Music From Other Minds

Program 538: Music For Imaginary Friends

KALW Broadcast Date: November 16, 2018 | Host: Randall Wong

John Zorn (born 1953) is an American composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. He incorporates diverse styles in his compositions, which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental.

Carl W. Stalling (1891 –1972) was an American composer and arranger for music in animated films. His background included providing music for silent films. Subsequently he began his animation career with the Disney Studios he is credited with both the composition and the musical arrangement of the seminal Skeleton Dance (1929), the first of the “Silly Symphonies.”

But he is most closely associated with the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros from 1936-1958, where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years. Stalling basically created the technique and style of music we now recognize as cartoon music.

Program Audio

30-Second Spot