Celebration of a new CD and book on NFB film composer Eldon Rathburn (coordinated research and research-creation projects issuing from SSAC/Music, Carleton University)

Adrian Matte & Allyson Rogers (producers/arrangers), "The Romance of Improvisation in Canada: The Genius of Eldon Rathburn" (Montreal: Justin Time Records, November 2018).

James Wright (SSAC/Music), They Shot, He Scored: The Life and Music of Eldon Rathburn (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, March 2019)

ABOUT THE CD: Inspired by the story and music of NFB film composer Eldon Rathburn, Adrian Matte (current M.A. student, Music & Culture) and Allyson Rogers (doctoral candidate, McGill University and Carleton M.A. Music & Culture Alumna, 2011), conceived, produced, project managed and prepared the jazz arrangements for this exciting new CD that has just been released by the Justin Time Records label (Montreal). "The Romance of Improvisation in Canada: The Genius of Eldon Rathburn" features a quintet of Canada's leading jazz artists: Petr Cancura (saxophones, Ottawa/Carleton U.), Kevin Turcotte (trumpet/flugelhorn, Toronto), Marianne Trudel (piano, Montreal), Adrian Vedady (bass, Montreal) and Jim Doxas (drums, Montreal). This all-star team has set its sites on a Juno Award nomination in the Canadian Jazz Combo recording category! See http://www.justin-time.com/en/album/588; http://www.justin-time.com/en/profilArtist/416; http://sixmedia.ca/communiques/the-romance-of-improvisation-in-canada/

ABOUT THE BOOK: James Wright's They Shot, He Scored: The Life and Music of Eldon Rathburn (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, March 2019), examines the extraordinary career of Eldon Davis Rathburn (1916–2008), one of the most multi-dimensional, prolific and endlessly fascinating composers of the 20th century, who wrote more music than any other Canadian composer of his generation. During a long and productive career that spanned seventy-five years, Rathburn served for thirty years as a staff composer with the National Film Board of Canada (1947–76), scored the first generation of IMAX films, and created a diverse catalogue of orchestral and chamber works. With the aid of extensive archival and documentary materials, They Shot, He Scored chronicles Rathburn’s life and works, beginning with his formative years in Saint John, New Brunswick, and his breakthrough in Los Angeles in connection with Arnold Schoenberg and the LA Philharmonic Orchestra. The book follows his work at the NFB, his close encounters with some of the most celebrated international figures in his field (including Schoenberg, Ives, Varese, Copland, Krenek, Sorabji, McLaren, Virgil Thompson and Havergal Brian), and his collaboration with the Canadian team of innovators who launched the IMAX film corporation. James Wright undertakes a close analytical reading of Rathburn’s film and concert scores to outline his methods, compositional techniques, influences, and idiosyncratic approach to instrumentation, as well as his proto-postmodern proclivity for borrowing from diverse styles and genres. Authoritative and insightful, They Shot, He Scored illuminates the extraordinary career of an unsung creative force in the film and music industry.