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Trevor Jones in 1999

"The exciting thing for me is that the lowest common denominator isn't all that low or that common. The average cinemagoer is a pretty sophisticated animal; he wants to be entertained and stimulated on an increasingly higher and higher level, and to manipulate your craft is becoming harder and harder for composers."
-- Trevor Jones in 2000

A native of South Africa, Trevor Jones has become one the best known dramatic theme-writers in the film scoring industry. His broad themes for films such as The Last of the Mohicans, The Dark Crystal, Cliffhanger, and the television production of Cleopatra have established Jones as a master of cinematic scope. In most of his major projects, Jones maintains a consistent standard of consonant orchestral depth, ranging from the nobility of dramas to the dark corners of disturbed thrillers. He worked primarily in the television scoring industry before his success landed him constant, major assignment offers. In 2000, The Long Run was the first South African film for Jones, who traveled to the country to complete it; he collaborated with internationally renowned South African musicians including Ladysmith Black Mambazo, diva Sibongile Khumalo, and the emerging group Amampondo.

The most often asked question of Jones regards his departure from The Last of the Mohicans late in the 1992 production. Despite rumors of discontent dealings, Jones and co-composer Randy Edelman never met, and Edelman was brought onto the project only after the production of the film ran so long overtime that Jones had other contractual obligations to fulfill. Other accounts have stated that Jones wasn't writing music fast enough (or innovative enough, as the director had requested), but the combined score eventually became on the best selling soundtrack albums of all time. Jones continues to be one of the industry's most academia-involved composers. Studying a vast array of musical styles for twelve years before walking straight into a successful career, Jones has returned to the collegian world of film music study, chairing a major film music school program in England since 1999. His enthusiasm for the youth of the industry helps motivate his own success.