Jim Parker

Jim Parker (born 1934) is a British composer. After graduating as a silver medallist at the Guildhall School of Music, Parker played with leading London orchestras and chamber groups as well as being a key part of The Barrow Poets for whom he provided both original instrumental music and music to accompany the performance of a wide range of poetry spoken or sung by the rest of the band. This music was played on a variety of instruments including the bass cacacofiddle, a home made sort of double bass with knobs on, played by William Bealby-Wright, while Parker mostly played clarinet and cor anglaise[citation needed]. After a while he concentrated on composing and conducting. He had early success with a series of recordings in which he set to music the poems of the British Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman; the recordings, recited by the poet and conducted by the composer, have achieved classic status.[citation needed] These and subsequent records, including Captain Beaky which topped the charts as both a single and album, led to work in television as well as in the London West End theatre where he has had productions of three musicals. Film scores include numerous feature-length television films along with scores for the new prints of the classic silents Girl Shy, by Harold Lloyd and The Blot, a 1921 film directed by Lois Weber. He has won the British Academy Award for Best Original Television Music four times, and has written scores for over one hundred programmes. His work in film and television ranges from the Moll Flanders, Tom Jones, Midsomer Murders and The House of Eliott, to the contemporary score for the political thriller House of Cards, to children's and schools programmes such as Watch, Zig Zag and Fourways Farm. Concert works have been written for the Nash Ensemble, Philip Jones Brass, The Hilliard Ensemble, The Albion Ensemble, The Wallace Collection and Poems in the Underground. His published compositions include "A Londoner in New York" for brass, "Mississippi Five" for wind quintet, "The Golden Section" for brass quintet, and a clarinet concerto. He is also the recipient of an honorary degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In the early 1980s Parker collaborated with Tom Stanier on a number of musicals for schools, including Blast off: Mr Jones goes to Jupiter. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.