Robert David "Dave" Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist.
Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has
won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy
Award and 12 Grammys. He has had a prolific recording career as an artist,
arranger, producer and executive producer.
Born in Littleton, Colorado, he studied music at the University of Colorado at
Boulder and was awarded his bachelor's degree in 1956. He produced his first
single, "Subways are for Sleeping", in 1962 and his first film score was for
Divorce American Style. Other scores followed including Winning, The Friends
of Eddie Coyle, The Midnight Man and Three Days of the Condor in 1975.
In the late 1970s, he formed GRP records along with his business partner, Larry
Rosen, and began to create some of the first commercial digital recordings.
Grusin was also at the forefront of soundtrack albums. He was the composer
for Mike Nichols' Oscar-winning film, The Graduate. Later scores included On
Golden Pond, Tootsie and The Goonies. From 2000 through 2011, Grusin
concentrated on composing classical and jazz compositions, touring, and
recording with collaborators, among others, guitarist, Lee Ritenour.
Together they have recorded several projects including the Grammy-winning
Brazilian album, Harlequin in 1985. In recent years, they have released two
classical crossover albums that were nominated for Grammys, including the
Universal Decca recordings,'"Two Worlds" and "Amparo". He is married and has four
children. Life and career
Grusin was born in Littleton, Colorado, the son of Rosabelle, a pianist, and
Henri Grusin, a violinist who immigrated from Riga, Latvia. An alumnus of the
University of Colorado at Boulder, College of Music, he was awarded his
bachelor's degree in 1956. One of his teachers there was Cecil Effinger.
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, The Heart is a Lonely
Hunter and The Firm. In addition, he also composed the original opening
fanfare for film studio TriStar Pictures.
For television, he was the conductor for The Andy Williams Show and the composer
of the theme songs for such series as It Takes a Thief, The Name of the Game, Dan
August, The Sandy Duncan Show, Maude, Good Times, Baretta, St. Elsewhere, and,
for Televisa in Mexico, Tres Generaciones. He also composed music for
individual episodes of each of those shows. His other TV credits include The
Wild Wild West, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., and Columbo: Prescription:
Murder. He also did the theme song for One Life to Live from 1984–1992. Since
its beginning in 1984, the Minneapolis-St. Paul regional weekly
news and affair program Almanac has used Grusin's "Anthem Internationale" from
his 1982 album Out of the Shadows as their theme.
Grusin assisted in 1966 as musical director and arranger also for two years
the Catarina Valente TV show and lived longer times in Amsterdam.
About 35 Grusin CD titles are currently available including soundtracks,
originals, collections, and homages to jazz greats George Gershwin, Duke
Ellington, and Henry Mancini. Recently he has turned his attention to his own
compositions. As in much of his career, these defy easy classification. They can
be heard on CD's in collaboration with major artists including Lee Ritenour,
James Taylor, and Renée Fleming. In addition to Grusin's jazz, film work and
other collaborations, he has also lent his talents as a producer / arranger /
musician to numerous albums by artists including Paul Simon, Sérgio Mendes,
Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau, Patti Austin, Dave Valentin and Sadao Watanabe. Billy
Joel has also on occasion tapped Grusin for horn and string arrangements –
Grusin arranged the horns on "Half a Mile Away" for Joel's 52nd Street album,
and contributed horn and string arrangements to Joel's 1982 concept
album, The Nylon Curtain. Grusin and Larry Rosen co-founded GRP
Records in 1978. In 1994, GRP was in charge of MCA's 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.
He received honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music in 1988 and
University of Colorado, College of Music in 1989. Grusin was initiated into the
Beta Chi Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at the University of Colorado
in 1953. Grusin is married to Nan Newton. He is
the father of music editor Stuart Grusin, music editor and musician Scott
Grusin, and aerospace engineer Michael Grusin. He is the stepfather of artist
Annie Vought, and elder brother of keyboardist Don Grusin and sister Dee
Grusin. 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 Grammy Award Winner, 1986 "Best
Arrangement on an Instrumental" for "Early A.M. Attitude"
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
Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award Recipient, 1991, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Fraternity 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"
Grammy Award Nominee, 1997 "Best Original Score" for Selena
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s),
2002 for "Mean Old Man", from the album October Road by James Taylor
Discography = As Leader =
Subways are for Sleeping – 1962 Piano, Strings, and Moonlight – 1963
Kaleidoscope – 1964 The Graduate – 1968
"3 Days of the Condor"- 1975 The Yakuza – 1975
Discovered Again! – 1976 One of a Kind – 1977
The Champ – 1979 Mountain Dance – 1980
Dave Grusin Presents GRP All-Stars Live in Japan – 1980
Out of the Shadows – 1982 Night Lines – 1983
Dave Grusin and the NY-LA Dream Band – 1984
Harlequin – 1985 Cinemagic – 1987
Sticks and Stones – 1988 Collection – 1989
The Fabulous Baker Boys – 1989 Migration – 1989
Havana – 1990 The Bonfire of the Vanities – 1991
The Gershwin Connection – 1991 The Firm – 1993
Dave Grusin Presents GRP All-Star Big Band Live! – 1993
Homage to Duke – 1993 The Orchestral Album – 1994
The Cure – 1995 Mulholland Falls – 1996
Two for the Road – 1997 Dave Grusin Presents: West Side Story –
1997 Random Hearts – 1999
Two Worlds – 2000 The Very Best of Dave Grusin – 2002
Now Playing – 2004 The Yakuza – 1975 / 2005
Lucas – 1986 / 2006 Author! Author! – 1982 / 2007
The Scorpio Letters – 1967 / 2007 Amparo – 2008
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. – 1967 / 2008 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter – 1968 /
2009 an evening with DAVE GRUSIN – 2011,
HEADS UP = As Sideman =
Havana Candy – Patti Austin – 1977 Crawl Space – Art Farmer – 1972
Little Big Horn – Gerry Mulligan – 1983 Equinox Express Elevator – Howard
Roberts – 1972 Filmography
See also List of music arrangers
List of jazz arrangers References
External links Dave Grusin at the Internet Movie
Database Music video sampler: Mountain Dance on
YouTube Dave Grusin Archive