BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER

Local Composer Jason Staczek on Becoming a Film Musician

By Alicia Dara

Jason Staczek

Jason Staczek, a session keyboardist and composer from Washington, DC who has worked in music for 30 years and in Seattle for 15, entered the world of film scoring at an atypical, but spectacular, juncture.

Canadian cult director Guy Maddin made his most recent feature film Brand Upon the Brain! (2006) entirely in Seattle, bringing on a host of names in the local film scene like producer Gregg Lachow, cinematographer Ben Kasulke, assistant directors Anna Waggoner and Tyson Theroux, and script supervisor Andy Spletzer.

Staczek, in his first major work as a film composer, had the task of creating a score for the feverish, black and white silent film that would not only go with its theatrical and DVD release, but that he himself would also conduct live with a symphony orchestra on the film’s nationwide tour, joined by live sound-effect artists, a castrato singer, and a long list of celebrity narrators including Isabella Rosellini, Crispin Glover, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Mike Watt, and John Ashbery. The tour’s most recent stop was in New York in May; the film’s theatrical release began in select cities in June.

In addition to his work with Maddin and various shorts, Staczek wrote a feature-length score for director Brian Short’s All My Love, also produced by Lachow. Staczek is co-owner of Chroma Sound, a music production house and recording studio located in Seattle.

Brand Upon the Brain‘s promotional poster

What are you currently working on?
I’m working on Guy Maddin’s new film called My Winnipeg. It’s described as a “docu-fantasia,” about the history of the city and the director’s childhood. The film will be shown with live narration by Guy at the Toronto Film Festival in September. Once again, Guy asked me to replace 80 minutes of temp score by the likes of Mahler, Wagner and Bernard Herrmann. He keeps me on my toes!

Who are your musical mentors?
I’ve had a few over the years. A bass player I played with years ago introduced me to soul music and I’ve been in love with it ever since. Norm Bellas, Seattle’s finest Hammond B-3 player taught me everything I know about blues and jazz. President of the United States guitarist Andrew McKeag turned me on to the subtleties of boogie-rock (and believe me, that world is vast…). And to this day, I still think about the many lessons I learned from my favorite high school orchestra teacher, Danny Sell. That’s where the hard work gets done—in the trenches of public school music education. Those people are heroes!

What films and film scores have influenced the way you compose?
I don’t have a lot of film or film score favorites. My memory, frankly, isn’t good enough for that! I’ll forget I’ve seen something after a week. But, I can say that what I like writing is film score in the older tradition. I try to let the picture tell me what it wants to say, and I hope that the score ends up helping to tell the story. I think that’s its only job. That said, I recently saw Birth and was overwhelmed by Alexandre Desplats’s score. I’m afraid to see it again lest it diminish that original listening. I’d love for that score to become an influence. I will admit to loving Elmer Bernstein and Bernard Herrmann, though, if push comes to shove.

What is the biggest challenge you face when you work with directors?
I think there are two things. First, it’s figuring out how to make sure you’re making the same film as the director. It’s easy to let yourself go off in a direction that you think is perfect, only to forget what the director has actually asked you to do. It’s important to tell the director’s story. Second is trying to remember that you’re just one creative element in the filmmaking process, and your work is done in service to the picture and the director. Although it’s a very creative process, and directors should be hiring you because they want your creativity, writing film music is ultimately not the deepest expression of your own creative soul. Ego must be swallowed now and then for the greater good!

Which directors would you like to work with in the future?
I’ve never really given that much thought. I think it would be really interesting to work with Werner Herzog, no matter what happened along the way. Just thinking about how you’d approach something like Fitzcarraldo (and I can’t remember a lick of the Popul Vuh soundtrack) is agonizing and thrilling. I suspect I’d learn a lot about life in the process, if I survived. And if I never get a chance to work with Werner, then I’d have to say Norman Jewison.