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Making The Screen Swing
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Must you endure the rigors of L.A. life in order to be a
successful songwriter and composer for film and television?
Not if you’re distinctive and resourceful. Meet Joel Evans, a
musician and bandleader from The Bay Area whose extensive list
of credits includes major Hollywood films, hip indie flicks,
network shows and daytime dramas, over 50 big screen credits
and 200 television episodes and counting, from Wedding
Crashers to Desperate Housewives.
Still, despite living and working in relatively bucolic
Northern California, judiciously timed trips to Los Angeles
are on the calendar, says Evans. “I belong to the Society of
Composers and Lyricists (SCL) and West Coast Songwriters
Association which now has an L.A. Chapter. I track events ––
what ASCAP, BMI or SESAC has going on –– and coordinate trips
so I can go for several days.” While in town, Evans, who
specializes in using live players, also sets up recording
sessions with L.A. talent, and he expresses admiration for
both the quality and responsiveness of the players and singers
he enlists as he references a session with vocalist Tami
Tappan Damiano. “We were doing Doris Day and Julie London
‘sound-alikes’ and Tami can do them both. A week before, I’d
sent her Mp3s and CD’s. She’s a busy lady, but she walked in
and nailed both of these things. It’s not the kind of skill
you’d find up here.”
Evans explains the concept of sound-alikes. “It’s
terminology you have to be careful about. It means ‘inspired
by sonically.’ I’ll listen to a record, capture the tempo and
feel, but certainly not the melody. Then I’ll find a
singer who has those characteristics. What first got me was
when I was working with Barbara Jordan (from the Boston-based
company Heavy Hitters) and she was getting a lot of calls for
something that sounded like Dean Martin. I listened to a
certain record and we mocked up an orchestra. I co-wrote with
a guy who’d been an Elvis impersonator and also did a Dean
Martin kind of thing. He’s been on Las Vegas and
Frasier.”
Evans has built his own catalog, and he has also worked
extensively with companies that place songs: Position Music,
PEN Music Group, TAXI and many other firms. His first big
break in visual media came when he met Marc Ferrari of
MasterSource at a pitch session sponsored by the West Coast
Songwriters Association. As he recalls, “It turned out to be a
bossa nova thing I played for Marc and he included it in his
catalog.” When a composer disappeared from a project that
needed tracks within a week, Ferrari enlisted Evans. “He sent
me a few things to listen to and I got them down with five
players, and they’ve since been used a number of
times.”
In configuring music, Evans will generally take live
players into a studio, track the basics, then return to his
home studio to edit, overdub vocals, guitars, piano and other
instruments before returning to the original studio to give
the tracks the requisite polish. He often e-mails MP3s back
and forth with collaborators, and he also enjoys writing with
an actual collaborator in the room as well. Among his key
co-writers are Nashville-based Lisa Aschmann and
pop/theatrical writer Adryan Russ.
A self-professed “credits addict” Evans keeps close tabs on
who is responsible for placing music in projects, but he’s
reticent to make the calls on his own behalf. “I think it’s
better if I could have a representative contact people for me.
I feel awkward calling people and blowing my own horn. It
feels untoward. I’ve gotten better about it, less shy; I can
say I’ve got few film and TV credits to lubricate the
situation.”
Evans’ Hollywood-sophisticated melodies are often used on
screen to evoke sumptuous surroundings like hotel lobbies and
upscale restaurants, so it’s no coincidence that Evans spent
many years performing in just these types of venues as a live
player. Swing, big band and jazz: he occupies a decided
stylistic niche. “I can’t do everything. I don’t write stuff
that’s like what’s on the radio. I decided early on to hell
with it, I’m going to do stuff that I love.”
Contact info@cinemasters.com, 650-299-8555
©2005 Music Connection
Inc. |
