# Mark Isham [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Isham) (1951– ) ## Description American composer and trumpeter who began as a jazz and new-music session player before releasing *Vapor Drawings* (1983), an early fusion of jazz trumpet with analog synthesizers on the Windham Hill label. He went on to become one of Hollywood's most prolific film composers, scoring over a hundred features while retaining the atmospheric, electronic-tinged sensibility of his early solo work. ## Key Tags #sound #electronic-music #ambient ## Essential Works - [Vapor Drawings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor_Drawings) - 1983 solo album blending trumpet, analog synthesizer, and ambient textures; his best-known non-soundtrack work - [A River Runs Through It (score)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_River_Runs_Through_It_(film)) - Grammy-winning 1992 score, representative of his crossover from ambient/electronic music into orchestral film scoring ## Details Began as a jazz and classical session trumpeter before *Vapor Drawings* established his solo voice blending acoustic trumpet with analog synthesis. His film-scoring career, launched by Alan Rudolph's *Never Cry Wolf* (1983) and cemented by the Grammy-winning *A River Runs Through It* (1992), has spanned over a hundred features while retaining the atmospheric electronic textures of his early solo work. ### Concepts and Theories %% none yet %% ### Creative and Technical Practices - [[Synthesizers]] - early analog-synthesizer work on *Vapor Drawings* anticipated the electronic textures later folded into his orchestral film scores ### Collaborators %% none yet %% ### Institutional Affiliations and Associated Movements %% none yet %% ## References ### Primary Sources Bibliography Isham, Mark. *Vapor Drawings*. Windham Hill Records, 1983. ### Secondary Sources Bibliography %% none yet %%