Don Harper
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Don Harper (18 March 1921 – 30 May 1999) was an Australian jazz violinist and composer. During his long and diverse career, both in his native Australia and in the UK, he was a regular on radio and TV music shows, and recorded many albums as a solo performer or as leader of a group. He also composed themes for TV shows including '' World of Sport'' and ''
Champion House ''Champion House'' is a BBC television drama series created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who had previously devised ''Compact'' and ''Crossroads''. The series dealt with the Yorkshire-based Champion family and the dramas surrounding the fami ...
'', as well as incidental music for the 1968 ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' story '' The Invasion''.


Early years

Don Harper was born in Melbourne in 1921. He took up violin at the age of eight, and by his teens was playing in dance bands. By the mid-1940s, his band Don Harper and his Music were drawing big crowds in the Melbourne area. A decade of non-stop work led to his quartet winning a talent show in 1954 and provided funds for the next step in his career.


First period in the UK (1955–1962)

Following an invitation from British comedian
Tommy Trinder Thomas Edward Trinder (24 March 1909 – 10 July 1989) was an English stage, screen and radio comedian whose catchphrase was "You lucky people!". Described by Cultural history, cultural historian Matthew Sweet (writer), Matthew Sweet as "a cocky ...
, whom he met while touring Australia, Harper moved to the UK in 1955, and became a regular performer, as leader of a quartet or sextet, on many BBC Radio shows including ''
Music While You Work ''Music While You Work'' was a daytime radio programme of continuous live popular music broadcast in the United Kingdom twice daily on workdays from 23 June 1940 until 29 September 1967 by the BBC. Initially, the morning edition was generally ...
'', '' Workers' Playtime'', and ''Midday Music Hall''. He also worked as a solo violinist at cabaret clubs, as a session musician in recording studios, and conducted the orchestra at the nightclub The Talk of the Town.


Return to Australia (1962–1966)

Returning to Australia in 1962, Harper was regularly seen performing on Australian television and on radio as well as in many jazz clubs across the country. He also toured alongside the
Dave Brubeck Quartet David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrast ...
. It was during this period that he studied musical composition with Raymond Hanson at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music at the University of Sydney, and this shaped the next part of his career.


Second period in the UK (1966–1983)

When Harper returned to the UK, the composition of music became the focus of his work. He wrote themes for TV shows including LWT's long-running '' World of Sport'', BBC drama series ''
Champion House ''Champion House'' is a BBC television drama series created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who had previously devised ''Compact'' and ''Crossroads''. The series dealt with the Yorkshire-based Champion family and the dramas surrounding the fami ...
'', and Rediffusion's ''
Sexton Blake Sexton Blake is a fictional British detective, whose adventures captivated readers for over eight decades from 1893 to 1978. Blake featured in more than 4,000 stories by approximately 200 different authors, making him one of the most prolifica ...
''. He also wrote incidental music for TV shows, including the ''Doctor Who'' serial '' The Invasion'' in 1968, and BBC science fiction/horror series ''
Out Of The Unknown ''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction and horror anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were dramatisations of s ...
'' in 1969. His music composition also included tracks for production music label KPM (sometimes credited as "Don Jackson"). In 1972 he collaborated with
Delia Derbyshire Delia Ann Derbyshire (5 May 1937 – 3 July 2001) was an English musician and composer of electronic music. She carried out notable work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960s, including her electronic arrangement of the theme ...
and
Brian Hodgson Brian Hodgson (born 1938) is a British television composer and sound technician. Born in Liverpool in 1938, Hodgson joined the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1962 where he became the original sound effects creator for the science fiction programm ...
of the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce Incidental music, incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering ...
(both recording under pseudonyms), on a KPM album of electronic music. A further exploration of electronic music led to the 1974 album ''Don Harper's Homo Electronicus'' (UK, EMI Columbia) on which Harper collaborated with a group of musicians including jazz keyboardist Alan Branscombe playing the
ARP 2600 The ARP 2600 is a subtractive synthesizer first produced by ARP Instruments in 1971. History Developed by a design team headed by ARP namesake Alan R. Pearlman and engineer Dennis Colin, the ARP 2600 was introduced in 1971 as the successor to ...
. The album contains a re-working of Harper's own composition "World of Sport". In the late 1970s he teamed up with British jazz guitarist
Denny Wright Denys Justin Wright (6 May 1924 – 8 February 1992), known professionally as Denny Wright, was a British jazz guitarist. A session musician for many years, Wright frequently acted as arranger and "fixer" for recording sessions. He was a proli ...
, recording albums and appearing on BBC radio shows including “Sounds of Jazz”. Another project, which combined his musical skills with art and classic fiction, came in 1978, when he composed a series of songs to illustrate the
Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...
''
Alice In Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...
'' stories. The resulting book and album were released in 1978, and re-released in Australia in 1985.


Return to Australia (from 1983 onwards)

Harper worked in the UK until 1983, when he decided once again to return to his home in Australia, where he formed the Australian Chamber Jazz Ensemble as a recording and touring group. He also took up the position of Head of Jazz Studies at
Wollongong University The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...
's School of Creative Arts, He continued performing live and recording in his later life, and released an album, ''Images of Australia'', in 1997 Some of his incidental music from ''Doctor Who'' was later reused, in reorchestrated form, as part of the De Wolfe stock score of ''Mary Millington's True Blue Confessions'' (1980). In 2005, MF Doom and
Danger Mouse Danger Mouse is a British action cartoon which has had two incarnations: * ''Danger Mouse'' (1981 TV series), a 1981 British animated television series * ''Danger Mouse'' (2015 TV series), a 2015 reboot of the British animated television series ...
, in their collaborative project
Danger Doom Danger Doom was an American hip hop supergroup consisting of Danger Mouse and MF DOOM. Their first album, '' The Mouse and the Mask'', was released October 10, 2005, followed by the '' Occult Hymn'' EP in 2006. Background Danger Mouse and M ...
, sampled Don Harper's "Chamber Pop" and "Thoughtful Popper". Elements of "Dank Earth" from the '' Dawn of the Dead'' soundtrack were sampled on "Intro" by
Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...
from ''
Demon Days ''Demon Days'' is the second studio album by the British virtual band Gorillaz. It was released on 11 May 2005 in Japan, 23 May 2005 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone, and 24 May 2005 in the United States by Virgin Records. The album continu ...
'', which was also produced by Danger Mouse.


References


External links

* 1921 births 1999 deaths Musicians from Melbourne Sydney Conservatorium of Music alumni 20th-century Australian male composers {{composer-stub