Press Release from Dragon's Domain:
Dragon’s Domain Records presents THE HUMMIE MANN COLLECTION, VOLUME 2, featuring the release of music composed by Hummie Mann for two films from his extensive filmography, THE SECOND CIVIL WAR and the director’s cut of BROKEDOWN PALACE.
Released in 1999, BROKEDOWN PALACE was directed by Jonathan Kaplan, starring Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale, and Bill Pullman, this drama film (titled after a Grateful Dead song) followed two young American friends who are imprisoned in Thailand after being tricked into carrying drugs into the country. Unknown to the composer, there was some political strife at the studio about the director being hired for the film. By the end of post production, Kaplan had been taken off the film and it was finished by others. Although Mann had scored the director’s cut of the film, another composer was ultimately hired to score the theatrical release. Mann had intended for the final score to be performed by an orchestra but found himself off the project before that could be recorded. Included here is a fully electronic version of a score that intended to be performed by an orchestra.
Released in 1997, THE SECOND CIVIL WAR was a satirical black comedy made for HBO. Starring Beau Bridges, Phil Hartman, James Earl Jones, James Coburn, Ron Perlman, and Joanna Cassidy, the film focuses on anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States after the Governor of Idaho closes his state’s borders in response to immigrants seeking asylum after India drops a bomb on Pakistan. For this project, Mann recorded the film in Salt Lake City with an 80-piece orchestra.
Two-time Emmy-award winning Canadian composer/arranger Hummie Mann has collaborated with some of Hollywood's most celebrated directors in both theatrical and television films. His motion pictures projects include ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS, YEAR OF THE COMET and WOOLY BOYS. For television, his projects include P.T. BARNUM, IN COLD BLOOD, PICTURE WINDOWS – SOIR BLEU, THE RESCUERS: TALES OF COURAGE – TWO WOMEN, MASTERS OF HORROR )Homecoming and The Screwfly Solution), FIRST DO NO HARM, SUZANNE’S DIARY FOR NICHOLAS and REBEL HIGHWAY.
Born in Montreal, Mann began studying music at the age of seven. He learned to play not only the piano, but also recorder, guitar, clarinet and oboe. He graduated magna cum laude in 1976 from Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music and moved to Los Angeles in 1980, where he began orchestrating and composing for such top-rated series as FAME, MOONLIGHTING, KNOT’S LANDING, ALF and THE SIMPSONS. In early 1998 Berklee Faculty member and world renowned vibraphonist Gary Burton presented Mann with Berklee’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Besides his busy composing career, Mann is the creator and lead instructor of the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program which 5 years ago became the music department of the Seattle Film Institute. He was the founding president and a long time board member and of the Seattle Composers Alliance and for 10 years served as a governor of the Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Currently he divides his time between Mercer Island, Washington and Santa Monica, CA where he continues to work in the film industry.
Dragon’s Domain Records present THE HUMMIE MANN COLLECTION, VOLUME 2, including music from BROKEDOWN PALACE (Director’s Cut) and THE SECOND CIVIL WAR for the first time on compact disc, mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland. The booklet includes liner notes written by author Randall D. Larson, with the participation of the composer.