![]() ![]() The Raya theme gets a really lovely, sweet performance in “Young Raya and Namaari” before the first of several really thunderous action tracks, “Betrayed”. I don’t feel as if you can truly claim to be part of the film music cognoscenti unless you can pinpoint the exact moment you first heard Jerry Goldsmith’s synth ram’s horn in Timeline this is perhaps the first time I’ve had a similar feeling since then. Howard packs a lot into his “Prologue” – a bit of action material, then the big theme for Raya is revealed (briefly) for the first time, then there’s more action – along with the typical Howard thunderous orchestral bombast there’s a huge array of synths, including of various “Asian” sounds (there are somewhat more authentic actual exotic solos in the mix, too). It is not a musical harbinger of what is to come in the score, which it’s worth saying straight away sounds absolutely nothing like I expected it to, and doesn’t really sound like any previous Disney animation score (including Howard’s) – which is as refreshing as it is surprising. It’s a fairly generic modern pop ballad which is auto-tuned to a comical level (think of Cher’s “Turn Back Time”). ![]() There’s a single song which opens the album, “Lead the Way”, written and sung by Jhené Aiko. James Newton Howard wrote three scores for Disney animations at the turn of the century – not the most memorable of Disney animations, it has to be said, made while they were in between the Alan Menken renaissance period and the next great resurgence a few years later – but his music proved to be very popular and it’s great to see him tackling one of these again. With a fine voice cast led by Kelly Marie Tran, Raya and the Last Dragon would probably have made a fortune had it (as planned) been released in cinemas in a non-pandemic world, and I’m sure it will make a fortune anyway, though in this household it will lead to a series of explanations about why we must wait for it to be widely available on Disney+ rather than only via “premier access”. Howard conducted both his own and Paul Buckmaster’s arrangements during the second half of the set, which focused on orchestrated performances of selected songs from John’s catalog.500 years after dragons sacrifice themselves to save humanity in the face of attack by monsters, the monsters are back – and it’s up to young warrior Raya to track down the last surviving dragon to help save everyone once more. Howard did, however, return for a brief collaboration with Elton John on his Tour De Force of Australia at the fall of 1986. A year later, he released the live album James Newton Howard and Friends, which featured Toto’s David Paich (keyboards), Steve Porcaro (keyboards), Jeff Porcaro (drums) and Joe Porcaro (percussion).Īfter his tenure with Elton John, Howard toured briefly with Crosby, Stills and Nash before moving into film music in the mid-1980s. In 1982, Howard was featured on Toto IV as the strings conductor and orchestrator for I Won’t Hold You Back, Afraid Of Love, and Lovers In The Night. Howard also arranged strings for several of Elton’s songs during this period including on the hits “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word”, as well as playing additional keyboards and synthesizers on several of Elton’s studio albums, including “Rock of the Westies” (1975), “Blue Moves” (1976)you, “21 at 33” (1980), and “The Fox” (1981). He then attended the University of Southern California as a piano performance major, but dropped out after a year because “He wanted to do other things than practicing the piano”.Īfter Howard left college, he toured with Elton John as a keyboardist during the late 1970s and early 1980s (he was part of the band that played behind John in Central Park, New York, on September 13, 1980). Howard began studying music as a child and went on to attend the Thacher School in Ojai, California, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. ![]() Throughout his career as a composer/musician/songwriter, he has scored films of all scales and genres, earning multiple award nominations for his work. Twenty-five years after the death of his father, Howard learned that his father’s family was Jewish (Howard later became a practicing Reconstructionist Jew). Howard was born in Los Angeles, California. ![]()
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