Jack C Arnold

It is difficult to classify Jack Arnold’s music.  From the eerie delicacy and beauty of his score for The Open Doors (Portobello Pictures), to the epic power of Timewatch – Ramesses III (BBC); from the Gil Evans-inspired close harmony and swinging big-band jazz rhythms of Dream Thief (Salad Films) to the dark and abstract sound score to Missing Persons – Four Tragedies and Roy Keane (Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Trafalgar Studios); he runs the whole gamut while still retaining a strong identity of his own. 

It is drama that Jack is most interested in, both in and out of the musical sphere.  From an early age he sought out music with character and enigma; with vast melodies and full harmonies, and which tells stories.  He began to explore the cinema, building up a vast knowledge of modern film and particularly the craft of movie scoring. Meanwhile he was learning piano and clarinet, later progressing to the saxophone and learning to improvise.  A watershed moment was his first hearing the work of Keith Jarrett, a musician who is still very close to his heart.

At City University he studied composition with Rhian Samuel and saxophone and harmony with Jean Toussaint, and played in a varied array of ensembles with musicians such as Tom Skinner, Tom Herbert, Ben Hazleton, Dorian Ford and Sebastian Rochford.  Shortly after graduation was able to combine his two main interests, music and drama, when he scripted and scored a short film with director Tom Harper which won an RTS newcomer award.

Since then he has worked regularly in TV and film, and in the theatre where he successfully combines composing with sound design, blurring the lines between the two areas as with 2006’s Missing Persons: Four Tragedies and Roy Keane to critical acclaim.  He has covered the extremes of political theatre with Justin Butcher’s The Madness of George Dubya in 2003 and later A Weapons Inspector Calls; the horror genre with Thai/UK co-produced feature film “P” due for release in 2006; produces recorded music with a number of contemporary artists, and continues to compose for shorts, adverts, film, TV and theatre from his studio in North London.

His website, www.jackcarnold.com, gives an indication of his work.