American composer, arranger, record producer, and conductor, Kevin Kaska is one of America’s leading young musical talents. He has worked on over 100 motion pictures.
His orchestral compositions, arrangements, and orchestrations have been played by over 80 symphony orchestras worldwide, including John Williams and Keith Lockhart with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra (five CDs), Royal Scottish National Orchestra (recorded on CD), New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (recorded on CD), Maynard Ferguson and his Big Bop Nouveau Band, Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall and several others.
Kaska is orchestrating new episodes of the Fox TV show “Orville”
Kevin Kaska orchestrated John Debney’s “My Silent Night “ musical.
My good friend Marc Morrison, who normally writes The 8 Ball, had been hounding me to contribute a video game music column for months now, pitching broad ideas along the lines of “Top 8 Cues in Video Games”. I felt this was casting the net far too wide – an impossible task to do properly. Hence, I suggested a much narrower focus that would allow me to shine light on some overlooked gems instead. Here, then, are my personal favorite soundtracks for lousy video games.
Seductive melodies and danceable rhythms carry the day on Shades of Rio, a tasteful debut recording by the southern California-based Kevin Kaska Jazz Orchestra, which earns the name by using a full string section on most numbers to complement its well-upholstered twenty-three member core ensemble anchored by master drummer Harvey Mason.
WRTI's Bob Craig has his picks of the top big band tunes released in 2015. Here's his list!
From New York to Nashville (not to mention Seoul and London), a new generation of film scorers, songwriters and music industry execs will come out of these top-ranked schools.