Lalo Schifrin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lalo Schifrin
Schifrin in 2006
Background information
Birth name	Boris Claudio Schifrin
Born	(1932-06-21)June 21, 1932 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Genres	Jazz big band rock contemporary classical
Occupation(s)	Musician composer arranger conductor
Instruments	Piano keyboards
Years active	1950–present
Labels	Tico Roulette Audio Fidelity MGM Verve Colpix Colgems Dot Warner Bros. Paramount EntrActe CTI Tabu Palo Alto Atlantic Aleph

Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) was a talented musician from Argentina and the United States. He was a pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. Lalo Schifrin is famous for creating music for many movies and TV shows since the 1950s. His music often blended jazz and Latin American sounds with traditional orchestra music. He won five Grammy Awards and was nominated for six Academy Awards and four Emmy Awards.

Some of his most famous works include the exciting theme songs for Mission: Impossible and Mannix. He also composed music for popular films like Cool Hand Luke (1967), Bullitt (1968), Enter the Dragon (1973), and the Rush Hour movies (1998–2007). Schifrin worked often with actor Clint Eastwood on films like the Dirty Harry series. He even created the well-known fanfare for Paramount Pictures that was used for many years.

In 2019, Lalo Schifrin received a special Honorary Academy Award. This award recognized his unique musical style and important contributions to movie music.

Early Life and Musical Beginnings

Lalo Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father, Luis Schifrin, was a lead violinist in the orchestra at the famous Teatro Colón for 30 years. Lalo started learning piano at age six. His first teacher was Enrique Barenboim. Later, he studied piano with Andreas Karalis and harmony with Juan Carlos Paz. During these years, Lalo also developed a strong interest in jazz music.

Even though he studied sociology and law at the University of Buenos Aires, music was his true passion. When he was 20, he won a scholarship to study at the Conservatoire de Paris in France. While studying, he also played jazz music in clubs around Paris at night. In 1955, Lalo Schifrin played piano with the famous Argentine musician Astor Piazzolla. He also represented Argentina at the International Jazz Festival in Paris.

Early Jazz Career and Moving to the U.S.

Back in Argentina, Lalo Schifrin started his own 16-member jazz orchestra. This band became very popular on a weekly TV show in Buenos Aires. He also began composing music for movies, TV, and radio. In 1956, he met the famous jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Lalo offered to write a long piece of music for Gillespie's big band. This piece, called Gillespiana, was finished in 1958 and recorded in 1960. Later, Lalo also worked as an arranger for Xavier Cugat's well-known Latin dance orchestra.

In 1960, Lalo met Dizzy Gillespie again in New York. Gillespie invited Lalo to play piano in his smaller jazz group. Lalo quickly agreed and moved to New York City. He wrote another major piece for Gillespie called The New Continent, recorded in 1962.

In 1963, Lalo recorded an album titled Buenos Aires Blues with Johnny Hodges, a saxophonist from Duke Ellington's band. That same year, the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hired Lalo for his first Hollywood movie, an adventure film called Rhino!. Lalo Schifrin then moved to Los Angeles. He became a permanent resident of the U.S. in 1963 and a U.S. citizen in 1969.

Composing for Movies and TV

One of Lalo Schifrin's most famous pieces is the theme music for the TV series Mission: Impossible. This unique tune is written in an unusual 5/4 time signature. This means it has five beats in each measure, instead of the more common four. The rhythm of the theme even spells out "M.I." in Morse Code! A year later, he composed the theme for the popular detective show Mannix in a 6/8 time signature. He also wrote other jazzy and bluesy music for the show.

His "Tar Sequence" from the Cool Hand Luke movie score was also in 5/4 time. This music was used for many years as the theme for Eyewitness News broadcasts in New York and Australia. Lalo Schifrin began a long partnership with actor Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel. His strong jazz and blues style was clear in films like Dirty Harry. He also created the well-liked, jazzy music for the 1968 film Bullitt. In 1973, he wrote the music for Enter the Dragon, which featured a cool "wah-pedal" sound.

Lalo Schifrin composed music for the 1973 film The Exorcist. However, the film's director decided not to use his music in the final movie. Lalo later used parts of these compositions in other projects. In 1976, he released a single based on John Williams's theme from the movie Jaws. This single became popular in the UK. He also created the well-known fanfare for Paramount Pictures in 1976. This fanfare was used for many years, especially for their home video releases. In 1981, he composed the music for the comedy film Caveman.

Later Works and Global Recognition

In the 1990s, Lalo Schifrin created many musical arrangements for the famous The Three Tenors concerts. For the 1998 film Tango, he returned to tango music. He had learned about tango while playing piano for Astor Piazzolla in the 1950s. He included traditional tango songs in the film and added his own new pieces that mixed tango with jazz.

In 1997, Lalo Schifrin started his own record label called Aleph Records. He also composed the main theme for the video game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. Lalo even appeared briefly as an orchestra conductor in the 2002 movie Red Dragon. His music has been used, or "sampled," in many hip-hop and trip-hop songs. For example, songs by Heltah Skeltah and Portishead used parts of his "Danube Incident" theme from Mission: Impossible. In 2003, he was asked to compose a classical piece called Symphonic Impressions of Oman for the Sultan of Oman.

On April 23, 2007, Lalo Schifrin performed a concert of his movie music in Paris, France. This concert was held at Le Grand Rex theatre, Europe's largest movie theater. The performance was recorded and released as a CD. In 2010, a fun, fictional story about how Lalo created the Mission: Impossible theme was shown in a Lipton TV commercial. The hip-hop group Blue Scholars even named a song "Lalo Schifrin" on their 2011 album Cinemetropolis.

A Special Musical Collaboration

Lalo Schifrin teamed up with another talented musician, Rod Schejtman, in 2024. They decided to create a major musical piece together. This piece is a 35-minute symphony for a large orchestra of almost 100 musicians. It is a special tribute to their home country, Argentina. The symphony takes inspiration from Argentina's history and shares a message of hope for the future.

This unique work combines movie music styles with traditional classical music. This blend shows the special partnership between Schifrin and Schejtman. Their symphony is planned to be performed in famous concert halls around the world. Its first performance will be at the historic Teatro Colón in Argentina on April 5, 2025. This date also marks the theater's 100-year anniversary. This concert is expected to be a very important event in music.

The premiere concert will also feature a special orchestra version of the Mission: Impossible theme. This will happen before the new Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning movie comes out in May 2025. The program will include other popular movie scores by Lalo Schifrin.

Selected Works

Lalo Schifrin composed music for many popular films and TV shows. Here are some of his notable works:

Movie Scores

Television Themes

Awards and Achievements

Lalo Schifrin received many awards for his amazing music. He won five Grammy Awards, including one Latin Grammy. He was nominated for 22 Grammys in total. He also received six Academy Award nominations and four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Lalo Schifrin has a special star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2016, his famous Mission: Impossible theme song was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame. In November 2018, he received an Academy Honorary Award. This award recognized his incredible career and unique musical style in film.

See also

• Lalo Schifrin discography
• List of music arrangers
• List of jazz arrangers

In Spanish: Lalo Schifrin para niños