Diamond in the Rough: Hummie Mann

by Jason Foster

When director Jonathan Kaplan was looking for a composer to score his telefeature "Language of the Heart," someone recommended he hire Hummie Mann, saying he was a very talented composer with a genuine command of the orchestra. Kaplan took this person's advice and hired Mann to score the film. The result was a beautiful, chamber-esque score that ended up winning Mann his second Emmy Award. The person who had recommended Mann was none other than Jerry Goldsmith.

For many years, Hummie Mann seemed like one of those so-called "orchestrator types," meaning he is someone who spends most of his time orchestrating for other composers while trying to get an assignment of his own every now and then.

However, this wasn't the case.

While it's true that Mann orchestrated for composers like Marc Shaiman, there has always been a good deal of his own work available to show what he's capable of. However, while receiving the acclaim of various others in Hollywood, one could argue that his abilities as a composer have gone under-used.

Mann's first major feature film score was for Peter Yates' 1992 film Year of the Comet. While the film was small and barely seen (it opened on the same day as the LA riots so people's minds were elsewhere), the score is a standout that deserves being talked about.

Mann's score, which replaced a score written by John Barry, is a delight. It's a solid romantic effort tinged with Scottish elements, fitting the film perfectly. This score is a perfect example of how Mann knows exactly what a film needs. The film is about a man and a woman who travel through Scotland searching for a valuable bottle of wine. Musically, this could have gone one of two ways. One, he could have scored it with wall-to-wall bagpipes, constantly letting us know that the film takes places in Scotland. Or, he could have scored the actual drama of the story--keeping it relatively simple, like the film. Fortunately, he and Peter Yates agreed on the latter.

"Peter let me decide how much ethnic color to give the score," says Mann. "In fact, he was in London most of the time while I was writing the score and didn't hear any of it, except for a synth version of the main themes, until the day we scored it."

While the score does contain ethnic elements, Mann never goes overboard with them. Rather, his use of Scottish orchestrations is right-on. He weaves them in and out of the score carefully, sort of as geographical references, rather than the bulk of the score.

"I used as much Celtic flavor as I felt was necessary," he says. "It wasn't as much a conscious choice as it was what I felt was the right amount."

Mann's creative instincts have always been strong when it comes to giving a film the proper musical feel.

Compare the romantic comedy style of Year of the Comet with the gothic, big-orchestra sounds of Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Next, listen to the cold synth feel of In Cold Blood. Then compare that with the Golden-Age sounding Robin Hood: Men In Tights--a score that film critic Gene Shalit compared to the works of Korngold. This was also the score that turned Jerry Goldsmith onto Mann's talent, leading to the aforementioned collaboration with Jonathan Kaplan. Mann recalls that experience:

"My then agent, who was also Jerry's agent, called me up and said he had forgotten to tell me that Jerry was very impressed with my work on that picture and had even mentioned it on two separate occasions. I was extremely flattered that Jerry, whose work I'm always in awe of, would have not only noticed my work, but also discussed it with my agent," says Mann.

Goldsmith's fondness for Mann nearly led to the two collaborating on two separate scores that Goldsmith thought he would be pressed to finish on time. However, on both occasions the schedule wasn't as bad as originally thought, and the collaborations were not to be.

"It was a bummer," Mann says.

A short time later, however, Mann received another call from Goldsmith, asking if he'd orchestrate Goldsmith's theme to Star Trek: Voyager. Mann was more than eager to help.

"At that point I had pretty much stopped orchestrating for other composers and was doing my own composing work, but I really wanted the opportunity to work with Jerry on at least one project," Mann recalls.

Goldsmith had Mann arrange all of the different length versions of the theme based on his long version, including the concert version that Goldsmith uses when the piece is performed live.

In addition to the respect of Jerry Goldsmith, Mann also has made an impression on a number of respected directors. Besides the aforementioned Kaplan and Yates, Mann seems to have become Mel Brooks composer of choice for his films, as well as Joe Dante's composer for television projects such as the HBO film The Second Civil War.

However, even with all of this acclaim, Mann's name doesn't seem to show up very often in the credits of feature films when compared with others in the field. Does this mean his talents are under-used? Maybe. But for Mann, the term "under-used" can mean more than just a lack of work.

"I think that every composer feels under-used on some level," he says. "Whether it's the volume of work that they are doing or the type of work that they are doing. I don't think that I've ever known a composer who felt that they were working at their full creative capacity.'"

Mann admits that he wouldn't complain if the volume of work were a little higher, but also says that he is happy with the mixture of work he has now. He also adds that if he were given a lot of films within the same genre it would be a worse kind of "under-used."

"I've written jazz scores, rock scores, electronic and sound design scores, and big orchestral scores. I've enjoyed each one," he says. "I guess my strength is that I'm able to do that and haven't been typecast as any certain type of composer."

As for a certain genre Mann might have preference to, he says there's really not one, but does say what he looks for in the types of films he scores--stories about personal relationships and emotion.

"I like stories with lots of human emotion," says Mann. "I like doing films where I get to expand my creative boundaries. Nothing makes me happier than to have to research the music from the period, location, or specific style, and then writing a score in that style."

Hummie Mann is a talented composer. Nobody seems to dispute that. The scores he's written speak for themselves. Although the films he scores might not be considered "mainstream," Mann brings his unique voice to every one of them.

Although he seems happy where he is, when he does get that so-called "breakthrough" film, which will bring the offers for other big films, the entire industry is in for a treat.

Mann currently has two projects in the works: "Naked City 2" (dir. Peter Bogdanovich) and "Goodnight, Joseph Parker" starring Paul Sorvino.

Send your reactions to MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com. This new column by Jason Foster will look at various composers with which collectors may not be familiar.