Born in Cape Town, South Africa in March of 1949, Trevor Jones lived opposite a movie
theatre called Gem Cinema. The theatre was so old and worn out that there was often a loss of the
soundtrack audio, leaving only the dialogue and sound effects. Even as a child at age of five, the
lack of the music caused Jones to realize its powerful role in films. Despite the fact everyone in
his family had worked in film or the theatre industry, Jones credits the cinema across the street
from his youth as his true inspiration. At the age of 17, Jones won a scholarship to the Royal
Academy of Music in England, and his family encouraged him to make the most important move of his
life. Not being from England, of course, he could only stay in the country for the four years of
his study.
But Jones did not wish to return to South Africa due to the lack of industry and the country's
politics. In his third year of musical schooling, he won an award that brought him to the attention
of the BBC, where he worked four years as a classical music reviewer. This employment in the early
1970's allowed him the time to become a naturalized British citizen. At this workplace, he met Dr.
Wilfrid Mellers, a professor at York University, who helped him design a four-year course plan to
study all types of music, including ethnic rhythms, avant garde, music concrete, and electronic.
He then went to the British National Film School for a three-year M.A. in Film Music, where he
learned all aspects of filmmaking, directing, writing, and photographing on many student films, as
well as composing the music for most everybody at the university. His education in the field took
twelve years.
While studying at the National Film School through 1980 as a composer in residence, he wrote the
music for twenty-two student projects. In his final year, he wrote the score for the Academy
Award-winning short film
The Dollar Bottom and worked on several short films and small
projects for British cinema and TV during the late 1970's and early 1980's. Jones' use of
professional English musicians allowed him to go straight into the industry without any adjustments.
He initially scored shorts with Roger Christian, and was discovered by John Boorman after working
on an Irish television show. Boorman hired him to write 55 minutes of music for
Excalibur
in 1981 (opposite the classical pieces of Wagner and Orff that were used in the film). Impressed
by his work, Jim Henson called him for
The Dark Crystal in 1982 before he even had a script,
and Jones would work on Henson projects, along with others, until Henson's death.
The momentous size and scope of
The Dark Crystal would officially serve notice to the industry
that Trevor Jones was ready for major scoring assignments. In addition to Henson, Jones would form
working relationships with several renowned directors, including Alan Parker, Barbet Schroeder,
Ridley Scott. Jones was nominated for a Golden Globe for his thematic material for
The Last of
the Mohicans a decade later, a project that would prove to be one of the best selling soundtrack
albums of the modern age. Despite his stature, Jones enjoys score films both small and large, often
traveling with his wife and four children to Los Angeles to work on a variety of small budget
projects. Along these lines, he cites Mark Herman and John Henderson among his favorite directors to
work with. In an attempt to prioritize constant assignment offers, Jones only takes on one score at
a time, and in January of 1999, he became the first chair of music at the National Film and
Television School in England.
Trevor Jones in 1999
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