John Leo Dutton

John Leo Dutton specialises in composing emotionally driven, thematic music that complements and intensifies the on screen drama. He has composed several high end drama and documentary scores for major networks in the UK, Europe and the US, including the BBC, ZDF, PBS and TVM. Whether large scale orchestral works or minimalist electronic scores, his philosophy is the same - music has to move you.

Growing up a few miles east of London in Essex, John realised early on that music was to be the driving force in his life. In a household where a piano was always to hand, a love of improvising and creating music developed. A connection between image, music and art soon evolved as he became fascinated with the sound of French Impressionist composers and modern jazz instrumentalists.

This led to an individual approach to harmony and rhythm that developed as a junior at the Royal Academy of Music and later at Trinity College of Music, London, studying under Simon Bainbridge. Section playing as a second study violinist also enlarged his orchestral repertoire, developing a creative palette where emotion, themes and dynamics were the key qualities.

With access to the college studio, John was able to experiment with new approaches in his compositions, in addition to collaborations writing and producing pop and rock songs. Upon leaving college, he signed to Acid Jazz records as The Apostles, releasing and featuring on several original albums with the label, including The Apostles, Mo Jazz and the Totally Wired series.

Keen to develop his early passion with image driven music, John began to write works for short films, and commissions for television work soon followed, beginning with the score for the BBC Trench series – a dramatic portrayal of life in a front line trench during the Battle of the Somme.

Combining memorable themes with his individual approach to harmony, John’s distinctive style became characteristic of several subsequent scores, including Richard the Lionheart and Spartacus for the BBC Heroes and Villains drama series, the WGBH Nova series, Operation Crossbow, D Day - The Last Heroes and Royal Wives at War for network BBC and recent drama scores for European networks, Amazons and God’s Soldiers - Siege of Malta.

Excerpts of these scores and others can be found on the audio page. For a further selection of music and full bandwidth files, please go to the contact page for access to John’s clientplayer.

To request further information, please contact:

info@impactmusic.net