls'' (released in theaters as ''One Way Ticket to Hell'') is a 1955 American black and white teen crime drama film produced, written and directed by Bamlet L. Price, Jr. The film was made in a quasi-documentary style that has n ...

'', and his other film scores included ''

Ride in the Whirlwind ''Ride in the Whirlwind'' is a 1966 American Western film starring Cameron Mitchell, Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson, and Harry Dean Stanton, and directed by Monte Hellman. Nicholson also wrote and co-produced the film. A trio of cowboys are fo ...

'' (1966), '' Picture Mommy Dead'' (1966), ''

The Kremlin Letter ''The Kremlin Letter'' is a 1970 American neo-noir DeLuxe Color espionage thriller in PanavisionSeymour, Gene. "100 Greatest Spy Movies: A Special Collector's Edition from the Editors of American History. 2009. Weider History Group. directed b ...

'' (1970), '' Dr. Cook's Garden'' (1971), ''

A Taste of Evil ''A Taste of Evil'' is a 1971 American made-for-television horror-thriller film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Barbara Parkins and Roddy McDowall. It premiered as the ''ABC Movie of the Week'' on October 12, 197 ...

'' (1971), '' The Candy Snatchers'' (1973) and '' Crisis in Mid-Air'' (1979). Drasnin also scored incidental music for such notable TV shows as ''The Twilight Zone'', ''Mission: Impossible'', ''Wild, Wild West'', ''Hawaii Five-0'', ''Time Tunnel'', ''Lost In Space'', ''Mannix'', ''The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'' and ''Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea''. Robert Drasnin served as music supervisor at CBS for such TV shows as ''Gunsmoke'', ''Wagon Train'', ''The Twilight Zone'' and a host of made for TV movies. In 1959 Robert Drasnin received his M.A. in music from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. That same year, while working at Tops Records, Drasnin was approached by David Pell, the head of the label, to create an

Exotica Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same name that was popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s with Americans who came of age during World War II. The term was coined by Simon "Si" Waronker, Liberty Records ...

album. Pell wanted a record that would cash in on the popularity of the Exotica genre made popular by

Martin Denny Martin Denny (April 10, 1911 – March 2, 2005) was an American pianist and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing up to 3 weeks prior to his death, he toured the world popularizing his brand of l ...

and

Arthur Lyman Arthur Lyman (February 2, 1932 – February 24, 2002) was an Hawaiian jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His group popularized a style of faux-Polynesian music during the 1950s and 1960s which later became known as exotica. His albums became ...

. Drasnin created 12 original compositions and would spend the later part of 1959 recording the record, originally released under the title ''Voodoo: Exotic Music From Polynesia And The Far East''. Among the musical personnel was a young pianist by the name of

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

who would later go on to score such notable films as ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' and ''

Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...

''. 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 The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

reissues of the album. After Army service during the Korean War, he returned to UCLA as a graduate student and became associate conductor of the UCLA Symphony. During the 1950s he also played with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra and Red Norvo's quintet. In 1977 he became

Director of Music A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the di ...

for the

CBS Network CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. In 2002, three selections from the 1959 ''Voodoo'' album were used in the soundtrack for the documentary film ''Cinemania'': "Desire", "Jardine de la Noche" and "Chant of the Moon". In 2005 Robert Drasnin was personally invited by ''Tiki Road Trip'' author James Teitelbaum to perform at The Hukilau, a 3-day

Tiki culture Tiki culture is an American-originated art, music, and entertainment movement inspired by Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian cultures. Inspired by Oceanian art, influential cultures to Tiki culture include Australasia, Melanesia, Micrones ...

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

-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 Digital Performer is a digital audio workstation and music sequencer software package published by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms. Ancestry In 1984, Mark of the Un ...

recording software and

Mark of the Unicorn Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) is a music-related computer software and hardware supplier. It is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has created music software since 1984. In the mid-1980s, Mark of the Unicorn sold productivity software and severa ...

(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. Drasnin was also active as an educator, teaching film scoring, orchestration and music theory at Cal State Northridge from 1976 to 1991 and in the Film Scoring program of UCLA Extension from 1993 through 2014. Bob was a member of the Society of Composers and Lyricists (Hollywood chapter) for many years.

Personal life

Robert Drasnin was married to the former Marlene Waters from 1956 up until his death of complications from a fall in

Tarzana, California Tarzana is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Tarzana is on the site of a former ranch owned by author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is named after Burroughs' fictional jungle hero, Tarzan. History ...

. They had three children: Morgen, Jennifer, and a son Michael.

Discography

Albums as a composer

* ''Voodoo'' (1959), Tops/Mayfair Records, vinyl 679SStereo * ''Chant of The Moon/Voodoo'' 45 RPM single (1959), Tops 5-S 316Stereo * ''Percussion Exotique'' (1960), Tops Records vinyl -1694 retitled issue of ''Voodoo'' with different cover artwork * ''Voodoo'' CD Reissue (1996), Dionysus Records, reissued from a virgin LP master with different cover artwork by artist Shag. * ''Exotic Excursion'' (October, 1996), Pickwick Records. CD reissue of ''Voodoo'' from the original master tapes. NOTE: only 10 of the original 12 tracks were presented on this CD release. * ''Voodoo II'' (2007), Dionysus Records, CD * ''Voodoo III'' (2015), Dionysus Records. Limited edition CD sold at Tiki Oasis 15 and online by Dionysus. Drasnin asked Skip Heller to complete his works and turn them into a releasable album. Twelve songs were completed by Heller for the release which featured cover art by Claudette Barjoud, designed by Thomas Kimball.

Albums as a musician

* ''It's New, It's Nice, It's Norvo'' (1956) (by the

Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His reco ...

Quintet) * ''Ken Hanna and his Orchestra'' * ''Blues at Norm's'' (1963) * ''Norvo...Naturally!'' (1957) * ''Vibe-Rations'' (1956) * "Couch, Los Angeles", Skip Heller, Mouthpiece Records, CD, R. Drasnin: clarinet * "The Blue Dahlia" (2000), Stardust Records, CD, Robert Drasnin: Flute & Clarinet * "Homegoing", Skip Heller (2002), Innova Records, CD, R. Drasnin: flut * alto saxophone * "Man From U.N.C.L.E., Volume 2" (2003), Film Score Monthly, limited edition 2-CD set—limited to 3000 copies * ''Jewbilee'' (2005) * "Lost in Space - 40th Anniversary Edition" (2006), La La Land Records, 2-CD set contains at least 3 cues composed by Drasnin * "Lua-O-Milo", Skip Heller, (2009), Dionysus Records, CD

Television scores (partial)

"Episode(s)" denotes the listing may be incomplete.

References

External links

*
Ele-mental interviewTiki Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drasnin, Robert 1927 births 2015 deaths American male composers American composers American clarinetists Musicians from Charleston, West Virginia UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni United States Army personnel of the Korean War