Dave Grusin

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Photo by Andy Ihnatko
Photo by Andy Ihnatko

David Grusin (born June 26, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and he has won numerous awards for his soundtrack work. Although he has worked in many musical styles, Grusin is often thought of as a jazz artist.

Born in Littleton, Colorado, Grusin has a filmography of about 100 titles. His many awards include an Oscar for best original score for The Milagro Beanfield War, as well as Oscar nominations for The Champ, The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Firm, Havana, Heaven Can Wait, and On Golden Pond. He also received a best original song nomination for "It Might Be You" from the film Tootsie. Six of the fourteen cuts on the soundtrack from The Graduate are his. Other film scores he has composed include Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?, Three Days of the Condor, The Goonies, Tequila Sunrise, Hope Floats, Random Hearts and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

For television, he was the conductor for The Andy Williams Show (1963–1965) and the composer of the theme songs for such series as Dan August (1970), The Sandy Duncan Show (1971-1972) Maude (1972), Good Times (1974), Baretta (1975), and St. Elsewhere (1982). He also composed music for individual episodes of each of those shows. His other TV credits include It Takes a Thief, The Wild Wild West, and Columbo - Prescription: Murder (1968). He also did the theme song for One Life to Live (1968) from 1984–92.

About 35 Dave Grusin CD titles are currently available including soundtracks, originals, collections, and homages to jazz greats George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, and Henry Mancini.

Grusin and Larry Rosen co-founded GRP Records in 1982. In 1994, GRP was in charge of MCA's (soon to be renamed Universal Music Group) jazz operations. Founders Grusin and Rosen left in 1995 and were replaced by Tommy LiPuma. In 1997, Grusin and Rosen co-founded N2K Encoded Music (after renamed N-Coded Music).

Dave is the father of music editor Stuart Grusin, music editor and musician Scott Grusin, engineer Mike Grusin, artist Annie Vought, and elder brother of keyboardist Don Grusin and sister Dee Grusin.

Contents

[edit] Awards and recognition

  • Academy Award Nominee, 1978 "Best Original Score" for Heaven Can Wait
  • Academy Award Nominee, 1979 "Best Original Score" for The Champ
  • Academy Award Nominee, 1981 "Best Original Score" for On Golden Pond
  • Academy Award Nominee, 1982 "Best Original Song" for "It Might Be You", from Tootsie
  • Golden Globe Nominee, 1988 "Best Original Score" for The Milagro Beanfield War
  • Academy Award Winner, 1988 "Best Original Score" for The Milagro Beanfield War
  • Academy Award Nominee, 1989 "Best Original Score" for The Fabulous Baker Boys
  • Golden Globe Nominee, 1989 "Best Original Score" for The Fabulous Baker Boys
  • Grammy Award Winner, 1989 "Best Album, Original Background Score for a Motion Picture or Television" for The Fabulous Baker Boys
  • Grammy Award Winner, 1989 "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals" for "My Funny Valentine"
  • Academy Award Nominee, 1990 "Best Original Score" for Havana
  • Golden Globe Nominee, 1990 "Best Original Score" for Havana
  • Grammy Award Winner, 1990 "Best Album of Original Instrumental Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television" for The Fabulous Baker Boys
  • Grammy Award Winner, 1990 "Best Arrangement on an Instrumental" Suite for The Milagro Beanfield War
  • Grammy Award Winner, 1991 "Best Arrangement on an Instrumental" for "Bess You Is My Woman/I Loves You Porgy"
  • Golden Globe Nominee, 1991 "Best Original Score" for For The Boys
  • Academy Award Nominee, 1993 "Best Original Score" for The Firm
  • Grammy Award Winner, 1993 "Best Arrangement on an Instrumental" for "Mood Indigo"
  • Grammy Award Winner, 1994 "Best Instrumental Arrangement" for "Three Cowboy Songs"
  • Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), 2002 for "Mean Old Man", from the album October Road by James Taylor

[edit] Discography

  • Subways are for Sleeping - 1962
  • Piano, Strings, and Moonlight - 1963
  • Kaleidoscope - 1964
  • One of A Kind - 1977
  • Mountain Dance - 1979
  • Dave Grusin Presents GRP All-Stars Live In Japan - 1980
  • Out of the Shadows - 1982
  • Night Lines - 1983
  • NY/LA Dream Band - 1984
  • Harlequin (w/ Lee Ritenour) - 1985
  • Cinemagic - 1987
  • Collection - 1988
  • Little Big Horn (w/ Gerry Mulligan) - 1988; GRP Records
  • Sticks and Stones (w/Don Grusin) - 1988
  • The Fabulous Baker Boys (Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 1989
  • Migration - 1989
  • Havana (Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 1990
  • The Gershwin Connection - 1991
  • The Firm (Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 1993
  • Dave Grusin and the GRP All-Star Big Band - 1993
  • Homage to Duke - 1993
  • The Orchestral Album - 1994
  • The Cure (Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 1995
  • Two For the Road - 1996
  • Mulholland Falls (Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 1996
  • Dave Grusin Presents: West Side Story - 1997
  • Random Hearts (Motion Picture Soundtrack) - 1999
  • Two Worlds (w/ Lee Ritenour) - 2000
  • The Very Best of Dave Grusin - 2002
  • Now Playing: Movie Themes - Solo Piano - 2005

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Quotes

  • "In my career I've found that 'thinking outside the box' works better if I know what's 'inside the box'. In music (as in life) we need to understand our pertinent history...and moving on is so much easier once we know where we've been."

[edit] External links